Touching Lives

This past week I have been privileged to work with a group of people from the UK and the US who have a passion to work with children, and who have a passion to use sport as a way to show love. We have hosted a soccer camp before, but this one had a different feel. Maybe it was the funny culture clash between Americans and Brits, "Do you spell it 'me wife', or do you spell it 'my wife'?" I'm not sure, but I know one thing, children's lives were impacted this week.

We went to a small rural area up country and it had a completely different feel than spending time in Monrovia with the team. Yesterday as we hosted a soccer tourney for children between the ages of 8-14, over 500 people showed up to show their support. As the winner took their trophy in hand and did a victory lap around the field you could feel that something good had taken place.

In particular there was one boy who I saw a big change in over the couple of days that we were there. Robert was quite aggressive when we first met him as we observed him hitting his sister, and getting into little fights with others. He walked around with a scowl on his face, and yet underneath it all you could tell there was a hurt boy. I had a sense that he was not well liked amongst his peers, and that if he did go to school he probably was picked on.

Through a lot of investment by the team, and a lot of hugs and smiles, I saw a very different boy yesterday. He was keeper for his team, and he was serious about his position. He crossed himself before the shootout and even kissed his posts, but none of that helped him. As he sat there in tears, one of the team members grabbed him by the arm and said, "You know ever since you let in that goal I haven't seen a smile on your face. You did well keeper. Now let's see a smile". And sure enough it returned and never left his face all afternoon.

At different times throughout the day I observed changed behaviour. Not only was it a returned smile to his face, but he offered me hair ties, he offered his shorts to a person on an opposite team who didn't have any to play in, and the most rewarding was watching him come up to this little sister and split his piece of bread in half and offer it to her.

I have always loved sports as you all know, but have never really used it in my overseas experience. I saw once again the wonderful medium that sport is to work in the lives of children. I hope to again soon be able to connect with this team and work in the lives of children in this miraculous way.