“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - LAO TZU

I have a large backpack of my own gear and a massive duffel stuffed to the brim with pens, pencils, goalkeeper gloves and jerseys, plus shorts and socks all courtesy of the 2009 Dynasty Goalkeeping students!  I only wish I could lug more over to donate.  Let the adventure begin!  Out of my comfort zone, far from the land of plenty, and into Africa I go!

Actually the next stop is Washington DC, then Rome, then Addis Ababa, and finally Dar Es Salaam, TANZANIA!  A few good books, my snacks (I never leave home without my snacks!) and an iPod will hopefully get me through the next 24+ hours of flying.  Going there actually probably won’t be that bad however as there is always anticipation that gets you through.  And after months of pre-trip planning I have plenty of anticipation and excitement stored up.

Once I arrive in Dar my first ‘challenge’ will be linking up with fellow volunteer Brian Suskiewicz, whom I have never met.  Doubt he will have any problem finding the white girl with blonde hair.  I will stick out like a sore thumb.  We will spend a night in Dar recovering and the following day we plan to fly to Kigoma where will start volunteering on the 30^th.  We will be running sessions with teachers in the morning and then in the afternoons we will go to various schools around Kigoma to work with children.  I have been told that all of the teachers will speak English, so communication with them won’t be an issue.  The children on the other hand most likely won’t speak English, with the exception of a few words and phrases, so I have been studying some Swahili to learn a few words and numbers to help make communicating with them a bit easier.  I’m sure I will slaughter their language, but at a minimum it will make them laugh!  The bottom line is that if I just coach the way I do here; showing the activities with passion, energy, smiles, and laughter then the message will get across.  

In addition to our work in Kigoma we just found out that we will be traveling north to an area called Geita to work with teachers and children in that area as well.   Geita is close to Lake Victoria and is known for their gold mines.  While it will be Coaches Across Continents third year working in Kigoma, it will be our first in Geita, so we have no idea what to expect.  It is great that the local coordinator in Kigoma, Nico Pota, will be extending our reach in the short time we will be there.     

It is impossible to fathom what I will encounter, but everyone I have spoken with that has been to Africa has said the EXACT same thing, “It will change you and you will love it.”  So I am heading over ready to take in everything that this experience has to offer and eager to do what I can for the teachers and students of Kigoma. 

Recently I did an interview about my upcoming trip (keep an eye out for it on the UNC women’s soccer website next week http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/unc-w-soccer-body.html).  The reporter asked me, “What do you hope to accomplish?”.   Hmmm…I thought, good question.  It made me stop and reflect on the purpose of my trip, which I found to be a very valuable exercise so that I head out in a good frame of mind and a clear purpose. 

I am not so daft as to expect that I am going to change the lives of these children in 2 shorts weeks.  So why go at all then?  Well, first I think it is important to focus on the little things that can be accomplished in 2 weeks.  If I can help make a child smile, laugh, and bring joy and hope into their extremely difficult daily existence, then I will have succeeded.  If I can help show a teacher a new method of coaching from a positive, encouraging point of view versus a harsh, fear based, militaristic style, then I will have succeeded.  Those are things I am fully capable of achieving.

On a grander scale though, I hope to raise awareness and connect people here in the United States more intimately with the problems in Africa.  I will be the first to admit that I allow myself to become disconnected with the global community.  It is so easy to get caught up in our daily lives and sucked into our routine and the daily grind, the rat race of life, here in the U.S. that our circle of influence becomes very small.  We know that there are lots of problems in Africa….AIDS, malnutrition, poverty, political instability, genocide….but it is a continent away.  We feel we can’t do anything to help, and we are quite honestly happily disconnected from it and too busy with our own lives to do anything.  That has been me.  That is until I read an article in the UNC Alumni Review probably 5+ years ago.  The article was about Carolina For Kibera, an organization founded by UNC alumni, Rye Barcott.  It was such an impressive undertaking to me on many levels.  The article described the despicable, unsanitary, harsh conditions in the worst slum of Kenya and the soccer program CFK developed to help teach the youth in the community, bring hope and change, as well as the establishing a medical clinic and an educational center.  One of UNC’s former soccer players, Laura Winslow, was mentioned in the article for her involvement and volunteering in Kibera.  So that is how I first became ‘connected’ to some of the issues in Africa.  Over the years I have donated gear (balls, sports bras, cleats) and money to CFK to feel like (as most of us I think do) we are helping and ‘doing our part’.  Of course this is very valuable and critical to the sustainability of not-for-profit organizations, as certainly not everyone can volunteer their time.  In the back of my mind though, after reading about Laura’s experience, I thought it would be an amazing experience to travel over there to do the same thing.  A very tiny seed had been planted.  However, there was always something going on in my life (we ALL have things going on in our lives and always will) that made it unfeasible for me to even consider finding out what volunteering would even entail, let alone actually take steps towards committing towards it.  It simply was not a priority.

Fast forward a few years to 2007… I reconnected with CaC founder Nick Gates after his first trip through Africa.  He had just come back from a year long trip and was brainstorming the creation of Coaches Across Continents.  In speaking with him in person, seeing his photos, videos, and feeling the passion in his voice everything became tangible to me.  In the subsequent years I watched as fellow teammates of mine (Lorrie Fair, Cindy Parlow, and Anna Rodenbough) became involved with various organizations to volunteer in various countries around Africa.  Goalkeeper students of mine were volunteering in India and Africa.  Momentum was building inside of me to act.  The tiny seed that had been planted in me was starting grow.  Then once Nick got CaC off the ground it all became possible.  I was connected to a program and it was palpable.  Once that link was made I was compelled to help.  Instead of Africa being a world away and not my problem, an internal switch had been hit.  All of the reasons and excuses I previously had for not getting involved dissipated and were replaced with one thought, “how can I not act”.  It is such a small sliver of time, a blink of an eye; it is the LEAST I can do. 

I think most Americans, (actually most humans) want to help — whatever the cause may be, here locally or a continent away in Africa.  It is our nature as human beings to help, yet somehow we still flounder.  I believe that laying the groundwork and being given the platform to become involved is the critical link to action.  Once shown how we can help and given a path, everyone is eager to participate.  All we need is direction.  

So what do I hope to accomplish?  I want to raise awareness to get more people like myself involved.  Had it not been for Nick and CaC I would not have had the platform on which to act.  He provided the impetus to get me rolling and for that I am grateful.  Getting people SPECIFICALLY connected to an issue and a program is a big part.  So while I certainly hope to make an impact on the teachers, coaches, and children I interact with during the short time I am in Tanzania, I am realistic.  My time there is limited and there is only so much that can be accomplished in a short time.  The challenges are great and the issues many.  The more lasting effect I hope to have is drawing more people into the circle and encouraging more people to act.  Getting more people to flip the switch like I have is my hope.  That is what Nick and many others provided for me, so if I can pay that forward then I will feel as if I have made a difference.

Lastly, it is not too late to donate to this great cause.  I am just short of hitting my pre-trip fundraising goal of $6600.  If you haven’t already donated perhaps you will consider jumping on board at this time to help me reach my target?  Every bit helps, so THANKS!  You can pay with a check or even easier through the secure First Giving website www.firstgiving.com/tracynoonan with a credit card.  Also, as mentioned in my previous blog entry, a private foundation has committed to matching all donations that end in the amount of ‘27’ up to the amount of $27,000!  So by donating with an amount that ends in $27 ($27, $127, $1027, etc) your money will count twice!  How cool is that!?!?  To find out more about the CaC Matching Donation Program go to: http://sportingcommunities.edwardswan.com/?p=2267

Remember your investment CHANGES LIVES!

Tracy

July 25th, 2010:  By Coach Grace.        Yesterday, after our routine end of session dance-off at Dabani Girls school, we completed our female empowerment unit. Overall, the sessions ran smoothly.  Our biggest barriers remain cultural traditions and religious beliefs (as witnessed in the HIV prevention unit as well). At the start of each session I ask what role women play in the Busia community.  At each school, I hear the same responses to my question-cook, produce children, fetch water, wash plates, sweep the compound, wash clothes, care for babies, etc. However, when we ask why, often the kids struggle to produce a reason for this phenomenon.  Sometimes they respond because women are weak or not respected like men or because God created man first. Our mission is to point out that they are just following the trend they grew up with, seeing their mother cook and clean while their father brings home the shillings.

Culture is not something we can or hope to change through one 90 minute session teaching children that boys and girls are equal and girls can be strong athletes and students too.  Obviously, culture is a process.  It is difficult to teach children that women have a voice in their community when their very own head teacher refuses to shake my hand when I arrive at his school because he “does not greet women.”  However, I believe that by exposing and introducing children to the idea that men and women can share responsibilities and opinions in a relationship, they have the opportunity to challenge stereotypes and cultural norms that inhibit their potential in life.  Hopefully, this unit will allow for some of the young women we work with to feel empowered enough to say no to a male, whether it be no to being forced into sex or no to being content cooking and cleaning for the rest of her life.  Our aim is for the students we work with to think about why they continue their cultural practices.  The children we work with are intelligent enough to question and challenge the way they live and make their own decisions in their future.  For example, we ask them what they think about their tradition of having a bride price or dowry.  The females reply that it is unfair and they do not want to be bought because this leads to men thinking they can order their wives around as if they have employed them as inferiors.  The kids are shocked when we tell them that in our cultures, men bow down to a woman to ask her hand in marriage and the woman chooses yes or no because not only does the woman have a choice, but also, in Ugandan culture, woman must typically bow down to men when they greet them.

In Busia, the importance of female empowerment relates directly to the prevalent problem of HIV. If girls consent to sex and become a part of the sex trade, they are likely to get infected and spread the virus. Yet, if girls understand they can get jobs like their male counterparts, they would be less likely to sell their bodies for money.  Next week, we move on to our fifth and final unit: Football for Fun!

-Grace

July 19th, 2010.   Our team of coaches are working one of our most challenging partnerships with a wonderful organization called FRO in Pader, Uganda.  The overall aim of FRO is to reintegrate former child soldiers into the community through work and social training.  Our coaches designed a unique program whereby these former child soldiers and orphans are trained to be Soccer for Life Skill Coaches with the Coaches across Continents curriculum and then these locally trained coaches go to work in primary schools to educate young children.  It is an ambitious program that is already showing signs of success.

The LRA in Northern Uganda abducted more than 23,000 children to fight for their cause.  Often the children were forced to kill their own family, ensuring that they had nothing to go back to.  Although the war has been over for a couple of years, the leader of the LRA is still at large and the former child soldiers are having to reintegrate into a distrusting society.

Coach Ivan writes, “The program with Coaches Across Continents and FRO is set up so that in the mornings we meet with one of the FRO classes and do the activities with them and then in the afternoon we do the sessions with an actual primary or secondary school class where the FRO students can progressively get involved in the coaching process.”

Ricky, the founder of FRO and Francis, their program director have recognized the power of sport for social development and have encouraged the students to become part of this program.  While they were initially surprised by our insistence that girls be part of the program, they made sure that all the girls attended the sessions.  Many of the girls at FRO were kidnapped by the LRA and were raped by the soldiers so that there are many small children at the center.  Coach Sophie commented about one of the young children, “Morris, (one of the children) had a foot that got badly burnt: his skin had come off and the top of his foot was red and white. He received an injection for the pain and some kind of cream to apply on it but nothing to actually protect the burn from infection. He was walking around in the dust on all fours trying to get hold of one of our balls and I fear that in a few days his foot will be badly infected.”

Coaches Ivan, Sophie and Steve have committed themselves to this 8 week program with enthusiasm and resolve.  Conditions in Pader are remote and Sophie writes, “In Pader, the unmistakable signs of poverty reflected by the wretched living conditions, the state of the roads and of the very few buildings and the significant lack of resources do not shock me as much as the little peculiarities I witness that are considered as normal here and that make me realize the enormous gap between this world and the one back home. The daily glimpses into the lives of some amazing people have made my experience so worthwhile and give me more insight into what the life of these people is like.”. 

But the spirit of the young people at the FRO center and their enthusiasm for learning these new skills has been incredible. 

“Of all of the Coaches across Continents programs, the FRO Pader Program presented the most challenges.  FRO had previously not used soccer as a life skill tool and we had to introduce the very basics for coaching.  But immediately the students wanted to talk and play soccer, they wanted to learn these new skills and were excited at the thought of being able to become coaches themselves and help young children in the community.  The spirit of all these students and of FRO has made the first year in Pader a great success.  We congratulate our coaches and everyone connected with FRO for all their hard work”  Nick Gates, Global Strategist.

July 7th, 2010 by Charles Cuttone:  Ex Breakers keeper set for coaching mission
Most every soccer fan in the United States has their mind on Africa this month. But while Tracy Noonan , like everyone else, is thinking about the World Cup, her thoughts have gone beyond the 32 teams that have been playing. Noonan will be making a trip to Africa later this summer, not to watch soccer, but to teach it.

The former University of North Carolina and U.S. Women’s National team goalkeeper will travel to Tanzania as a volunteer for Coaches Across Continents. Part of the mission is to teach life skills through soccer.

“It’s really important to get really strong female role models involved,” said Noonan, who was a member of the 1999 Women’s World Cup team (she was Tracy Ducar then) as the backup to Brianna Scurry. “It isn’t about teaching kids to be the best soccer players they can be,” she points out.

Coaches Across Continents partners with local organizations in various African nations. In addition to coaching soccer, volunteers teach local coaches and also provide counsel on aids awareness and female empowerment, conflict resolution and general nutrition.

Noonan says it is rare for females in African cultures to play soccer, but the organization hopes to empower youngsters so they know they have choices.

“I think I will probably get more out of it than they will,” Noonan says about the experience.

A former ‘keeper for the Boston Breakers in the Women’s United Soccer Association, Noonan got involved with Coaches Across Continents because of a friend she met in Boston, Nick Gates, the founder of the organization.

“His passion sucks you in,” she said. “To me it was a no-brainer that I got involved.”

Noonan will leave August 27, and be in Tanzania through September 10. In the meantime, she has been working on fundraising (http://www.firstgiving.com/tracynoonan) to cover the expenses for the trip, going through logistics, taking care of shots and medical needs and working on her fifth season running the Dynasty Goalkeeping Academy, which is a specialized program for elite young female goalkeepers.

Noonan has made community service part of the curriculum for her academy.

“When I was with the national team, they made it easy for us to do volunteer work,” she said of her time alongside icons such as Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain.

That was a key reason she started introducing the community outreach program as part of her academy, showing her students a way to get involved.

Each of her students is encouraged to do something in her own community, but also to do something as part of the camp experience. Last year, they donated gloves to Coaches Across Continents. This year, all the campers were asked to bring extra sports bras, so that they could be donated.

Noonan says because the cost of shipping items to Africa is so astronomical, volunteers usually end up carrying an extra bag with them, with the donated equipment.

Last year, Coaches Across Continents reached 15,000 kids in three countries. This year, it will touch about 90,000 kids in 15 countries.

Part of what the coaches will do is teach local coaches, so that a sustainable curriculum can be developed.

For Noonan, who played in six countries on three continents with the National Team, and has visited another seven on her own, this will be her first trip to Africa.

“I’m really looking forward to doing something completely different,” she said.

Tracy will be part of the Coaches across Continents team in Kigoma, Tanzania

July 2nd, 2010

Coaches across Continents have accepted a unique challenge in partnering with Straight Talk, which works with adolescents in the community to talk about issues like HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy and marriage, and sexual exploitation. Sexual exploitation is a big problem in Busia, since it is a border town and has a very transient population. Many women and girls in Busia are sex workers – some by choice and some by force. The head of Straight Talk in the region is an amazing young man named Bashir, who has basically committed his life to the welfare of the young people in Busia.

The broad objective of STF is to contribute to the improved mental, social and physical development of Ugandan adolescents (10-19) and young adults (20-24). The programme also aims to keep its audience safe from HIV/STD infection and early pregnancy and to manage challenging circumstances such as conflict and deprivation.

More specifically, Straight Talk Foundation aims, through its communications projects, to increase the understanding of adolescence, sexuality and reproductive health, and to promote the adoption of safer sex practices. The foundation also aims at helping adolescents acquire the necessary life skills and grasp of child and human rights to make the passage through adolescence safely.

Coaches Anna, Grace, JB and Rich are using the partnership and soccer to work with teenagers and teachers in 16 schools in the region to reinforce the Straight Talk messages.  All four coaches  have worked hard to adapt to the needs of Busia, a town with a high percentage of sex workers, HIV and teen pregnancy.

Each day our program works with 2 schools and over the course of the 8 weeks, each school receives 5 new sessions that deal with issues like health and wellness, female empowerment, HIV, conflict resolution and fun. This is the first time that the schools in Busia have used sport for social development and the District Education Officer sent a letter to all local schools requesting that they all take part.  There has been a fantastic response from headmasters and teachers to ensure the success of this new program and often our coaches work with 150 children while another 200 watch and learn from the sidelines.

“Most governments, countries and communities do not understand how sport for social development should be part of all educational programs.  The Straight Talk program have embraced the power of football for change and thousands of children in their program are now having fun while they learn.  It is certainly a challenging program for our coaches as they work with thousands of children but this type of outreach will have a sustainable impact on a community desperate for behavioural change in their young people”  Coach Anna.

Check out stories from our coaches in Uganda at our Coaches Blogs

From Coach Sophie:  June 25th, 2010.  One of three or four major towns in the North of Uganda, Pader essentially consists of the main dusty, dirt road connecting the town to the villages in Pader District and to the two principal towns South and North of Pader, Lira and Gulu, with the occasional shops – all selling water, sodas, cookies, butter and cooking oil – a couple of banks, eating places with a few tables serving chicken or beef with rice and “irish” (potatoes), and huts, the main form of habitation here, running alongside. Very frequently, a white SUV belonging to one of the numerous NGO’s will race by and risk running you over if you are walking too close to the center of the road. Although many NGO’s have left since the area is not regarded as in a state of emergency anymore, the town seems to rely on the many that have remained (World Food Program, War Child, Comic Relief etc) as sources for development and growth. We are currently staying at A1 Hotel while we wait for our permanent accommodation to be ready, which turns out to be the get-together place, especially on week-ends, for members of the town council, of Pader’s NGO forum and other people working in politics or with NGOs.

Past the big tents and offices of the WFP and of the Norwegian Refugee Council, lies the “Atim Kikoma” or “Let me do it myself” vocational school of Friends of Orphans (FRO) enclosed in a small portion of land with a safe haven feel to it where there stands a main building, a couple of huts, a kitchen and newer classrooms under construction. The students will usually be scattered around the property on their lunch or dinner breaks, separated into groups during class time based on their chosen field of study – computer, tailoring, brick-laying or mechanical engineering – or occasionally gathered together for assembly or a debate session. Their ages range between sixteen to thirty years old and they are former child soldiers, orphans, abductees, child mothers or land-mine survivors, all considered as vulnerable individuals in their communities. After approximately three years training, they will reintegrate society as empowered people that are given the opportunity to start their own income-generating activity by means of the skills learned and the live stocks and seeds donated by Friends of Orphans. Hopefully, we will be able to visit the fields in the surrounding communities where the graduates of FRO work and live.

Since the very first meeting with the staff we were truly impressed by FRO’s professionalism and by their ideas on sport for development. For two weeks now we have been working with the students every day for two two-hour sessions and next week we will start the outreach program with Pader’s primary schools with the intention of helping the FRO students become leaders and role models in the schools and their communities. The FRO students are eager to play soccer and although most of the girls have never played soccer, they seem to be improving at each session. Their focus and application are impressive and it is wonderful to see them become more assertive on the field as the days go by!

If you want to help Coaches across Continents with this amazing “Hat Trick Initiative,” please visit this website.

Thanks! Sophie

Posted by Coach Anna

I’m gonna miss this beautiful face.

We had done a few sessions with the Straight Talk schools before they left, and we continued with our work once they went. Always the same, never changes. Our first week of sessions focused on teaching the kids about choices they can make to be healthy and strong throughout their lives. These kids have so many things going against them, but if they can work to keep their bodies strong, then they have more than a fighting chance.

One of the kids letting loose during the Circle of Friends!

While I was still in Busia, we worked with about ten schools. Although we played the same games with each school group, every session was different. When you are doing football for development, you find very quickly that every session offers a different opportunity to talk about what is relevant to a particular group of kids. That was definitely the case in Busia, where sometimes we working with young kids, sometimes older kids, sometimes boys, sometimes girls, sometimes footballers, sometimes not, and the list goes on and on.

One thing that never changes – the big smiles on the children’s faces.

We had some schools that were very receptive to the games and were eager to work with us right from the get-go, and other schools where the sessions were on the verge of disaster at one point or another. I think my favorite day was when we walked about 2 or 3 miles to our morning session, did the session for an hour or so with over 100 kids, walked 2 miles back to town, had fish and chips at the community snack pub, tried to get on the internet unsuccessfully for a couple hours, walked a mile or two to our afternoon session (a walk which took us by a lovely pit filled with slaughtered goat guts and blood – probably the nastiest thing I have EVER seen/smelled in my life – oh and it was 20 yards from a school), almost had to stop the session 20 minutes in because of how unenthused the kids were, and then ended up having one of the best sessions ever. It was a long and hard day, but very fulfilling in the end!

Our biggest problem doing the sessions in Busia was that we were supposed to have 40 or fewer kids every time (mostly for safety reasons), but it usually ended up being closer to 80 because once we would start, every kid in sight wanted to join. You would think it would be somewhat easy to regulate that, but you would think WRONG. Since all the kids were in school with the same uniform on, we couldn’t figure out which ones were supposed to be there and which ones weren’t.

Most of the 100 or so kids chasing JB during Ronaldo tag.

Unfortunately, at some of the schools where we had issues with numbers, some of the teachers would beat the kids back with sticks…NOT good. It’s one of those things where you can’t disagree more with something, but there’s nothing you can do to actually stop it because it is a culturally acceptable practice. At one point, JB asked a guy to stop and the guy agreed before immediately hitting another child. UGH. Anyways, we never had any control over the numbers, no matter how much we insisted on the 40 person limit.

We went a little over the 40-kid limit in this session…

On my last day in Busia, we had a session at Dabani Girls School, a boarding school just outside Busia town. As we were waiting down at the playing field, we could do nothing but laugh and shake our heads as a steady stream of girls just kept coming down the hill. I think we must have had around 150 girls in that session, and somehow it worked. A lot of times we have a hard time getting the girls to participate because they are embarrassed or don’t want to exercise, but this group was really into after getting over their initial reservations.

Girls ROCK.

I think they were the most intelligent group of kids I worked with in Busia – they were answering all of our questions with ease and picked up all of the drills very quickly. It was a great way to end my work with CaC, pulling out an extremely effective session with 150 of the future female leaders of Uganda.

On my last night in Busia, we went out to town to watch the USA-England game. World Cup fever is crazy everywhere in Africa, including the small border town of Busia. I went to the Community Snack Pub with Rich, JB, and Jess, one of the six American students volunteering at New Hope this summer. So we had three Americans and one Englishman – a perfect ratio in my mind. As if JB and Rich don’t argue enough already (they are basically like an old married couple that bickers more than the average old married couple), the game provided an excellent platform for some incredibly intelligent debate. The American legion (including myself) was making quite a spectacle, cheering and chanting in the small “pub,” where our group was joined by several Ugandans who were mostly pulling for England. When England scored 4 minutes into the game, Rich was quite unsportsmanlike – cheering, pointing down at us, exclaiming things like “FOUR minutes, HA,” and even sending me a lovely text message that read “1-0.” I’m not gonna lie, we felt a little deflated, but like true Americans we were resilient and rose up to the challenge before us. Clint Dempsey fired an excellent albeit completely savable shot that somehow trickled past Robert Green, and WE WERE BACK IN IT. Naturally, the American legion stood up, cheered loudly, pointed in Rich’s face, and someone who shall remain unnamed (initials ALR) sent a text message to Rich that read “1-1.” The rest of the game was thoroughly enjoyable and very exciting in stretches, especially when Jozy Altidore hit the post and Tim Howard made countless saves in the last ten minutes (resulting in 19203761 near heart attacks for me). The game ended 1-1 and Howard was named Man of the Match, although I think it was equally deserved by Robert Green for his much appreciated gift. The night was another great experience watching football in Africa…you just can’t beat it.

The next morning I was scheduled to leave on a bus to Nairobi at 10:30 am. Ken offered to take me to the bus station, so I was hoping to leave around 9:30 since I had to go through customs first. Well, Ken and his wife had to take their son to the medical clinic that morning but said they would be back. Ken was unreachable until 10:15, at which point I was freaking out about time and about the fact that my shoes had mysteriously disappeared. Both problems were solved when I finally got Ken on the phone and he walked through the door 5 minutes later wearing my shoes. I said goodbye to my other two musketeers, Rich and JB, and then headed off with Ken and Susan to the border.

A typical Busia road scene.

We went through customs without much hassle (my Kenyan visa was still good for a few more days so I didn’t have to pay anything), and then walked across to the Akamba bus station, arriving around 11. I walked up to the counter and asked the guy if the the Nairobi bus was still there and he told me I was late. So I almost died on the spot because I thought I had missed the first ever ON TIME bus in Africa…until I asked again if the bus was still there and he then responded “Yes, it’s just over there.” WHY COULDN’T YOU JUST SAY THAT THE FIRST TIME???? So I got on the bus and kissed Busia goodbye, as the street kids were yelling at me through the window asking for my money and my soda.

Although I’m back in Nairobi now, I’m really excited about the potential impact that our CaC program with New Hope and Straight Talk can have on the community of Busia.

Bashir, me, Rich, and JB reppin’ Straight Talk.

Clearly, the kids there are facing some really serious issues and I think that football can be an incredibly effective tool to teach them about the CHOICES they have in their lives and keep them from becoming just another statistic. It was a new experience for me to be leading a CaC program, but I am really happy with how the program is shaping up and I feel confident leaving the program in the capable hands of Harvard’s finest football/debate duo of all time, Richard Smith and John Bryant.

Rich and JB with a group of kids.

As long as they don’t die from inadequate levels of meat consumption (the meals provided at the house are quite starchy and not so proteiny), I think they are going to leave a lasting mark on Busia…and most certainly come away with something in return.

To donate to CaC’s work in Africa, please click here!

To see more pictures from Busia, please check out the following links!

Busia 1

Busia 2

Busia 3

I just completed my last program with Coaches across Continents for the summer. Before I get all nostalgic on you (that will be in a later post once I’ve had adequate time to reflect on my experiences), I’d like to share a little bit about our program in lovely Busia, Uganda.

Nick, Sophie and I took a bus over to Busia from Kisumu on June 2nd. Busia is on the Kenya/Uganda border, so we had to get off the bus and go through customs on foot.

The bus to Busia…almost empty, which was nice.

Everything went well until we had to pay for the Ugandan visas. Nick went through without any problems. I was a little short of the $50 fee (which they make US citizens pay in USD), so Sophie gave me a $5 bill…or so she thought. Turns out the bill was counterfeit, so the guy thought I was trying to use counterfeit money. AWESOME. Luckily Nick had a little US money too, so I was okay. But then it came time for Sophie to go through. She got her wallet out to pay and realized that her $100 bill was missing – she thinks it was stolen at our hotel in Kisumu – and immediately we had some issues. Since they refused to take anything but USD (even though Sophie is a French citizen), Nick and Sophie had to compile enough money in Euros and then exchange with the money changers outside the customs office. That proved to be really fun when Nick got someone to agree on an exchange that way favored us, then grabbed the money from the guy as quickly as possible and gave it to Sophie to pay. She got her visa, but then we had to wait for Nick and the exchange guys to exchange pleasantries, if you will, for a few minutes before they finally agreed and we walked away unscathed. It was really quite a funny experience.

After customs, we got our bags off the bus and were met by a few people from New Hope Orphanage, the CaC partner group in Busia. New Hope was founded and is run by an incredible man named Ken Mulago. Ken has worked to provide a place that houses and feeds 75 children. There are also about 200 kids who attend primary school at New Hope or are given scholarships to attend secondary schools in the community.

Ida, one of the New Hope orphans…absolutely precious.

On the night that we arrived, Ken took us to the orphanage to meet the kids. As soon as we pulled up, a hundred kids came pouring out to greet us, every single one of them shaking our hands and saying “You are most welcome!” Then we went into a hall and were given a warm welcome through song and dance. It was an incredible experience, being welcomed with open arms by those smiling kids who were complete strangers to us but knew we were coming to work with their orphanage.

For the first couple days in Busia, we had meetings with Ken to decide what our project in Busia would entail. We all decided that it would be best to do a community outreach program so that we could do sessions with school children and teachers all over Busia and have a wider impact on the community. So New Hope and Coaches across Continents joined forces with a Ugandan-based organization called Straight Talk, which works with adolescents in the community to talk about issues like HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy and marriage, and sexual exploitation. Sexual exploitation is a big problem in Busia, since it is a border town and has a very transient population. Many women and girls in Busia are sex workers – some by choice and some by force. The head of Straight Talk in the region is an amazing young man named Bashir, who has basically committed his life to the welfare of the young people in Busia.

Bashir joining in on the fun with CaC.

He has extended the Straight Talk to many schools and thousands of adolescents in Busia. Along with Ken and Bashir, we developed a program that will involve CaC coaches doing 5 sessions each with 16 different schools that have Straight Talk programs, over a period of eight weeks.

The letter to be handed out to all of the headmasters of the schools we are working with.

It is a little different than most CaC program since we are working a lot with kids and only indirectly with teachers/coaches who come out to watch the sessions. However, we hope that Bashir will help to train his staff so that they can incorporate the football games into the Straight Talk curriculum!

After a few days in Busia, we were joined by a new brigade of coaches who are beginning their work with CaC – Steve from Switzerland, Ivan from Venezuela/New York City, Rich from England/Harvard, and JB from New York/Harvard.

JB, Ivan, Rich, and Sophie during a staff meeting…so serious!

Also joining in on the fun was Deb, one of the members of the CaC business team! Deb is my favorite person in the entire world because she brought me Snickers (because they are life-saving), Carmex (because my lips have been sunburnt for the last 2 months), and a CamelBak (because mine has a leak). ALL THE ESSENTIALS. During the wonderful few days with the whole crew, we had a few meetings, did some staff trainings, and had LOTS of laughs. On the field, us veteran coaches taught the new staff the CaC coaching style (aka FUN) as well as many of the games from our curriculum.

Deb and Steve participating in the Circle of Friends as Sophie and Ivan look on.

We did the training by running sessions with the kids from New Hope, but we ended up having a lot of random kids joining in. When you bring out a football, every kid in Busia comes running…halfway the first day (which started about two hours late in another shining example of “African time”), there were so many kids that Sophie and I had to take all of the non-New Hope kids and play random games with them so they weren’t completely left out of the fun.

Me with one of the kids hanging out at the field.

The only problem was, we had no balls, no cones, and tons of kids of all ages, many of whom spoke little English. The result was one of the best sessions ever, consisting of some Duck, Duck, Goose, some half-field races, us making animal noises and faces for the kids, me showing off my dance moves and teaching the chicken dance, and Sophie taking the kids on a little running/skipping/jumping trip all around the field. After that late-starting and crazy session, we decided to do training at the house in the afternoon, teaching HIV education games to the new staff in a much more tranquil setting.

That evening, we received another, even more incredible welcome from the kids at New Hope. In addition to the new CaC coaches in town, there were also some American volunteers who had just arrived to New Hope, so it was a huge celebration.

Some of the girls singing for us, with the other New Hope kids looking on behind.

This time, it was an outdoor ceremony with more song and dance, and we even got to join in on some of the traditional dancing! We were walking around shaking our butts while wearing grass skirts, which was absolutely hilarious to take part in and to watch. I wish I had pictures, but I was too busy getting down to catch the moment on film. I’m not exaggerating when I say it was one of the most enjoyable and memorable evenings of my entire life.

All of the CaC staff and other New Hope volunteers enjoying the welcoming festivities.

During the few days with the entire staff in Busia, it was almost like being at summer camp – especially when the power went off for three and a half days and we had no lights, no running water, and no access to the outside world. Why wasn’t there any power, you might ask? A big storm, faulty infrastructure, or a bad connection coming into the house? NOPE…turns out some jerks had cut the power lines so that they could sell them across the border, resulting in a 3 1/2 day power outage for the entire town of Busia. HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT. Apparently, the power has gone out for two weeks at a time in the recent past, so I guess we were lucky! Unfortunately, Deb, Ivan, Steve, Sophie, and Nick headed up to the Pader region of northern Uganda to start another program before the power returned, so they didn’t really get to experience the blackout in all its glory. When the power finally came back on, I was literally dancing and screaming with joy as we were all sitting in the main room eating dinner. I’m not gonna lie, I truly appreciate the modern world sometimes…I guess I’m just a spoiled American.

To be continued…

If you would like to donate to CaC’s work in Busia and across the world, please click here.

It has been a few months since my last post so I wanted to catch you up on my pre-trip planning for Tanzania.  No I haven’t gone yet!  In case you forgot my trip is not until late August into September.  There is a lot to do and plan as getting to Africa is no small task.  Since there is no trip coordinator, no travel agent, and no pre-trip planning handbook I have spent a lot of time on the internet investigating and learning.  Fortunately, I have had several months to gradually chip away at it all.  I’ve also been calling and emailing lots of friends who have gone to Africa to get as much insight as possible.

Christian Aviza – Coaches Across Continents volunteer who spent last summer working in Kigoma, Tanzania where I will be (as well as other locations)

Lorrie Fair – UNC ’96-99, US-WNT – www.thekickabout.org

Ashley Riggs – UNC ’91-95 – Summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Anna Rodenbough – UNC ’05-’08 – www.africa2010orbust.blogspot.com

Sonja Trojak France – UNC ’92-‘95 – visited Kibera slums in Kenya

See the Tarheel connection?!?!  Lorrie and Anna are actually both in Africa as we speak.  So check out their blogs!  They are both doing amazing work all over Africa and I am learning a TON from their adventures. 

MEDICAL PREP – Malaria is just one of the many health risks with traveling to Africa.  There are plenty of other diseases, parasites, bacteria, etc to be aware of.  It’s been quite a while since I have been immunized thus I had a lot of catching up to do.  There is a long list of health concerns when traveling to Tanzania, so I chose to immunize against the ones that I felt had the highest risk: Yellow Fever, typhoid, Hepatitis A&B, meningitis, and an adult polio booster.  In addition I will be taking anti-malaria drugs and have an anti-diarrheal on hand should I have that issue.  From what I have been told apparently no matter how careful you are about not drinking the water, not using ice, and not eating  fruit or veggies washed in the water it is still hard to avoid nasty bouts of diarrhea.  Surprisingly the UNC Travel Clinic allowed me to get all my shots in one day!  Certainly more convenient, but I would have expected that they would have recommended spacing out the shots so as not to overwhelm my immune system?!?!  Instead I left feeling much like a pincushion. 

In the process of investigating about the health risks and getting immunized I learned some staggering and shocking facts on the diseases:

• HIV/AIDs is estimated to be present in 6% of the adult population of Tanzania, putting it in the top tier of all countries.
• Tuberculosis is common in all developing countries.  However, Tanzania has a prevalence of over 100 cases per 100,000 population, the highest WHO (World Health Organization) risk category.
• The parasitic disease malaria is responsible for a staggering 1 million+ deaths per year.  The majority are children under the age of five.  A child dies every 30 seconds from malaria.  This death rate can be DRASTICALLY reduced with the simple use of a $10 mosquito net, which many Africans do not have. Today, 90 per cent of malaria cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa.  This would be why I will be traveling with my own mosquito net, using lots of bug spray, and taking my malaria drugs!
• Yellow fever, a viral disease that occurs primarily in tropical and subtropical areas of Africa and South America, kills 30,000 each year.  The virus is transmitted most often through the bite of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito. Once controlled fairly well by widespread vaccination and mosquito control, the disease is making a comeback and outbreaks are becoming more frequent.
• Measles, a viral respiratory infection, killed over 500,000 children in 2003, more than any other vaccine-preventable disease. The measles death toll in Africa is so high – every minute one child dies – that many mothers don’t give children real names until they have survived the disease.

These are just SOME of the diseases that children and people in third world countries have to fight on a daily basis with little to no health care.  Aren’t we all so fortunate!

FLIGHTS – Getting to Africa is not like flying cross country or even to Europe for that matter.  I spent hours and days investigating various flights, routes, and costs on Orbitz, Priceline, Expedia, and Kayak.  I tried every possible combination of airlines and routes to keep costs as low as possible so more money can go to Coaches Across Continents.  I finally settled on a flight(s) that has me traveling from Raleigh-Durham, NC to Washington DC, to Rome, Italy to Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia, and FINALLY to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in a mere 27 hours!  $1650 later my trip is booked via EthiopiaAir (shockingly that is the cheapest fare available 3+ months out from my travel date!)  Problem is that only has me part of the way!  Once I get to Dar I will still need to catch a flight from Dar, which is on the east coast of Tanzania, to Kigoma, where I will be volunteering, which is on the westernmost border of the country.  Getting that flight booked has proven quite difficult as there aren’t many airlines/flight options in Tanzania.  It is not like the US where there are multiple airlines, lots of choices, and airline agents you can call for assistance.  Most Tanzanians cannot afford to fly, so there simply is no demand for the massive airline infrastructure like we have.  Thus I am currently struggling to figure out a way to book the one flight from Dar to Kigoma that I can find on Air Tanzania through an agent since the AirTanzania website, email, and phone don’t seem to be functioning.  To quote Lorrie Fair,

“T-I-A (This is Africa!) You will see anything and everything and when you think you’ve seen it all, you will see something new.”

My camps start this Thursday, June 10^th and run the next 7 weeks through to July 26^th.  It will be a busy summer and August 27^th will be here before I know it.  I am already feeling excited, apprehensive, anxious and nervous all at the same time.  Several of you have asked me if I am still fundraising for the trip.  Yes, I am!  So far I have raised $2155, and, therefore, I am 32% of the way to my $6600 goal.  A HUGE thank you to all who have donated, your generous donations will cover my flights (the inside Tanzania flight will likely run $400-500). Additional donations will go to cover my entrance fee into the country, lodging and food expenses (minimal), and supporting the Coaches Across Continents program in Kigoma where I will be working.  If you are considering donating please understand that ANY amount will help, even $5!  You can pay with a check or in even easier through the secure First Giving website www.firstgiving.com/tracynoonan with a credit card.  It is quick and easy.  Seriously, by forgoing one Mocha, one Caramel Frappuccino, one Vanilla Latte, a movie out, a bottle of wine, a new pair of shoes or outfit that you don’t really need, etc you could be making a difference in the life of a child in Africa.  Your investment CHANGES LIVES!

I also want to tell you about another great fundraising program that Coaches Across Continents has just started.  A private foundation has committed to matching all donations that end in the amount of ‘27’ up to the amount of $27,000!  So by donating with an amount that ends in $27 ($27, $127, $1027, etc) your money will count twice!  How cool is that!?!?  To find out more about the CaC Matching Donation Program go to: http://sportingcommunities.edwardswan.com/?p=2267

• $127 buys a ball, pencil, shirt, and other program supplies for a child to participate in the program for three years.
• $527 enables a local teacher to participate in CaC’s train-the-trainer program where they learn skills to create a sustainable year-round program in their community.
• $1,027 supports a whole team of kids in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia or Haiti.
• $2,527 supports a CaC volunteer coach to work in Africa.
• $5,027 starts a new partnership between a local African NGO and CaC (we have a long waiting list).
• $10,027 becomes a founding investor in CaC and effect change throughout the world.
• $27,027 runs a full Hat-trick initiative for one year.

To end this blog I want to leave you with this quote that I read on Anna Rodenbough’s blog.  It seemed to sum up my thoughts and hopes for this journey I am on better than I could.

“The magic of travel is that you leave your home secure in your own knowledge and identity, but as you travel, the world in all its richness intervenes. You meet people you could not invent; you see scenes you could not imagine. Your own world, which was so large as to consume your whole life, becomes smaller and smaller until it is only one tiny dot in space and time. You return a different person.

Many people don’t want to be travelers. They would rather be tourists, flitting over the surface of other peoples lives while never really leaving their own. They try to bring their world with them wherever they go, or try to recreate the world they left. They do not want to risk the security of their own understanding and see how small and limited their experiences really are.

If we don’t offer ourselves to the world, our senses dull. Our world becomes small, and we lose our sense of wonder. Our eyes don’t lift to the horizon; we don’t hear the sounds around us. The edge is off our experience and we pass our days in a routine that is both comfortable and limiting. We wake up one day and find that we have lost our dreams in order to protect our days.

Travel, no matter how humble, will etch new elements into your character. You will know the cutting moments of life where fear meets adventure and loneliness meets exhilaration. You will know what it means to push forward when you want to turn back. And when you have tragedies or great changes in your life, you will understand, that there are a thousand, a million ways to live, and that your life will go on to something new and different and every bit as worthy as the life you are leaving behind.”  -  Unknown

May 24th, 2010.

Exciting News!

Coaches across Continents receives challenge grant of $27,000

Help us meet this challenge! Coaches across Continents (CaC) recently received a challenge grant from a private foundation. The foundation will match any contribution dollar per dollar; basically doubling your contribution!

Your investment in CaC changes lives.

• $127 buys a ball, pencil, shirt, and other program supplies for a child to participate in the program for three years.
• $527 enables a local teacher to participate in CaC’s train-the-trainer program where they learn skills to create a sustainable year-round program in their community.
• $1,027 supports a whole team of kids in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia or Haiti.
• $2,527 supports a CaC volunteer coach to work in Africa.
• $5,027 starts a new partnership between a local African NGO and CaC (we have a long waiting list).
• $10,027 becomes a founding investor in CaC and effect change throughout the world.
• $27,027 runs a full Hat-trick initiative for one year.
• Other sized contributions are always welcomed and appreciated. All donations ending in ‘27′ will be added to the matching gift program

YES! I want to be part of the solution.

Please contribute on-line at www.coachesacrosscontinents.com or send your check to:

Coaches across Continents

24 St. Martins Drive, Unit 10

Marlborough, MA 01752

For more information please contact Nick Gates or Deb Glazer at nickgates@coachesacrosscontinents.com or deb_glazer@yahoo.com

Coaches across Continents partners with existing programs in developing communities to train teachers/coaches on how to effectively use football (soccer) as a tool to educate children on Health and Wellness/HIV-AIDS, Female Empowerment and Conflict Resolution. The partnerships result in the development of a new generation of community leaders, both teachers and children, who are able to respectfully examine local traditions and make informed choices about their futures. CaC doesn’t teach local teachers how to coach soccer, we teach them how to coach about life!

“We have attended other football training programs in Kenya but they do not address the real needs of our communities, they only teach professional football. Coaches across Continents is unique because it helps communities to grow.”

-Festus Juma, Oyugis, Kenya

In 2010 CaC will more than triple in size and serve over 90,000 children in some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities. We will leverage 16,800+ hours (equaling $386,000+) of volunteer time (coaches, medical students, professional footballers, etc…. who will travel to the countries to teach CaC’s curriculum and work in communities), and create sustainable programs that change kids’ lives.

Join our $27K challenge today!