The comforts of chess at SAKALA

News for a better world from SAKALA in Cité Soleil, Haiti

 I remember the moment when, a couple of years ago now, Daniel Tillias said to me that there was going to be a big chess tournament in Port-au-Prince the following Saturday. 

   Daniel, leader and co-founder of SAKALA, wanted to start a chess program and enter some of the kids.

   What I replied was something along the lines of that’s crazy. It takes years to learn to play chess well and you want to start a program from scratch and have the kids ready by Saturday?

   To which Daniel, who himself grew up in Cité Soleil, basically said, yes. Of course. 

   Why not?

As I stepped back looking skeptical, the kids started playing chess. First they learned from YouTube videos and then from chess coaches. Then they themselves became chess coaches for the younger kids.

Here is Bernard, one of SAKALA’s first chess players, teaching younger kids during a session in the garden.

  The kids play in the library. They play in the garden. Wherever they can find a spot and whenever there is a little downtime, they set up a chess game.

  Last year, SAKALA hosted its own official chess tournament, sponsored by the Haitian Chess Federation. Here’s a scene from that tournament below. (The kids at SAKALA have jerseys with the names on the backs of human rights heroes, such as Chief Joseph and Martin Luther King. I love this.)

   In that moment a couple of years ago when I questioned Daniel on the wisdom of starting up a chess program willy-nilly, I probably sounded like a realist. I probably sounded like someone who was right and who would save much wasted time and effort by advocating not trying in the first place.

      But now,  one of our top players, Merisena Cadeau, has qualified for an international championship tournament in Russia. You can see Merisena playing in the photo above, concentrating mightily. Clearly, the girl has got game.

Meanwhile, I still don’t even know how to play chess.

    Several children at SAKALA tried to teach me how to play until they decided the best thing was to just play for me and then graciously pretend that I won on my own.

     And, while I may have been the realist a couple of years ago, it was Daniel who was named a CNN Hero in 2019 for his work at SAKALA. (In the CNN Hero video you can also see Merisena talking about her hopes and dreams of becoming a nurse when she grows up.) 

SAKALA is always teaching me that pointing out all the reasons something can’t work does not actually mean it won’t.

 SAKALA was founded in 2006 by Daniel and others who grew up in Cité Soleil with the motto “With a dream, anything can happen.” They began with peace-through-sports and education programs to give kids peaceful alternatives to joining gangs. 

    Daniel said that he would now add with a dream and an opportunity anything can happen.

Here is one of those moments of opportunity from that first week of the chess program in March 2018, when SAKALA just had a couple of chess sets to share among kids who were just learning their first moves, cheered on by Daniel.

Opportunity was what starting the chess program at SAKALA was about.

At first, it was the opportunity for a few kids to go compete in a tournament the following Saturday. If nothing else, it was an opportunity for a new experience.

   It was also the opportunity to develop their critical thinking and logic skills, an opportunity to learn.

   In the last week, the cases of Covid-19 in Haiti have increased sharply and Cité Soleil, the community surrounding SAKALA, is seeing its first official cases. Not good news.

    When I heard this news, for some reason it made me think of chess.

  Chess, at SAKALA, is also an opportunity to find comfort. 

    Even during hard times you can still play chess and plan  your next moves for the future. You can still have those moments when you realize your good thinking and perseverance have won the day.

I am not at SAKALA right now to see it – and I miss it – but I am sure that as I write this, as you read this, kids at SAKALA are playing chess, having fun, and building their minds for the brighter future to come.

Wishing you a brighter future as well, filled with peace, happiness, and health.

Hoping some day, if you’re up for a good game of chess, you’ll come see us at SAKALA.