One just happens upon things like this in the magical land of Oz (Hub seminar break from community based training, in Ouarzazate)

 

Soccer/mayhem next to the Mosque

 

action shot!

(written on 4/30/2010)

We wrap up language class around 5:30 and start the slow process of trickling out the Mdrasa doorway, in groups according to what part of town we all live in. The afternoons have gradually become warmer and stickier, but by the time we are leaving a welcome breeze is usually picking up and a smattering of clouds has appeared, deflecting the sun’s hot rays and accentuating the vastness of the sky arching above the rolling rocky landscape. It’s my favorite time of day in our village, and it’s also grown to be the most predictable time of day upon my arrival at home…

Awatif and Wahiba (ages 13 and 10, but sized around age 8 and 6, respectively) wait anxiously at the corner of our mud and straw house house, acting as lookouts for their contingent of hooligans. As Adam and I approach, the squealing and running around begin, and inevitably, within seconds, one of us is being hugged and the other dragged to the sound of demands for “Kura al-yum?? Kura al-yum??” (“soccer today? Soccer today?).  What started as a pickup game encouraged by Tina a few weeks ago, had blossomed into not only our recent Health Education project on Hydration, but also the most effective way we have all managed to bond with the kids in our town.

As word spread around town that Tina was playing soccer with a few kids in the public space next to the mosque (this “word spreading” probably took all of a half hour in our small village, but nonetheless), interest grew, and we decided that we also wanted to participate. The games became somewhat regular, usually three or four times a week, and the participants became more regular as well… kids ranging from 2 years old to 19 years old, all bunching around the ball, flagrantly disregarding out-of-bounds rules and off-sides (FLAGRANTLY), occasionally tackling each other (little did I know that kura, unlike soccer, is a full-contact sport), skidding out on the gravel “field”, occasionally stopping to have a casual conversation with a person on a bike in the middle of the field, etc etc. It’s awesome. I mean, I never really thought that soccer was a boring game to play, but it’s just so much better when small wire-y kids are being tossed around, sandals are flying every direction into the air, and every now and then a 2 year old runs out into the middle of the playing and has to be picked out of the heap of kids and plopped back on top of the spectator hill, because the “kura” (ball) is actually bigger and heavier than they are (in all seriousness, it really could kill them).

Speaking of which, today, at our last soccer game, a ball was drop-kicked downfield with full force and hit Adam’s little sister, Batism, full-on in the chest. Batism is tiny, even for a small Moroccan child, and the blow from the ball didn’t just knock her over… it lifted her completely off of the ground, pitched her body backwards and flung her feet into the air. She came up smiling and everything was okay, but it was pretty epic to witness.

The older kids that have begun to participate in Kura are also a great addition, but let’s just say that we are probably not playing at their usual level of skill or seriousness. The fact that they all play in slip on rubber sandals and we all change into running shoes probably accounts for only a small fraction of the handicap we’d need to match their skills. They are really, really, REALLY good. There is also one prodigy soccer kid, named Ayman, who is the tiniest boy in town, the soccer ball probably comes up to his mid thigh, but he’s so squirrelly that he can get around all of us pretty easily. The contrast of his skill and smallness sounds simply impressive, but it is also really frightening to try and play defence against him, for fear of breaking him in half. This goes for most of the little boys, but especially him.

And then there is the spectator hill, which I alluded to earlier. Usually it’s occupied by around 4 or 5 of the 2-5 year olds, squealing/crying/hitting each other/eating rocks/eating bugs/picking their noses, you name it. Inevitably the nose-picking and bug-eating gets boring, and they wander out into the rag-tag soccer game, but they aren’t allowed out there, and it’s developed that the only way to get them back on the hill without them crying in disappointment, is picking them up and spinning them around like an airplane all the way back to the other nose-pickers and bug-eaters. Today was a special day on nose-picking/bug-eating hill, though I’m not sure why exactly. Instead of the usual array of activities, today the little kids all stood in a circle, with their hands above their heads, screaming. Just screaming. For an hour and a half. It was mostly cute, and not really annoying or anything because we were all playing soccer, but I honestly can’t tell you why it was happening. It was sprinkling a little bit of rain at one point, so some of us hypothesized that it was their version of a rain dance… (?) but I think we’ll never really know.

Anyways, all of this soccer playing really helped us to develop a Health Education project. About 4 weeks ago, Adam’s sister (the same one who was knocked flat out by the soccer ball) passed out while playing in the sun, and we were lucky that Tina happened to be walking by when it happened. After the fact, we talked to her mother and some other people and they said that she was sick, but was better and not to worry. It concerned us that no one made any mention about her drinking water, or needing more water to avoid it the next time. We had also observed that our families drank a lot of tea throughout the day, but rarely did we see them drinking plain water or juice. We decided, therefore, to use the soccer games as a way to encourage drinking a lot of water during exercise, and to develop a formal presentation on the effects of the sun that we planned on catering to our soccer pals. We just presented the final project to the kids this last Tuesday, and it feels like the message got through. It’s a testament to community analysis and integration being important in education, however, in that I think I speak for all of us when I say that our repeated soccer games, where we were sure to take water breaks and lead by example, made more of an impact in the long-run than one presentation would have made. The kids have started bringing their own water to soccer games, and we’re hoping that they’ll keep doing that all summer long. It’s also become a tradition of sorts that all the kids come up to us at “stiraha dyal lma” (water break), throw their heads back and open their mouths like little baby birds so that we will pour water in. Obviouslyyyy this turns into us pouring water all over a random child’s face, which then turns into squealing and laughing and running around, which the nose-picking and bug-eating crew especially enjoy, before everyone quasi-focuses on kura again.

An alternate benefit of this entire experience has been that the girls and boys are playing soccer after school together, when apparently they didn’t before. I know from my little sisters, that boys and girls play each other at recess, but it’s nice to see kids of all ages in the community coming together, teenage girls and boys as well as all the smaller kids, getting out there and goofing off. It’s a regular occurrence that one or another person/kid doesn’t really understand the concept of “no hands” in soccer, and will proceed to pick up the ball and run off in some direction with it. This isn’t met with anger and yelling, however, it’s just part of the game… people run after that person, persuade them to put the ball down, and then pick the game up from there (even if the ball is then down the street and around the corner from the playing field). Not to sound sappy or anything, but today at our last game, I really was thinking about how much of a sense of community I feel when we are out there with the kids. It’s just pure joy and randomness. As we were walking home tonight, the volunteers agreed that a very important part of winning over our new communities on our own (aka: our job for the next few months) will be making the kids love us… Hopefully “kura” will be part of that, what a cool job!

PS- I’m writing this on April 30^th, 2010 and it’s my big brother’s 25^th birthday… Happy birthday Brian! I miss you and have been thinking about you all day. I hope it was a great birthday for you! I’m sorry that I couldn’t call, I wasn’t able to get phone credit in our training site…. Just wanted you to know that I was thinking about ya!

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