NFA Dinner, Mommy Soccer, and Guys Night
Simon and I were driving home tonight from Shaun’s house (more on this later) and we were talking about how special the last few days always seem to be on a trip to Namibia. I don’t know if it’s that we tend to do more fun things in the end to savor every last moment, or whether we just appreciate every little memory more in the end. Whatever the truth may be, these last few days with the kids have been a blast. Get ready, I’m about to gush some more…
Friday afternoon I met with Debbie, one of the women from ladies’ doubles, to help her brainstorm ideas for a child she is tutoring. As it turns out, the child is 10 years old and just moved to Namibia and only speaks Spanish… my specialty! We met for about an hour with the girl and I modeled a lot of different ESL strategies she could use to help the girl. It was fun talking Spanish with the girl, too. She seemed happy to have someone to talk to for a bit. (I just can’t remember her name!!)
At the center it was Friday Fun Day- the kids were running around playing four square, reading, playing legos, and just being kids. The last of my students were finishing up their stories and I decided to take the opportunity to clean up the classroom I had been using so I recruited about ten kids and we scrubbed the room down. Tables, chairs, floors, windowsills, shelves- everything! The room looked sparkling when we finished. What’s amazing is that the kids CLEANING were having as much fun as the kids playing… they just love being at the center.
Friday night MaryBeth was invited to a going away dinner for a man who had been working for the Namibian Football Association and women’s soccer for the past year. Naturally, MaryBeth invited ALL the Pumpkins (the girl soccer players from the center) and they sang some songs for Kevin. I got a few videos of the girls singing. We brought Denzel along and on the way home I pushed Denzel’s wheelchair while giving tiny Beula a piggy back ride. The whole walk back I was pretending like Beula was choking me while swerving Denzel’s chair- he was laughing hysterically the whole way!
Today was soccer day. MaryBeth has the girls playing on a beautiful grass field these days and today the mothers were invited to play as well. About eight moms showed up and played a few games with the girls. The entire soccer program has grown so much and MaryBeth (along with the NFA) has done so much to empower these young girls. The girls are so polite and joyful when playing. Some of the girls that started with MaryBeth are competing on a national level and two are on the women’s national team!
I invited the 6th grade boys to hang out on Saturday afternoon to say goodbye and have some “guy time.” Rivaldo, Simson, Ronaldo, Rabon, and Elias have been so much fun to rough house with, joke with, and teach this summer. I wanted to show my appreciation by spending time with them. I also wanted them to spend some time with Shaun. He is the 27 year old Namibian guy who owns a house a few blocks away that many of the volunteers stay at. He is young, cool, and respectable and I am hoping he will mentor some of these boys on a regular basis when I go. There is such a need for these boys (and all boys) to have solid, reliable, moral, male role models. It is something that I am becoming more and more passionate about and something I want to start back home at PS 103. Having read John Eldredge’s book, “Wild at Heart”, recently has inspired me even more. One of Eldredge’s main ideas is that masculinity breeds masculinity and that boys need to be shown how to be men. I highly recommend the book.
Anyway, Simon and I picked up some pizzas and sodas and the boys around 4:30pm then headed over to Shaun’s. The boys were amped up and ecstatic to be hanging out. It was such a cool evening. We pulled up to Shaun’s house (about 2km from the center) and the boys jumped right into his freezing cold pool! Then we popped open the pizzas, shot some baskets and ran around outside until the sun went down. Afterwards we went inside and watched The Incredibles. By 8pm the boys were back outside running around and rough housing with me and Simon. We just dropped them off and got back home a few minutes ago. The experience was so rewarding- for the boys and for us. It’s a great memory for all of us.
Simon and I are meeting up with Nangula, Scobi, and one of Simon’s german friends for drinks tonight. Tomorrow is another jam-packed day… full of good memories, I’m sure. I hope you are well … God bless you!
The pix are of Mommy Soccer, Singing on Friday night, Cleaning the center, and tonight with the boys.
Friday afternoon I met with Debbie, one of the women from ladies’ doubles, to help her brainstorm ideas for a child she is tutoring. As it turns out, the child is 10 years old and just moved to Namibia and only speaks Spanish… my specialty! We met for about an hour with the girl and I modeled a lot of different ESL strategies she could use to help the girl. It was fun talking Spanish with the girl, too. She seemed happy to have someone to talk to for a bit. (I just can’t remember her name!!)
At the center it was Friday Fun Day- the kids were running around playing four square, reading, playing legos, and just being kids. The last of my students were finishing up their stories and I decided to take the opportunity to clean up the classroom I had been using so I recruited about ten kids and we scrubbed the room down. Tables, chairs, floors, windowsills, shelves- everything! The room looked sparkling when we finished. What’s amazing is that the kids CLEANING were having as much fun as the kids playing… they just love being at the center.
Friday night MaryBeth was invited to a going away dinner for a man who had been working for the Namibian Football Association and women’s soccer for the past year. Naturally, MaryBeth invited ALL the Pumpkins (the girl soccer players from the center) and they sang some songs for Kevin. I got a few videos of the girls singing. We brought Denzel along and on the way home I pushed Denzel’s wheelchair while giving tiny Beula a piggy back ride. The whole walk back I was pretending like Beula was choking me while swerving Denzel’s chair- he was laughing hysterically the whole way!
Today was soccer day. MaryBeth has the girls playing on a beautiful grass field these days and today the mothers were invited to play as well. About eight moms showed up and played a few games with the girls. The entire soccer program has grown so much and MaryBeth (along with the NFA) has done so much to empower these young girls. The girls are so polite and joyful when playing. Some of the girls that started with MaryBeth are competing on a national level and two are on the women’s national team!
I invited the 6th grade boys to hang out on Saturday afternoon to say goodbye and have some “guy time.” Rivaldo, Simson, Ronaldo, Rabon, and Elias have been so much fun to rough house with, joke with, and teach this summer. I wanted to show my appreciation by spending time with them. I also wanted them to spend some time with Shaun. He is the 27 year old Namibian guy who owns a house a few blocks away that many of the volunteers stay at. He is young, cool, and respectable and I am hoping he will mentor some of these boys on a regular basis when I go. There is such a need for these boys (and all boys) to have solid, reliable, moral, male role models. It is something that I am becoming more and more passionate about and something I want to start back home at PS 103. Having read John Eldredge’s book, “Wild at Heart”, recently has inspired me even more. One of Eldredge’s main ideas is that masculinity breeds masculinity and that boys need to be shown how to be men. I highly recommend the book.
Anyway, Simon and I picked up some pizzas and sodas and the boys around 4:30pm then headed over to Shaun’s. The boys were amped up and ecstatic to be hanging out. It was such a cool evening. We pulled up to Shaun’s house (about 2km from the center) and the boys jumped right into his freezing cold pool! Then we popped open the pizzas, shot some baskets and ran around outside until the sun went down. Afterwards we went inside and watched The Incredibles. By 8pm the boys were back outside running around and rough housing with me and Simon. We just dropped them off and got back home a few minutes ago. The experience was so rewarding- for the boys and for us. It’s a great memory for all of us.
Simon and I are meeting up with Nangula, Scobi, and one of Simon’s german friends for drinks tonight. Tomorrow is another jam-packed day… full of good memories, I’m sure. I hope you are well … God bless you!
The pix are of Mommy Soccer, Singing on Friday night, Cleaning the center, and tonight with the boys.
posted by Jim | 4:33 PM
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