The latest from Ndejje

Slowly, but surely, we are getting the Soccer Without Borders program up and running in Ndejje. As it turns out, the last few years, SWB presence in Ndejje has been primarily focused on building the actual infrastructure, so while the physical building of the youth center is up, it will be up to us to create relationships with kids from other schools in order to get the program up and running. We have a pretty steady contingent of about 25 kids who come to soccer trainings right now, and kids often stop by when we're inside the youth center, but the concept of attending after school programs is very new so it will take some time to establish some consistency.

Two weeks ago, we were meeting the kids at the center to administer training gear prior to heading to the pitch for practice. As soon as the kids arrived though, it started monsooning! While the rain was kind of a downer at first, it ended up being a blessing because we were able to hang out, play some games, and do some artwork with the kids for the next two hours while it poured. It was fun spending time with the kids, getting to know them, and having them feel more comfortable with us as well.

This past Saturday was bright and sunny though, so we got to have our regularly scheduled training session. It was so much fun! And it was the first training session where I walked away feeling satisfied with what had been accomplished. Adam and I worked with the girls, and we actually got to teach them a thing or two about soccer, while still having fun. There are so many life lessons that can be learned inherently by participating in sports, and it is cool being able to convey those lessons as a coach. That's why soccer is such a powerful tool to reach out to these kids, it knows no language or cultural barriers, and the lessons are the same worldwide.

At the end of the training session, we had the girls play 5v5 because of limited field space, so each team also had two subs. When one little girl came off the field for her turn as a substitute, she looked at me and said, "Coach, you should pull Deborah off, she isn't very good and is not working hard." My immediate instinct was to laugh, because that is something I used to tell my youth coaches when I was frustrated with teammates who were slacking...but I held in my laughter and told her that it wasn't very nice to talk about teammates like that and that she should encourage her teammates instead. Ah, reminded me of my days of youth soccer, hahaha. Now I can understand my coaches reasoning when they tried explaining the same thing to me, although I still think my point was somewhat justified at times.

As I wrote a while ago, I have been attending church with my friend Jackline. She is a member of her youth group at church and they decided to make me a t-shirt and asked me to join their group. I complied, only to find out this past Sunday that we will be leading worship this upcoming Sunday in front of the entire church. WHAT?!! The regular worship team dances and claps and moves all around the stage while singing, I'm game for clapping, but I do not dance in church. I feel awkward enough dancing on other occasions, let alone at church! And, I am not exactly sure how I am going to sing these songs since ninety percent of them are in Luganda! Good thing we have practice on Wednesday. Anyhow, I am pretty nervous about this Sunday and am considering faking being sick with malaria...This past Sunday was embarrassing enough when the pastor thought it would be a good idea to call out the only mzungu in church and invited me to come to the front and introduce myself to everyone. As if I already don't draw enough attention to myself every Sunday with kids crawling all over me during the service and clapping awkwardly and shuffling my feet as I try to escape full on dancing. So, stay tuned as I'm sure I'll have a great story after church this Sunday.

In other dancing news, we went into Kampala for the international arts festival this past weekend. There were a bunch of bands performing from the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya. Boy, do Africans looooove their dancing! I keep finding myself in these situations where I am expected to dance, but am surrounded by people who are actually good dancers so I just end of feeling totally inadequate. I try to just ignore my self-consciousness and enjoy myself. It worked pretty well that night. Anyways, the Congolese band was awesome, and we actually got to meet them as we were leaving the concert because they were just outside the exit! So cool! Whoever thought I would become a Congolese groupie? Not I.

So, that's life in Ndejje. Just plugging away at things Africa time and continuing to enjoy the time spent with the kids. Until next time!