We are so excited to announce that we will be hosting our latest volunteer service trip to Sierra Leone in West Africa in the summer of 2026! From Saturday, June 13 through Thursday, June 25, 2026, this trip will take a team of 12 volunteer participants from the U.S. and Belize to the capital of Freetown--where we will join with a team of 4 volunteer participants from Sierra Leone--to serve as coaches and camp counselors as we facilitate our third annual seven-day Softball for Success Summer Camp program for 47 teenage girls ages 12 to 18!

Softball for Success, one of our signature programs, is an ongoing community-based youth development and girls empowerment initiative, designed with the input of the participants and their families, and is the first and only girls softball program in the country as well as the very first sports-based youth development program in Sierra Leone to use softball to engage vulnerable girls.

After launching in the beginning of 2024, the program now takes place twice a year–during a month-long session in the winter and during a seven-day summer camp in June–and has grown from 25 to 47 girls, all because of your incredible support and commitment to this groundbreaking and transformative initiative. The girls had such a blast during the latest session in January and February of this year, and we can’t wait to bring everyone back together for summer camp this June with the support of our incredible team of volunteers!

As a part of the girls’ community service component of the camp, we will also facilitate a free one-day softball and baseball skills clinic and distribute school supplies for over 100 young people, where the girls will volunteer to teach what they have learned about softball to younger children. The team of volunteers will also play a friendly all star game focused on teaching and learning with players from the three adult teams that are a part of our Softball Salone mixed-gender adult league (the league is designed to familiarize adults with the game and prepare them to work with young people as coaches). All of these projects are completely free for participants and we need your support to raise funds to make them possible!

Read more to learn just how important and transformative these programs are–going beyond sports to provide far-reaching holistic support–and see how you can help make a difference in the lives of so many young people.

What is Softball for Success?
Softball for Success is a sports-based youth development program for teenage girls that melds positive, inclusive softball instruction, practice, and games with holistic youth development activities including life skills and leadership workshops, cultural activities, community service, academic support, and team building opportunities.

Coordinated in collaboration with our partner Vintage Academy soccer club, the program also seeks to develop supportive adult connections, build confidence, enhance well-being, and reduce barriers to participation by providing meals and transportation as well as school supplies, athletic clothing, and personal care products to help ensure participants’ needs are met off the field. The family of each participant also receives nutritional support including a 110-pound bag of rice as a part of each program session and, depending on funding, the program offers assistance with school fees. In addition, Softball for Success also has a medical fund in the event that any medical or dental care is needed. The program was designed and implemented based on the input and feedback from the participants as well as their families.

Why Softball for Success?
Young people growing up in the small West African country of Sierra Leone face many challenges, with 63.6 percent of children experiencing multidimensional poverty (UNDP, 2023). Life can be even more difficult for young girls, with only 17 percent completing high school, 28 percent becoming pregnant or having a child by the time they are 19 (with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world), and 30 percent getting married before they turn 18 (with half of these marriages taking place before they are 15) (UNICEF, 2021; UNESCO, 2019).

Most families survive on less than $3 a day, without access to electricity, running water, or indoor cooking, and with little access to medical care. In the capital, over 60 percent of families live in makeshift housing in informal settlements, many of which are hard to reach due to unpaved, unmaintained roads (NYT, 2023). This is the case for nearly all of the Softball for Success participants, the majority of whom reside in impermanent structures made of corrugated metal that provide limited protection from the elements and face difficulty obtaining basic necessities.

All of these factors mean that children–especially girls–struggle to survive, let alone participate in sports. Many never have the ability to participate in sports at all, or have to stop before they want to, despite their desire to play and the demonstrated benefits and connection to resources that sports can offer, particularly for vulnerable young people. The cost of program fees, equipment, or uniforms is completely out of reach for young people who cannot afford critical items including meals, school supplies, and clothing, and who don’t have the funds to get back and forth to the field.

They also don’t have the money or access to care to treat underlying medical conditions (which interfere with playing) or get care for any injuries that might occur. Some sports activities conflict with school times or exams, creating another barrier to participation. Many girls also play a prominent role in maintaining their household and have responsibilities for cooking, laundry, childcare, getting water, running errands, and more, making it difficult to have the time for sports, or to be permitted to play. Cultural stigma around girls playing–common throughout the world–can also be an obstacle. Because of these challenges, girls need multi-faceted, ongoing support to be able to have sustained participation in sports.

As a result, Softball for Success seeks to provide the tangible and holistic tools, resources, and encouragement–combined with the engagement of the participants’ families–to not only enable the girls to experience the joy and benefits of playing a team sport like softball, but also to ease many of the burdens of their daily lives and help set them up for success on and off the field.

How It Works
The second annual Softball for Success summer camp starts on Monday, June 15 and culminates on Sunday, June 21. The camp will kick off on Monday with teambuilding and get-to-know-you exercises to introduce (or reintroduce) the 47 campers and 12 camp counselors/coaches. It will also include a supply distribution, and participants will receive a tote bag filled with school supplies including a composition book, pencils, pens, crayons, glue sticks, an eraser, and a pencil sharpener.

They will also receive a replenishment of personal care products including a toothbrush, toothpaste, bar soap, lotion, lip balm, face wash, a hair brush, antiperspirant, shampoo, conditioner, dental floss, and menstrual pads as well as more athletic gear featuring a camp t-shirt, pair of athletic shorts, two pairs of ankle socks, underwear, a sports bra, and a hat. All of these items are critical for the girls, who otherwise do not have the money to pay for them.

"The pads help a lot,' explains Hawa, "because some of us can't afford them, so they use pieces [of cloth]. It ends up giving them an infection, rashes. It's not good for our health so we really appreciate the pads. The toothpaste is also important." Nancy agrees. "For some of us, the toothbrush will be done, but we still use it," she says. "We use soap or ashes or salt to scrub our mouth because we aren't able to buy [tooth]paste."

On Tuesday, the softball component will begin, with four days of morning softball learning sessions–with a curriculum designed specifically to support and encourage teenage girls and get them moving, having fun, and learning new skills in a safe, positive, and welcoming environment–that culminate in a single-elimination tournament.

In the afternoons, the camp will feature leadership, communication, and team building workshops as well as activities in and around Freetown so that they can learn, feel more connected to their community, and just be kids.

These include:

Participating in a gardening workshop and planting their own vegetables with the Tiny Gardener's Club
Learning about the history of the civil war at the Sierra Leone Peace Museum
Taking part in a coping skills seminar
Expressing their creativity in a painting workshop
Practicing their skills in a math carnival
Heading to the ocean for a beach day at River No. 2
Going to the movies at the country’s only movie theater and getting ice cream
Having a pool party to celebrate after their single-elimination softball tournament

Each day of camp will include a light breakfast as well as lunch for the girls plus snacks and beverages to help address their persistent food insecurity, and van transportation to and from the youth development activities will also be provided.

The program will also provide a transportation stipend to the participants of $2.20 per day so that they can afford to get back and forth to the field via public transportation. The girls will also receive an additional 110 pound bag of rice for their families at the closing ceremony for the camp, which provides critical nutritional support for the entire family.

We will also continue to cover medical and dental care as needed. So far this year, we have provided care for 19 girls in the program for illnesses and conditions including malaria, anemia, typhoid, ulcers, a severe UTI, a dog bite, broken molars, and more. For many of the girls, it might be their only time receiving medical care. "The medical care helped me a lot because every morning I feel my belly, my belly was aching me, and I did not know that I had an ulcer," explains Esther. "So when I went to the hospital, they told me that I have an ulcer and they give me some pills, and I'm taking them so now I'm feeling better. I don't feel my stomach every morning."

Furthermore, based on the feedback of the participants and their families, the program will continue to include a fund designed to help cover the cost of school fees and school-related expenses and materials for the girls, as 100% of the girls stated that they need assistance to be able to stay in or continue with school. While school fees were technically abolished by the government in 2018 for government-funded schools, schools do not have the necessary funds to operate or to pay teachers, meaning that students must still pay for a myriad of expenses including mandatory uniforms, required footwear, administrative fees, school supplies, textbooks, pamphlets, assignments, additional classes, exams, and sometimes even to receive their grades. Failure to pay results in significant punishments, including flogging (NYT, 2023).

Many teachers go for months without getting paid, resulting in uneven instruction. Some students' families opt for schools run by community-based organizations or NGOs to try to receive a higher quality of education; these schools charge a range of fees as well. A number of the girls in the program have finished high school and taken their required West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) but now do not have funds to go on to college; other girls need the funds to take this compulsory exam. A handful of girls have started to attend college, and struggle to pay the tuition and related fees. Other girls cannot afford the required uniforms and shoes necessary to attend school, which limits their ability to participate. "The school fees have really helped me a lot," explains Adama. "Because since I lost my father when I was in year one, first semester, family members said they would help me but none of them did, so the school fees help me a lot."

All of the girls who are a part of the program were identified in collaboration with our partner Vintage Academy (many being former or current soccer players) or heard about the program through word of mouth. They all live in Freetown, primarily in the communities of Lumley, Lakka, or Hamilton, largely in informal settlements. Nearly all experience multidimensional poverty and face significant barriers to participation.

All of the participants surveyed at the end of the program in February 2026 expressed the impact of Softball for Success on their lives, with 100% stating that they learned new skills as a result of the program, and 100% stating that they had experiences that they would not have had without the program. 100% also stated that they made new friendships as a result of Softball for Success, and 100% stated that they would do the program again. 100% of the participants stated that being a part of the program made them happy, and 100% stated that being a part of the program was beneficial to their families.

For the final day of camp, on Sunday, June 21, we will host a community-based softball and baseball skills clinic for young people in the community where we host the girls' trainings. This clinic will include a school supply and personal care product giveaway featuring a backpack, pencils, soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and soccer balls. The Softball for Success participants will help facilitate the clinic and distribution as a part of their community service component of the camp.

Later that day, we will play friendly games with the three adult teams that are a part of our Softball Salone adult league, which has taken place for two seasons now in the winter. The league is designed to enable the adult coaches and players to enjoy the many benefits that recreational sports can offer while also helping the participants to become more familiar with the game so that they are better positioned to work with young people as softball coaches, as adult involvement and investment is critical to the success of youth programs. These games will include lunch as well as soap, a toothbrush, and toothpaste for the adult participants.

How You Can Help
All of these initiatives are completely free for the participants, and we need your help to make them possible!

We are collecting monetary donations to cover the full cost of the seven-day Softball for Success Summer Camp, and these costs include meals (for both participants and counselors/coaches), beverages, snacks, participant transportation, a transportation stipend for each participant, youth development activities fees, t-shirts, athletic clothing and undergarments, personal care products, school supplies, medical care and first aid supplies, school fees and related expenses, field rental/cleaning fees, and any softball equipment that cannot be obtained through donations. They also include equipment bags, airline baggage fees, and any contributions to our partner organizations.

Fortunately, through our community partnerships and contributions from Philadelphia Adult League Softball players, much of the softball equipment is already covered. In addition, everyone who is participating is volunteering their time which reduces the costs significantly.

For $20, you can cover the cost of four new sports bras for program participants
For $37, you can cover one 110-lb bag for rice for a participants’ family, providing food for them for a month
For $50, you can cover the youth development activities for one week for one girl
For $75, you can cover the cost of new underwear for all of the girls
For $100, you can cover one day of ice cream treats for the girls
For $150, you can support school fees and educational expenses for one girl
For $225, you can provide medals for all of the girls
For $250, you can cover the cost of going to the movies for all of the girls
For $275, you can provide one day of lunch and beverages for program participants, coaches/counselors, and young spectators from the community
For $300, you can cover the cost of replenishing all of the program first aid supplies
For $350, you can provide new cleats for all of the girls
For $500, you can support hospital visits and medication through our medical fund
For $610, you can provide new sneakers for all of the girls
For $700, you can cover the cost of athletic gear for all of the girls including t-shirts, shorts, socks, underwear, and sports bras
For $1,000, you can cover the cost of the beach day for all 47 girls including meals, transport, and entry fees
For $1,740, you can cover the cost of all of the 110 lb bags of rice for the 47 program participants

If we exceed the amount needed, we will put the funds towards additional supplies, meals, activities, and program costs. If you’d like to donate supplies from our wish list, click here.

You can learn more at www.letschangeupsports.org. Thank you so much for your consideration and your support. We truly could not do it without you, and you will be making such a difference for so many young people.

Support Our Third Annual Softball for Success Summer Camp + Volunteer Service Trip in Sierra Leone!

Continue to change the lives of 47 teenage girls in Freetown this summer!

Team Members