Marc Klok was raised in the Netherlands and played in Scotland, Bulgaria and England as well, before arriving in Indonesia in 2017, where he eventually became an Indonesian international. The captain of Persib Bandung launched the Marc Klok Foundation to provide children in underprivileged areas with education and opportunity to play football.
By Marc Klok
Moving to Indonesia changed my life. To me, the country symbolises luck, fortune, respect, home, success. I often think back to when I arrived in this country. I had nothing and that reality helped keep my feet on the ground. I had to work hard and make sacrifices.
I have achieved a special status in Indonesia, and it is nice that people recognise me for what I’ve accomplished. I’ve basically won everything I could win here. I embrace it all, but I will not forget the journey of how I got here. You can lose everything in an instant, and it takes forever to build.
As a professional footballer you often focus on yourself. Everything evolves around you, your game, your performance, your status, your ego. You often only think about your own wellbeing and your family’s. At a given moment, I thought I had achieved everything. I was happy and satisfied. I was thinking about a new challenge and discussing this with my mental coach, and he suggested that providing happiness to others could also positively affect my own happiness.
He got me thinking and planted a seed. Why should I worry about other people’s wellbeing? That was not really part of the education I enjoyed as a player. They taught me how to be the best, not about social impact. But the seed started to grow. I discussed it with my business partner, who liked the concept and advised me to start a foundation, especially as my activities will have much more impact when I am still playing.
Growing up as a child in the Netherlands, I enjoyed free education and there were so many playgrounds and pitches that my friends and I could play football almost everywhere. I had so many opportunities in the Netherlands. But, unfortunately, here in Indonesia, not all children have those opportunities.
For those children, I wanted to create the same opportunities that I enjoyed, as Indonesia has given me so much. I am thankful to live my life here and I wanted to give something back to the children of the country that has been so good to me. These children living in underprivileged areas should be able to develop, show their talents and chase their dreams of a better future.
We launched the Marc Klok Foundation about a year-and-a-half ago, and we have two pillars: education and football. We set huge goals, as you have to dream big, right? We provide them with education by building schools in areas where there are none or where schools have been destroyed by natural disasters, such as earthquakes. We want to build good football pitches in every city in Indonesia, and we want to organise activities to support children growing their self-confidence.
Although we’ve only just started, we’ve already built two schools, one orphanage and one football pitch. In West Java, we opened a school for children with special needs. We started with 53 children and 15 teachers. It was built by utilising eco-bricks from recycled plastic waste.
We also started a collaboration with a clothing brand and launched a special jersey called Gol Kita, meaning ‘Our Goal’. The design shows children pursuing their dreams. We marketed the jersey, and it’s already sold out. All proceeds went to a charity.
I've got a team working with me on the foundation, and we try to realise most things through partnerships. We teamed up with another foundation that possessed the knowledge to build a school. We also find specialists to help us.
I love to be involved, whether that is discussing how we fund our actions or developing activities to help improve children's confidence. Brick by brick, we are building our own foundation, and it is simply fun. It has taught me to put my ego aside to help others.
Opening a school feels a bit unreal. In the Netherlands, everyone can go to school, but in Indonesia it is a privilege. So, if you can build and open a school, and parents, mothers, come over to genuinely thank you, as if you are a special person, then that is very touching. It is beautiful to see people being so happy. If you think about it, we are changing lives. Their lives. Maybe they couldn't read or write. We are providing them with extra opportunities to explore their future.
You have to dream big. I want to inspire millions of people, leave a legacy with pitches and schools on as many islands as possible. Is it realistic? I don't know, but even if I only achieve half of it, then it would still be amazing.
My biggest dream would be creating a community of footballers, artists, celebrities and even companies all sharing the same mission and vision. If we combine all our voices, we will make an incredible impact, and we will be able to touch more people's lives.
