Soccer Camp in Madaoua, Niger

What a great opportunity to share with the kids here ... we ran two sessions of soccer on January 2 and January 4. Twenty-five Jr and Sr High girls from the school team took part. They have been together as a team and practicing since November. They only have one ball and all of them play with bare feet. The field they play on is the same as the rest of the terrain around here ... sand on top of a rock bed. It is a challenge to run on (for us Canadians anyway!).

So, the process was as follows: I would relate to Mike what I wanted the girls to do, he would translate for their coach, and she would tell the girls. It was somewhat cumbersome, but seemed to work ... sometimes we had to go through it several times in order to communicate the activity or drill ... in the end, the girls seemed to have a lot of fun with it! We did a lot of small-sided games or activities that allowed each girl to have her own ball or, at the very least, be able to touch the ball a lot. We handed out jerseys for the girls to wear in order for us to be able to identify them. A crowd gathered on both days ... kept all my helpers occupied!

At the end of it all we handed out handmade medals, each with the girl's name and jersey number on it, as well as a Canadian flag pin. When their coach asked what to do with the jerseys, we told her the girls could keep them ... they all cheered! Finally, we took a team picture and many of the girls came to thank us personally. After the girls dispersed, we were able to give the coach four balls, a goalkeeper jersey and gloves. This has been a special memory to cherish. Thank you to Mike for translating ... this couldn't have happened without you. Many thanks to Tim Halstrom and Eastside Soccer for donating all the soccer equipment.

- Jan