Back in the USA

We made it to Pittsburgh , PA yesterday; however, our baggage did not. After a couple of hours working our way through customs, filing our lost luggage claim and then talking to the airlines and the rental car company, we dedicided it was best to rent a car and drive to Washington, DC. By 9:30 pm last night we were beginning to encounter heavy rain and the wind was picking up so we decided to get a room in Frederick, MD and let the eye of Irene pass by to the east of us. We are now back up at 6:00 am and so ready to be home with our family.
We'll update the blog again later today with thoughts about our trip.

Travel Schedule

This will be quick to update our travel schedule: We are currently in Paris at 3:25 am home (9:25 Paris time Saturday morning) we are rebooked on a flight to Pittsburgh to avoid Irene. We arrive in Pittsb. around 2 pm and then will figure out if we can catch a flight to or need to rent a car. God willing, we do plan to be home tonigth (Sat.). David and Sarah

In Nakuru

We are now safely in Nakuru, Kenya’s fourth largest city. We met early this morning to finalize a few details about our “next steps” and then began the seven hour journey from Migori to Nakuru. Tomorrow morning bright and early we’ll be off to a safari drive; hoping to see 4 of Africa’s big 5: lion, leopard, Cape buffalo, rhinoceros. The African elephant is the fifth; however, they are not in this game park. Later in the afternoon we’ll start out for Nairobi. Our flight leaves tomorrow night at 10:30 pm Kenyan time, which is 3:30 pm east coast time. We’ll be connecting through Paris and then it’s on to Dulles, hopefully ahead of Hurricane Irene.

We’ve had a great time in Kenya and have met so many wonderful and warm people.  We’re looking forward to getting back home and connecting with as many soccer clubs as we can to get old uniforms and cleats donated for teams here in Kenya. Currently we have 6 teams in the 8-14 age and 6 teams in the 14 and above age group. They will be training and arranging matches with each other with the dream of having a big tournament next June.  Additionally, our aim is to provide the opportunity for the youngest Kenyan children to get a chance to touch a soccer ball and begin to develop the coordination and skills necessary for building a strong soccer foundation. These children are often pushed aside as the older boys get to play with the only real soccer ball. We’ve posted a picture of a boy and one such ball.

You may be wondering if there’s anything else that you can do to help out in some way. I’d like to encourage you to consider going to the Start With One Kenya website and make a donation for a water filter. There are many problems here but lack of clean water is one of the biggest causes of sickness and disease. You would not believe the dirty water that people are using for drinking water. The missionary that we are here with, Bill Coble, is dedicated to providing a water filter to every family in Kenya. www.startwithonekenya.org

Thanks for following our blog…now it’s back to watching the movie, Out of Africa.

Tuesday In Kenya

We had a great day today. This morning we went to two primary schools in Migori, Kenya. We met with several teachers in each school and then had a chance to address the students in 4 classrooms. Interestingly, this month is holiday so regular school is not in session; but many students are paying extra to be in school for the month to learn more!
In the afternoon we visited another school in Kaponga and then went and visited a United Methodist Rural Health Clinic. This community health center provides services to women in child birth for only $3 which is  much cheaper than area clinics and hospitals and is saving lives. In addition, the provide other health services such as important testing for disease as well as caring for women and children that are HIV/Aids positive.
Later in the afternoon we went to a soccer match at a school in Kaponga. This particular school along with the local United Methodist Church has embraced the Upward Soccer concept. They have hundreds of children eager to participate!
Tomorrow we have a 3 hour drive to a location near Lake Victoria to visit with another community that will be incorporating the soccer program.

What an amazing day!

We met with over 30 church leaders and youth from six different parishes and outlined the Upward Soccer program. It was immediately apparent that these are committed Christians and they were very impressed with the vision for Upward in Kenya and eager to get started. Their initial plan is to start an Upward program in six areas and then look to replicate the model all over Kenya. They have fantastic athletic ability and great passion for soccer; they just lack the resources and tools to get things organized.

After the training we went with local church leaders in Migori to a school where a group of 10-12 year old boys were playing. It was a joy to see them play and to compare them to our children who are the same age. You definitely see a difference in the style of how the play. Also, the surface of the field was red clay and rock with a little patch of grass on one sideline. Some of the boys had no shoes at all, others wore sandals  and a few had on very old cleats with big holes in the toes or somewhere else. We did not hand out the Chesterfield United FC jerseys, shorts and cleats we brought because initially we thought we were to watch older youth in their late teens or early twenties play and we have predominately youth sizes.  At half time of their game Sarah and I both were asked to say a few words to the boys and we told them we brought well wishes from everyone in America and that we were very impressed with their play and that we looked forward to helping them get uniforms, cleats and soccer balls for training. These boys are going to be so happy to get the uniforms and gear that you donated!

In addition to soccer, Sarah met a wonderful woman named Mary that teaches several different grades at the local school and tomorrow we’ll get to stop by and visit with her classes. Sarah is hoping to connect these children to her class at Ecoff.  We also met a man who is a pastor and a teacher and we are going to visit him and his students as well.

Thank you for your prayers and for donating so much soccer gear.  We only wish that you experience the joy of the Kenyan people.  

We Made It!!

After a long and exhausting day of travel we made it to Nairobi last night about 10:30 pm local time. Nairobi is 7 hours ahead of home. Victor, our wonderful driver was there to pick us up and all 5 bags of balls, jerseys, shorts, etc. all made it. We were a little worried clearing customs but a very nice lady waved us through when i explained that what we had was for our host and friends. Looking forward to seeing Kenya today as we begin our 7 hour drive to Migori.

That's it for now. Look for another post tonight with pictures - hopefully if we have an internet connection.

The Night Before...Final Preparations

Well, it's the night before we leave and most of the preparations have been made. We are so thankful for loving parents that looked at us a little bit like we were crazy when we announced that we were heading off to Africa...but understand us and willingly and lovingly agreed to watch our three children. Our kids have also been great about this whole idea and they are hoping to be able to go over to Kenya on another trip very soon. This trip would have been much harder for the children if it weren't for some of our close friends that also have children on CUFC and have graciously agreed to shuttle our children around to practice and even take them to the tournament next weekend in Fredericksburg. Sarah and I are so grateful!

Just minutes ago the lids went on our 4 pieces of checked luggage full of soccer balls and gear. We are right at the limit of 200lbs and we still have 150-200lbs in the garage, which is great news for the next team going over...we've got a head start on sending even more stuff. Thank all of you for your donations and your kind words and support. The whole idea here was to "connect" the global soccer community and the response has been amazing. We can't wait to share all of the photos of the smiles and joyful faces of children in Kenya that are going to be able to use these balls and uniforms.

Thank you and God bless you all!
David and Sarah

A huge THANK YOU to Chesterfield United FC and Parents!

Friday I sent an email out to the parents and coaches of the three soccer teams that our children play on asking for any old uniforms they may still have around, so we could take them with us to Kenya. Well, the response is completely overwhelming. We have received numerous complete uniforms in both white and blue from last year and two years ago. Currently, we have about 30 uniforms to outfit a couple of teams in Kenya. In addition to uniforms, we have a large box that overspills with cleats, well over 100 pairs of brand new shorts, numerous socks, and 2 boxes full of new t-shirts from past tournaments, camps and summer leagues that were never used. We’ve also been able to purchase whistles, practice cones, ball pumps, (4) six foot pop up goals and 100 brand new soccer balls! Like I said, amazing and overwhelming! What a blessing this will be to hundreds of children.

Thank you to all the parents that contributed something and especially to Matt, Pat, Heather, Joe, Dale and Roberta from Chesterfield United FC. Because you cared and shared, hundreds of children 7,000 miles away, will smile and laugh and experience the pure joy that comes from play and the world is just a little bit happier placeJ

Start With One Kenya

Sarah and I will be going to Kenya with Start With One Kenya  a 501c3 non-profit corporation that believes it all begins with you taking the step to join forces with others to create the lasting change that this world needs. We realize that many people there are struggling to meet the bare necessities of life such as clean drinking water, food and medicine. Our hope is that by helping to create opportunities to play soccer, children can experience periods of the pure form of joy that comes from being lost in play. We will continue to pray that God will show us how we can help people in other ways and we hope that you will consider that as well. For more information on Start With One Kenya visit their website by clicking on the link below.

Start With One - Kenya

Changing the World, One Life at a Time…

 

http://www.startwithonekenya.org/

Why the name Second Touch

Football is often called the "Beautiful Game" due to the constant movement of the ball and the gracefulness of the players. 11 players per side share the ball, each unselfishly passing the ball with only “one touch” so that the ball continues to move as the offensive players probe the defense looking for the opportunity to attack and score. If any one player becomes too much of a “ball hog”, possessing the  ball for 3, 4 or more touches the whole games slows down as the other players wait to see what that player will do. Football can become a metaphor for the world and life. We are all part of a giant game of football each desiring to touch the ball, but knowing full well, that it’s in the best interest of the game, to think beforehand where we will play the ball, then gracefully and skillfully playing it to the open player. What if we live life in the same way, knowing in advance that all of the good blessings that come to us should be enjoyed only briefly and then passed unselfishly to the next open player?

This ideal encapsulates the concept of Second Touch – using a soccer jersey or cleats, or shorts, or a ball and then passing those items off to another to also use and enjoy. This keeps the blessings in motion so that many others can experience the same joy of playing. With this idea in mind, we’re initiating a program to collect old soccer uniforms, cleats and balls that will no longer be used by individuals on clubs and recreation programs here, so that we can send those uniforms and balls to teams in Africa. It’s important to collect many of the same uniforms, in various sizes, so that the second team to wear the uniforms can have the right size and all players can look “uniform”. Having a nice game jersey will be something that the African players can feel proud of and will help bring about team unity.  

If you’re interested in helping out with this effort, contact other parents on your son’s or daughter’s team to see if they too would donate their uniform at the end of the season. We’ll collect them all and then have them sent to Kenya or another African country with a team that is going over for mission work.

Thanks for keeping the ball moving and sharing the blessing!

Action step – let Sarah or I know that you would be willing to coordinate collecting uniforms for a team.