The morning is pretty uneventful, I was working away on my laptop. For the last few days of being here, I’ve been trying to track down Junior, the boy with the mental disability, and his mom. When I swung by their house the other day, Sarah told me they moved. Today, she asked a few others and people in the town said she actually moved again to Dar es Salaam, the capitol of Tanzania located 13 hours away. Part of is initially sad since I really wanted to see Junior & Mama Junior again, I had such powerful moments with them both that really changed me. Then I think about how their family must be taken care of now, Mama Junior probably has more job opportunities and maybe Junior is enrolled in a mentally disabled school. I ask for a phone number and Sarah says they don’t have a cell. Maybe I’ll never see them again for the rest of my life, but I’ll never forget them.
I learned from the other Westerners here doing malaria research that the incidence of malaria has declined significantly, one source said a 75% drop in cases. The government went house-to-house and sprayed pesticides on the inside of houses that kill mosquitoes instantly, the process is called indoor residual spraying. This occurred in March and they apparently did a great job and offered the service to every household. Another student is here evaluating whether or not Village Life Outreach Project needs to continue distributing mosquito nets and the conclusion is no. I’m thrilled that the spraying has drastically cut down on unnecessary deaths and suffering from malaria. I remember all the sad interview conducted last year and hope that the next generation in Shirati can be eradicated of malaria.
I excitedly prep the donated cleats to bring to the second girls soccer practice. Today the girls are practicing in their normal spot, on the airstrip across the street which is basically miles of pastures with grazing cows and acts as a sort of heli-pad for the private planes that come in a blue moon (mostly an NGO called Flying Doctors which fly surgeons into remote areas). I bring Sarah along to translate for me. As we talk about the soccer team, I learn that she actually played soccer in secondary school in Kenya which is very rare. Sarah also went to a championship game playing soccer. I ask her if she would like to be an assistant coach and was thrilled at the connection. She is interested in learning about payments for being a coach, which nearly everyone in Shirati is looking for a job, and I tell her its more of a stipend and does not pay much but is aimed more for the girls. I ask Sarah if she has a friend and she says yes. My hope was really to start training women under the main coaches so that we can eventually have female coaches.
I conduct mini-interviews one-by-one with each of the soccer girls while giving them a chance to pick out shoes. We distributed about 14 out of the 16 pairs of shoes and wrote down a handful of names that still need shoes. During the interview, I photograph each of the girls and video record Sarah asking each girl a few questions about herself (favorite color, favorite school subject, dream job, # siblings, position in soccer & why she plays soccer). Nearly all of the girls answered “to be physically fit” for the latter question haha. The girls were so ecstatic using their new cleats and pennies rather than running around barefoot and pulling a sleeve down as they have been doing for the past year.
At the end of practice, Niko (the coach) wants me to take a photo with his cute toddler daughter. Niko ’s other daughter is actually on the team, which is a pleasant surprise for me. He tells the girls that I’m the mzungu who owns the team – which I quickly correct him and say not at all. Yes Mel and I did buy soccer balls and some equipment but it truly is the persistence of the coaches and the dedication of the girls as well as support from the community that made the team last. I walk back with the girls and they see my blackberry background which sparks showing them pictures of America and then other places I’ve traveled too. They are fascinated by the different pictures and start playing with my hair. I love how its possible to make even small friendships and connections with these sweet young girls even though we don’t understand each other verbally. As I’m writing this blog way past midnight, the skies are pouring. The rains in Africa always sound so beautiful and give the perfect breeze inside. I’m totally enamored with all of the African natural beauty.
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