The day started with a breakfast of garlic and some vegetable noodles on the side, luckily I like garlic and it may help keep the naughty kids away later.
I had good vibes today, I was excited to get to Addis and even more excited to meet another organisation. The anticipation of meeting new people is addictive and I had waited a long time to meet these guys since I have planned and have been emailing "Sport the Bridge" for the last 8 months.
As always the terrain was up and down but it seemed I had more down slopes and the ups were not that steep, just drawn out. In both situations I had the chance to take in yet more of the ever changing landscape and marvel at Ethiopia's beauty. On top of all that, the kids came in quality not quantity today and every aspect of the day would be a reason to not want this ride to end.
I didn't stop once for the whole 55 miles, the excitement along with myself wanting to prolong the enjoyment meant I found myself at the top of a hill overlooking a hazy Addis Ababa skyline by half 1. I was chuffed to bits, I said to myself "I have just cycled out my front door in Bishopstoke all the way to Addis Ababa." I laughed, Addis Ababa has always been a city I've heard about on the news and only remembered because its pretty fun to say. Never did I think I would go there and moreover cycle there from home!
The ride into the city was fun and i entered the city not far from the Sport the Bridge offices. A lot of people had no idea where the offices were despite me being literally metres away. In the end I found one guy who introduced himself as "Bayhan, it means light in English" I replied, "Chris, like Christmas it means follower of Christ in English" so the follower of Christ followed the light's direction and I found the office with no problem at all.
The second I knocked on the door, 5 kids opened it up and they were all happy to see me. The guys knew I was coming and within minutes I was playing jokes and having fun. I met alot of people very quickly but the main guys were Jonas who was involved largely in the football/sport development, three volunteers from Switzerland called Anna, Madeleine and Lisa and another lady called Forgetta, surprisingly had no troubles remembering her name! Addisu who I had been in contact fr months had unfortunately left but his replacement Lilyana arrived later and I was treated immediately like one of the family. As soon as I had unpacked and locked up Nigel, I was in the staff cafeteria eating lunch.
Jonas gave me the run down of the great work that Sport the Bridge do and I will do a separate blog about that when I've had more time with the organisation. The Swiss volunteers were occupying the guest house but that didn't STB being more than hospitable and letting me stay in the nurses room on the sick bed. Thankfully I'm far from sick, I'm very happy and very well indeed and I felt as soon as I entered the STB complex that I was going to enjoy my time in Addis.
The U17's STB team had their first training session today so Jonas took me down to the fields to watch them train and introduce me to some of the coaches. While I'm here I will be doing a bit of coaching with kids and passing on my knowledge from Southampton FC and the clubs I have coached at from all over the world to the local coaches in Addis. I like to see how they work first though because I believe a good coach is always trying to develop and any coach can learn from any other.
The field was huge and there must've been around 6 different teams all training in different areas. In amongst that there were random groups of kids socialising or playing their own games and the odd wild horse as is a very common occurrence in my training sessions back in England... The term field is very loose as well. I did see some grass but the two main pitches can be more closely described as what you will find in a baseball diamond, just dirt really. The rest was all dried grass and rock hard mud which apparently turns to thick sludge during the rainy season.
I've been out of the football loop for what seems like a year but this afternoon I was back into the swing of things and everything i saw confirmed why I absolutely love football and for me, its much more than a sport. I looked around to see hundreds of lads dressed in all sorts of clothes, colours and footwear come from all sorts of areas, houses, slums, streets to enjoy the one thing that helps them forget about everything else and be part of something good.
The kids from STB have all been saved from the streets at varying ages. They've been given a year of full time assistance from STB and a further 4 years of follow up which I will go into more detail later. What I saw was a group of 24 young men that were well organised, athletic, happy and respectful. If it wasn't for STB and football could I say that? Thankfully that's not something I need to worry about.
As I looked around there was one team in a group running a marathon, one team that was lucky enough to have a ball between two so they had two groups, one group juggling and the other group working on fitness and other teams had small sides games going on. There was a lot to take in but it was a great experience. Comparing football back home to football here is pointless but some of the differences do open your eyes. England for instance - no shinpads, no play I'm afraid, all have kit, boots and trainers, water, juice, snacks, grass sometimes AstroTurf, goals, cones, balls, bibs, possibly ladders and other equipment, fenced fields, parents support, age groups, happy lads.
Africa - no shin pads, no boots, odd shoes, one shoe one sock, bare feet, trousers, no drink, no food, no grass, no goals, a few balls, a few cones, a few bibs, communal fields, caught the bus alone or walked to training, unsure of definite age, happy lads.
This is why I love football, anyone can play it and all you need is a ball. I don't know Amharic and most the lads didn't know English but we spoke the same language of football through actions and hand signals. STB are fantastic in providing enough bibs and cones and have some balls but can still do with more. They even provide snacks and water and a travel allowance for each player which I'm sure the other teams aren't able to do.
After just watching the football tonight I can't wait to get coaching on Friday. I'm well aware that the lads will show me up as not only have I not played in months but I've never played on what may as well be corrugated steel. I've already got my excuses ready for when i shin a first touch from a dodgy bounce into row Z!
After football Jonas took me for a few beers and the conversation we had should've been recorded. Jonas studied psychology is in his thirties with a wife and 6 month old kid and has the life philosophies and ideas that will inspire the most depressed of people. We sat for hours inspired by each other I think, he told me I inspired him by being a doer an "action" man which is something that a man called Roderig told me I was all those days ago on the coast of Dover incidentally. To me, Jonas is like an Ethiopian Mr Miyagi and spoke of such amazing stories that I will definitely be taking and passing on.
It was the sort of conversation that left me feeling invincible and we should've charged the guys around us in ear shot because I'm sure people in other countries would've spent good good money to listen to Jonas. On the way back to the office I said goodbye to Jonas and grabbed some food. It was dark but I still felt perfectly safe. I bumped into Light and he told me the best restaurant to go to so i took him up on his recommendation. I couldn't believe that in a huge city like Addis Ababa i was already bumping into people on the streets that i knew. As always I kept my wits about me but Addis Ababa has instantly struck me as a safe place and I'm told by everyone it is. It is the years of media that has corrupted my brain along with many others that makes me initially think someone is up to no good when all they are saying is "hello." If its not that its me initially thinking that they're staring at me because they're eyeing if i have any valuables on me and where they are and not that they are just staring because I'm a strange looking white man who is filthy, hairy and its Ethiopian culture to stare anyway! (Also as I've mentioned previously, the fact that I might be packing nun chucks and they're actually pretty scared)
So anyway I walked alone confidently just the few hundred yards back to the office where the security guard let me in and I could get comfy in my little bed and feel perfectly safe.
A really great day and once again I am blessed with unbelievable hospitality, good people and another experience to remember. Tomorrow is what I call a "life maintenance" day. Apply for Kenyan visa, check in with the family, possibly find some more inner tubes and do a bit of sightseeing. Not a bad plan if you ask me.
No comments:
Post a Comment