Wednesday 17th March
Wow, can’t believe we have been here only one day yet have met so many people and done so much.
The day starts at 6:45 when we leave our hotel and head off for the daily briefing meeting at Umthombo. We have been assigned to the Nicaraguan team , a fabulous, welcoming, smily team. Within moments of getting on the bus we were getting to know the coach Julio Cesar (sound familiar?) and the team players. We headed to a local school where the kids got involved in creating liiving sculptures and drawing images of safety. All the kids drew pictures included pictures of home and depicted Casa Alianza the project that works with them. Kieran also participated. As soon as we arrived Milton the Nicaraguan team’s goalkeeper came up and tied a handmade bracelet around Kieran’s wrist.
Next it was footy practise and Kieran was allowed to participate fully which was great, even if his Mum did forget his trainers and he had to play bare foot. Which was kind of weird, a complete role reversal, the street children in full kit and Kieran bare foot. I could see Kieran had been fully accepted as Juan Carlos lifted him onto the bus and all the kids kept high fiving him.
The afternoon was spent watching the tournament, I never thought I could get so excited by football. Something about the fact that I was interested in the kids and in the case of the Nicaraguan team was already getting to know them and care about them and the fact they were down 2 players and had no-one to sub. And the kids? Well there is Marcia who fractured her ankle yesterday against India, Santiago, who has a sprained ankle but still tried to play today due to lack of subs, Victor, so young and excitable and swift to anger, Kevin so beautiful and sweet and who only joined the team 2 weeks ago, Juan Carlos who has a soft spot for Kieran (and indeed one of the girls at the local school - he asked me to translate and invite her to watch him play), Wendy, who has so much pressure on her now that she is the only girl (one girl has to be on the pitch at all times) and I have no doubt each and every one of them has a story to tell.
It’s interesting how you forget that these are children from the streets, they are all dressed in their football kits all day, having fun, getting over excited, competitive, tired and they are no different than any other children their age and then suddenly you are reminded by the odd little thing, as I sat looking at a brochure with Santiago (age 15) and he was pointing at the different teams and saying where they were from and often getting it wrong I suddenly realised he was only looking at the pictures and not the words underneath. At we been sitting in a situation where I was visiting him on the streets or at the project he is in I might have expected that, even presuming he wouldn’t be able to read (even though of course this would be an assumption rather than a fact) but I had completely forgotton. I also found myself thinking that the Ukranian team were very young, they all look so small, but it was pointed out to me that living undergroud as they do, on top of malnutrition tends not to be great for physical development. Finally, when I saw 2 very young South African kids play fighting outside I suddenly realised they were re-enacting stabbing using the plastic cutlery we used and it all just looked a little too realistic and took on a whole other angle.
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