Soccer!!

Gol!  I have to say, I never thought I’d like playing soccer so much.  For one thing, I’m terrible at it J  And secondly, I’m not very good.  But, graciously, the kids don’t care that much.  They simply enjoy being outside, spending time with their friends, and playing a fun game of soccer with whoever wants to play.  We have kids anywhere from 8 years old and up, with Rachel and I being the oldest on the field but not by a lot.  This past week, we dedicated time each day to go play soccer with them, a treat for their last week of vacation before school starts.  Nearly every day, we had 15 plus kids show up!  It was a racket, let me tell you!  And, yes, most of the kids who showed up were boys.  A few girls’ interest were perked when they saw us girls playing but they were too timid to join in the game.  So, we set aside a day to play with just them, to teach them the basics and to play a game without the boys bugging them.  It was so fun to see them running around, learning how to kick the ball and how to keep it away from their friends.  In all, playing soccer has been a great bonding experience for all of us who play.

The Court

There is a plan though.  We love to play soccer, of course, but that’s not all there is to it.  The court is in pretty bad shape with holes in the surrounding fence, metal rods sticking out every which way, the concrete is wearing away and the loose parts cause slips and falls constantly, the court itself is not of proper size (it’s more of a square than a rectangle), and we keep losing our balls because the fence isn’t high enough to keep them in the court.  In all, playing here is fun but at times dangerous.  We’d like to change that.  BUT we don’t want to be the people who make that change for the kids.  The plan is to work WITH the kids to make this change happen.  With the kids we’ll plan events for fundraising, for petitioning the government to step in and be responsible for fixing it, for coordinating meetings with local government representatives, for raising awareness, and whatever else needs to happen.  We want to build up the kids’ capacity to enact change, to have them believe that they can be agents for change, that they can make things happen.  We’ll walk with them along the way, but this is to be their growing experience. 

We have no idea how long this is going to take us.  A few months, a year, maybe never.  But our goal is to see it through until we can help out no longer.  Please keep this project in your prayers as we endeavor to empower these kids to enact change in their community.  Pray that we don’t lose hope, that we persevere when times get tough, that we keep our motivation going no matter what.  Pray that these kids will learn all they can, that they will embrace this project, and that they will enjoy helping their community.  Stay tuned to hear more about how this project unfolds!