So, I have been a little lazy with my writing lately. No excuses..but I have a pretty good reason. The reason: about three weeks ago I left Pungu Villa and moved into the village to live with two Kenyan sisters. I have become good friends with Sylvia and Awore through the orphanage and other acquaintances. Yes, I know, I lived with two girls (Gabi and Wangari) at Pungu and now I am living with two more in the village. However, I forgot to mention that I have a volunteer from Sweden, great guy, who wanted to come help me with the L.C.F.L. HIS name is Patrick and he is living with us as well. He is a typical 18 year old Sweden..Blue eyes..Blonde hair..loves football and beer haha. Also, next door is my good friend, Hibra, who I have gotten to know very well over the past months (we like eating mangos and talking about life). So, I do have some male camaraderie in my life.
Living in the village next to Hibra, with two Kenyans and a Swede has been great. I have not wanted to take time to sit down at a computer for the past couple weeks. When I finish with league "stuff" or training a team, I want to just hang out with my current roommates. For example, right now Awore (one of the sisters I am living with) is singing behind me as I write this blog. I wouldn't say she is the best singer, but she definitely is an amazing dancer. She moves in ways that I cannot haha. We had our first dance lesson last week. (Big-Bro I might come back a better dancer than you..just a heads up. I promise not to show you up on your wedding night…)
Living in the village has been a great experience. No running water..I shower over the toilet. I do not call it a shower with Silly (Sylvia) and Eddie (Awore)..I tell them, " I am going to bucket myself", whenever I am going to bathe. I brush my teeth outside..No sink. I have also learned to wash the dishes without a sink..But, I have only done that once. Awore is the expert cleaner in the house. She cleaned my year-old shoes and made them look brand new. Also, she cleaned the carpet the other day in record time: five minutes. She truly is an EXPERT CLEANER. Things are different here and without a sink or running water I am definitely learning a new way to live..I LOVE IT. I think I may change to "bucketing" when I get home..We will see.
What else.. Ali's toe is mostly better. The other day I took the kids from the orphanage to go play football/soccer and Ali played (I am telling you I thought his toes were completely healed..I wish I took a picture). However, after Ali scored two goals he was accidentally stepped on and the wound partially reopened..I have been taking care of it every other day. I am pretty sure he will be okay.
Ali's toes are not perfect and neither is the league. I mean I hope you guys aren't expecting the league to be perfect right away. That was my goal, but "perfect" is not the right word for the L.C.F.L. You may sense some frustration in the way I am writing about this subject…I am going to be honest. I am pretty frustrated. One of the U-16 teams just dropped out of the league due to issues with teams not playing players that are the appropriate age…Age has been an issue from the start, and the coaches have stated that they will trust each other to put the right players out on the field. However, some of the teams are playing kids that are definitely not kids, and probably 18 or 19 years old. Now, you cannot look at a player and say you are not 16, or you are not 15…I mean look at Lebron James. He looked 30 when he was 16 years old.. So, what can we do? Half the kids in the league do not have documentation or a birth certificate. The only thing we can do is play out the season and hope the coaches come around to play the appropriate-aged players…It is possible that teams in the U-16 age group will slowly drop out, and U-16 league may not finish. The way to fix this problem: The committee has decided that documentation is necessary and it is very possible for every player on every teem to get the right documentation by September ( the start of the next season). So teams who have documentation will play in September , and the issue with age will be resolved.
(Awore just called for me to show me how high the Jenga tower was….Patrick and I bought the house Jenga today. If anyone does not know what Jenga is..shame on you..)
So, the league has problems…But, let us look at the positives. Schedules have been made that start May 8th and go until July 31st. There are about 600 kids that will be playing every Sunday for three straight months…not bad. Three sets of goal posts have been put up, and more are on their way. Referee schedules have been made for the season, and eight referees will be officiating the matches throughout May, June, and July. Thirteen coaches have come together to start the league..Meaning there are thirteen clubs and a total of thirty teams. I still say thirty teams, because the club that dropped out of the U-16 league, their coaches, are still participating and a part of the league committee. They still want to be involved with the process and are hoping that by September, the league will correct the AGE issue. AND I am coming back to Kenya in August to make sure this league keeps on moving in the right direction.
I have deferred from graduate school and decided to come back to Kenya. Not really a hard decision for me because I love what I am doing. The only things keeping me from coming back to Kenya are the people I love back at home and Moose (the family dog). But, I knew I would be kicking myself a year or two down the road if I didn't make the decision to see this thing through. So, the plan is to work, fundraise for the league,hopefully get together with my good friend mr. Spitz and make the L.C.F.L. website, get together with my good friend Mr. Appelbaum and make brochures, and do anything I can to better the Likoni Community Football League. My hope is that I can come back to Kenya for three to six months, and by the end of my stay the league will be set up and everything will be put in place. I have promised myself that I will be starting school next June. So, I cannot stay longer than nine months :).
HOPE ALL IS WELL AT HOME. I will be home in about a week. If there are no delays I should be home May 16th..I am looking forward to having a bowl of cereal and a bagel and cream cheese. AND seeing the family, friends and MOOSE!
