Futbol

Playing futbol/bale/soccer with the girls here is like playing with fast 10 year olds. There is competition and understanding of the rules but the fundamentals have not been practiced. Their speed allows them to keep up but they have to slow down to pass or shoot, allowing me time to catch up :) There are two positions, goalie and field players. Meaning everyone plays offense and nobody likes to get back on defense so I find myself sprinting back often.

Playing at such a young level I see the value and desire to play offense. It is a chance to be praised. An opportunity for success. And the desire to feel valued is often met after scoring a goal. Playing offense is a break from these girls daily defensive lives.

After being here for 3 plus weeks,  I have noticed that this culture, for the most part, is constantly playing defense. Defense primarily against death with survival being the goal.

For example, food. Dinner may or may not be had around a table. Talking is limited to "Can you pass the ..." and the food is the same for every meal. Food is for energy it does not mean fellowship like it does to me. Food is for survival. Another example is children. Parents have many children to insure they are taken care of later on in life. In fact it is somewhat expected that some children will die from accidents or disease. The risk of not being cared for is calculated out and the equation equals out to having more kids to insure their survival. 

You see, in my opinion it is easier to play defense. Offense requires practiced fundamental skills. It requires trial and error and bouncing back after failure. It requires time. Defense, simply put, is just prevention.

The United States and other countries are coming in and giving money with the attempt at getting the Congolese people to play offensively, but they have been trained their entire lives to play defense. We are trying to switch their mentality to think offensively but the field is long and the grass is so deep. The word "sustainability" gets thrown around often and I am beginning to see it as playing offense. Sustainability is the chance to succeed. The opportunity to be praised but it proves to be a hard goal to reach.

I think it will be a long time before Congo starts playing offensively but for now soccer is a small but great opportunity for these girls to play offense; and I will continue to play defense every game if that's what it takes to allow them to succeed, to feel valued and to be praised for something even as small as a goal in this game of life.

Thank you to all of you who are reading my blogs, even as I ramble and process things :)
I am so thankful to have such a great team supporting me!

A big shout out to my dad for fathers day from Congo! (If you see him give him a hug from me, he is not a big hugger but just do it anyway because he likes hugs from me!)