Over ten years ago, before I committed to running track and field, I was a pretty good soccer player. It was my absolute favorite sport. It still is my favorite sport. I can still remember the thrill of putting on the AYSO uniform on Saturday mornings and going to the field. I felt like a professional soccer player. It is one of the best feelings that I can remember from my childhood. I completely loved soccer.
I don’t remember when exactly, but I have this vague memory of seeing a picture or pamphlet at church or school or somewhere. You know how schools or churches always have those service fairs or presentations on some organization that helps the needy. It was one of those I think. All I can remember is that there was a picture of little children in Africa playing soccer. I thought to myself, “That is so cool! I want to do that!” Then later on through out my life I kept seeing pictures like that, of African children playing soccer, or of volunteers or missionaries playing soccer with African children. I wanted a picture like that. I wanted me to be the missioner in that picture. Even before I thought about doing service or helping the poor or anything like that, all I wanted was to have a picture of me playing soccer with African children. Even as I stopped playing soccer for many many years (something that I regret now) I still had that dream in the back of my mind.
While I was trying to discern what service program to join after graduation, one of my criteria was having the chance to play soccer with the local people. That was one of my top priorities. If the program did not have that then it was a deal breaker for me. When I applied for the International Summer Service Learning Program at Notre Dame, one of the main reasons that I really wanted to go to Uganda was because there was a picture in the binder for Uganda with a past volunteer teaching PE and running around with a ball with the children.
This is what has made South Sudan so perfect for me. When I was looking at site placements for the SLMs, Gumbo, South Sudan was the only site that had “sports ministry” under its description. Not only was it in Africa, but it also had “sports ministry” as a job description. It was absolutely perfect for me and immediately made it a priority to go there. I pushed pretty hard to go to South Sudan.
Now that I am here it has been a dream come true. I am now the director of the youth center and get to play sports with friends and play with little kids as a part of my job. Every other day the Don Bosco FC team has practice on the football field right outside my house and they have been so welcoming and encouraging of me to play. Even though I am not nearly as good as I was when I was 10, and no where near as good or as fit as the people here, playing with them is a dream come true.
As I have gotten better (or maybe they just feel bad for me) the team has welcomed me to play actual games with them. Last month, I was getting the ball ready for the upcoming match that afternoon. When I gave the balls to the team, they asked me why I didn’t have my football shoes on. It kind of caught me by surprise and I spit out some excuse for not playing. They kept encouraging me to play and get my shoes and so I finally did. Putting on the Don Bosco FC uniform was a dream come true for me. Not only did it bring me back to the days when I was a kid putting on the soccer uniform, but it also was a fulfillment of a life long dream (I realize that my life has not been that long, but over 10 years is pretty long for me). It was not just playing a friendly game of football, which I loved already, but I was actually getting to put on the uniform and represent the Don Bosco team and play in an actual game. It was a really special moment for me. I didn’t play very well… I probably shouldn’t have been put in the starting line up or even been playing at all, but I have come to appreciate the people here making a dream of mine come true. Since then, I have had more confidence to play and have been playing on the team whenever I get the chance as the only white guy on the field. And of course, I made my friend take some pictures.
It is funny how a simple dream like wanting a picture of playing soccer with children in Africa has really taken off to change my life. If it was not for that dream, who knows if I would be in South Sudan right now. Of course I am here for more reasons than just getting a picture of myself playing soccer, but if it were not for that dream, I may have never considered spending over a year in Africa. Even the smallest dreams can lead you to wonderful unexpected places.
Update On My Life:
As the new school year begins, I have a couple of new responsibilities at the secondary school where I work. Along with all of the administrative work that I do for the school, I am now the disciplinarian of the school (I laughed when the principal said he wanted me to fill this role, but apparently he was serious). I am also picking up more classes teaching Religion (Senior 1, 2, 3), Math (Senior 3,4) and Writing (Senior 3,4) for a total of 7 classes. It is sure to be an extremely busy year, but I am very excited to have all this work to do! I will try to do a better job keeping you updated from now on.
