Tuesday's Tanzania

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While Andrew and I were in Ksiwani, we got to meet the village futbol team, a group Andrew had coached when he lived there.  As a soccer mom, I also quickly noticed the challenges this team faces on a daily basis.

First, the condition of their one and only soccer ball - because it has a hole in the interior, the boys are forced to rip open the outer skin each day to inflate the ball and then re-sew it.  This happens each and every day before practice.


Futbol is very popular in Tanzania (as it is throughout Africa), and in our travels we saw many futbol fields with regulation goals, made of metal.  So, I quickly noticed the goals of the Ksiwani field - large tree branches lashed together and easily knocked over with simply a strongly kicked ball or by scrambling players playing off a corner kick. 

I'm happy to report that plans are underway to help the Ksiwani team.  My goalie daughter and her college women's soccer team are putting together a fundraiser to raise monies to build regulation goals and provide the team with practice balls and jerseys.  As soon as the details are finalized, I'll share them here so you can help out if you'd like.