The Ball 2010

“Oh, a Kenyan ball,” said the Cameroonian Minister for Youth and Sport. “Next time, you should use a Cameroonian ball.”

The Minister, his cabinet, Andrew and The Ball

Overcoming his surprise, the Minister then tells us about the Cameroonian Society for the Employment of Youth (RIFMAS) which runs a programme called Fabrication du Materiel Sportif.

“We employ youths to produce footballs and nets. We have 35 employees in four regions of the country. We produce footballs because the public demands them. We sell the balls produced to schools at a very good price.”

The Minister insists that we meet Levi Herve Oyono, the Director of RIFMAS. Andrew tells Levi that The Ball was hit by a car in Abidjan and taken to hospital, where it was bandaged up.

Levi Herve Oyono, the Director of RIFMAS

“Ah, you can get it repaired at our stitching centre,” says Levi, as he inspects The Ball.

“No,” says Andrew, “it’s going back to Alive & Kicking in Kenya to be restitched. The panels can’t be replaced, but could The Ball get a patch?”

“Okay, no problem,” comes the reply. “You can visit our workshop in Yaounde.”

Outside the Fabrication du Materiel Sportif factory

The next day, we arrive at Fabrication du Materiel Sportif. The Ball Doctor is waiting for us. His name is Bekala Florent Esto and, with practiced hands, he slowly and gently examines The Ball’s wound.

The Ball’s gaping wound

His diagnosis? “I’ll remove this panel and stitch a patch of leather over the wound. It is a great pleasure for me to repair this great ball. I heard about The Ball on the radio and I am honoured to do this.”

With the care of a professional surgeon, The Ball Doctor removes the damaged panel, and glues a carefully cut strip of leather over the hole on the panel’s underside. Then, he stitches the leather strip on to the panel and the panel back on to The Ball. It is a fine operation and shows his splendid skill and craftsmanship.

The Ball deflated and with a patch removed

The Ball Doc. glues on a leather bandage

The bandaged panel is restitched

The Doctor weighs The Ball in at 3.5kg. Fit as a football. He pumps The Ball up and it’s ready for use again. Its roundness is even back once more. He measures it as 76cm.

Oversized Ball

“Slightly oversize,” he says.

It’s quite unusual for a patient to get a good kicking after an operation, but in this case, that’s exactly what happens.

Adeola’s ears perk up when he hears about The Ball being blessed by various religious and spiritual leaders. A marabou blessed The Ball in front of the world’s largest mud building, The Grand Mosquee, in Djenne. Two animists blessed The Ball in the Dogon Country, Mali. The Ball visited my good friend Kweku’s bible study group in Accra and was given a benediction by the Pope of Voodoo in Ouidah.

So, when Adeola invites The Ball into his church, The Ball was hardly likely to turn down the opportunity. It is the first time I have set foot in church for a while. The childhood scars of many a Sunday morning spent bored to tears in Sunday school, when all I really wanted to do was kick a football, have left a lifelong impression. I’m slightly nervous.

Gospel music as The Ball goes to Church

And then there is Ade’s church in Lagos, packed to the rafters – gospel music permeating the hall. Men and women with beautiful voices are singing and dancing in the aisles. Praise the Lord! I dance, I sing (very badly) and I thoroughly enjoy my time in Church and I can’t help but wonder what my religious beliefs might be if my Sunday mornings had been spent with these fun loving souls.

Churchgoers enjoying the gospel music

What’s more The Ball is at centre stage. The reverend, preaching to the packed crowd has this to say:

“In our midst this morning is someone who is bringing unity to the world. He has been to 20 countries in this world and he has 10 to go. Right now he is in Nigeria and on Tuesday he will be in Cameroon. This is all in the name of football. And this man carries to the countries of this world a football. One Ball. One World. It is a symbol of unity. It is a ball that is made in Africa. You can all sign this ball.”

Churchgoers sign The Ball after the service

I speak about the fear I had of travelling to Lagos and how I am now feeling embarrassed about those fears because of the wonderful reception The Ball and I have had in Lagos and in Nigeria.

I guess the point I want to make is that sometimes a few bad apples can spoil the reputation of a place but the vast majority of people in this world are good. I have met loads of friendly, generous and sincere people here. Nigeria has been fantastic.

Sebastian Wunderlich took the undergraduate football for development course at the University of Erfurt that we were offering — appropriately called The Spirit of Football. He became a valuable member of the seminar and now he is on the board of directors of Spirit of Football e.V. in Erfurt, Germany. Sebastian wants to use the positive power of football to do some good in society. Through the German development education progamme ASA, he was able to do an internship at the NGO Search and Groom (S&G) in Nigeria.

It was there he met Yomi Kuku, S&G’s Executive Director. Sebas introduced me to Yomi. We connected Yomi to Special Olympics Nigeria and together they planned some events for The Ball’s arrival in Nigeria.

Search & Groom lads meet up with The Ball

We met Yomi at the Ikeja Youth sports center in Lagos, Nigeria to talk about S&G.

Yomi Kuku, Executive Director of Search & Groom Nigeria

Andrew: What exactly are you guys doing at S&G Yomi?

Yomi: Here we use football as a tool to communicate with disadvantaged young people to encourage them to live a life if integrity, self dignity and to realize their full potential. We use the instrument of fair play football to achieve that. We have been doing that for over 8 years in Lagos, Nigeria.

Are there some stories you can share with us?

There are many. Too many. But, let me share two.

There was a player, Joseph Olamiju, who was down mentally, physically and spiritually. After joining us in 2005, we took him out of Nigeria twice — to the Homeless World Cup in South Africa and in Denmark and returned to become a coach on a full scholarship at S&G. Now he is the coach of the team. In Milan in 2009, he took the Homeless World Cup team of Nigeria to the semi-finals for the first time in our history.

We have taken about 50 extremely disadvantaged boys (formerly homeless) out on international trips to Europe, Australia and South Africa and not a single one has absconded. They have always returned back to Nigeria. Next December, we are going to be in Brazil to represent Nigeria. In June, we are going to be in South Africa to represent Nigeria at the FIFA Football for Hope Festival.

Who are the heroes at S&G?

People always want to talk about Messi, but we are not talking about Valdes, or Carlos Puyol. We only see Messi because he appears to be the point man. But Messi will tell you, like he always tells the media, that without the team he is not a footballer. Without teamwork you can never reach anything. Search & Groom has been sustained through synergies and teamwork. These guys (the kids) are the real heroes. Next September, they are going to be in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to represent Nigeria at the Homeless World Cup. In June this year we are going to represent Nigeria at the FIFA Football for Hope forum in Johannesburg

What do you think about The Ball, Yomi?

The Ball is breaking down barriers across tribes, race, social status, and economic status. Special Olympics is doing a lot of great work with people who are intellectually challenged. Through The Ball, we have been able to open up a partnership with Special Olympics.

One Search & Groom and SO Unified Football team

The other Search & Groom and SO unified football team

Through The Ball we are getting to build a relationship with our mentally challenged friends. It has connected us to people who were not aware of what we are doing. One Ball. One World.

Our highlight Special Olympics event in Benin is a gathering of intellectually challenged athletes, their parents, Special Olympics coaches, administrators and 20 plus volunteers for a free healthy athletes medical screening followed by a Unified Football match.

Volunteers with The Ball

The Minister of Sport arrives late (not unusual for dignitaries anywhere) but the screening can’t wait for him (and nor should it).

Waiting for the Minister to arrive

The doctors, nurses, volunteers, parents and athletes have limited time and all the athletes need to be screened. That is the priority. Athletes’ eyes are tested (Opening Eyes) and where necessary prescription glasses are ordered for them.

Healthy Eyes

Athletes’ teeth are checked (Special Smiles), where necessary dental appointments are made and each athlete receives a tooth brush and a tube of toothpaste.

Special Smiles

Athletes’ have their ability to listen checked (Healthy Hearing) and appointments made with specialists. Athletes are given a thorough medical examination (Med Fest) and provided with healthy, locally-produced food (avocados, apples, oranges and pineapples) to take home.

Healthy food is distributed to the athletes

Special Olympics trains doctors, nurses, dentists and volunteers so that they can learn how to work with special needs people. After the screening, the Special Olympics community comes together on the field of the national football stadium — Stade de l’Amitié — for a game of Unified Football after which everyone signs The Ball.

A Special Olympics girls team kicks The Ball about

Athletes and The Ball in the Stadium

Special Olympics athletes in Benin with The Ball

In countries like Benin, where there are inadequate resources for the provision of public health-care, Special Olympics is offering free health-care to intellectually challenged athletes. Healthy Athletes is an important programme and we are honoured to be there.

We visit the Centre de Promotion Sociale Cotonou — a social rehabilitation center set-up in 1992 and funded by the Beninese Ministry of Family, Social Protection and Solidarity. The welcome is fantastic — intellectually challenged children and their parents and teachers of the school sing and dance — welcoming us into their center.

Welcome to our center

This education center acts as a stepping stone for intellectually challenged children, aiming to help them find places in schools and liaising with their families to build a supportive home base. Special Olympics Benin is one of the center’s partners. Two Special Olympics coaches lead sports sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays every week and on Saturdays they run training sessions at the national stadium.

All hands on The Ball

Special Olympics also run their healthy athletes screening, where doctors and dentists come to the center twice a year and run complete medical checks. Children receive free dental care and are supplied with reading glasses if they need them. All of this is funded through donations to Special Olympics. The presentation of The Ball evokes great interest and every single person at the center (intellectually challenged or not) kicks or heads and signs The Ball, then it is time for a kick-about. It is much too hot for football so the game doesn’t last long.

One of the children took a special liking to The Ball and didn’t want to let go…

My Ball

Even the youngest members of the center signed The Ball

Young signatories

They sang a touching farewell song as we left the centre.

Waves goodbye

The memories will last much longer and the smiles on the faces of everyone are a testimony to the fabulous work being done by Special Olympics and to the magnetism and magic of The Ball.

I like to play in the Unified Football events but there is no space for me this time. I try to convince the organizers that I’d be a good addition to one of the two starting line ups but the teams are picked, warmed up and ready to play.

Special Olympics’ banner welcomes The Ball to Togo

Before kick off players on both teams give The Ball a guard of honour to welcome it onto the pitch.

The Ball receives a guard of honour

I take my place in the small crowd assembled for the UNICEF sponsored match. The game unfolds and it is impossible to tell the Special Olympics athletes apart from the rest. All players on both teams are talented footballers and the quality of football is very good. Special Olympics athletes can play football as well as anyone.

The game ends at 1-1 and a penalty shoot-out is needed to separate the teams. The yellow team wins but both teams come together to celebrate as one and to sing and dance together. How often do you get to see that in football?

The winning team wore yellow

Many thanks to our partner the Goethe-Institut for donating some footballs.

What would Goethe have said about this game?

This game was about having fun and about participating and about friendship. Sure, both teams try to win but losing is insignificant. Isn’t this the spirit of football?

Their slogan is “United for the Development and Protection of the Rights of Children.” Our visit to rehabilitation centre of the NGO Ange (Angel) friends brings The Ball into contact with a new generation of children.

The rehabilitation centre of the NGO Ange

Andrew talks to Gabriel Muzzo, the director of Ange and finds out that Ange is supported by UNICEF and supports 300 street children in Lomé. Ange provides a stepping stone for the children, taking them off the streets and away from crime, drugs and other problems and helps them get their lives back on track and aims at reconnecting them to their families.

Kids from the NGO Ange perform a dance to welcome The Ball

These children were delighted to meet, kick and sign The Ball.

Right to Dream (R2D) is a charity that offers hand-picked, underprivileged young Ghanaian footballers a fully-funded, five-year education on and off the field. It empowers them to believe in themselves by encouraging them to emulate their African heroes. R2D believes that the boys will one day invest back into the communities and the continent they have come from.

An inspiring quote from Nelson Mandela

CEO Anna Hegley tells us that R2D has a holistic approach to education which is aimed at nurturing the student, the athlete and the child. What she doesn’t tell us is that the curriculum at R2D has football at its very core. Headmaster George Jamieson, from Paisley, just outside of Glasgow, says that “the kids don’t know where Paisley is. They don’t know about Kilmarnock or Queen of the South but they know all about the Old Firm — they know who Rangers and Celtic are. You see, our curriculum is a nice marriage of what they are really interested in (football) and the academic side.” Everything at R2D is related to football. “The more you can integrate football into the curriculum the more alive it becomes and the more children will take hold of it and the more they will learn.” “Take mathematics” says Doc George, as he’s affectionately known here, “The ball is round so it is a sphere. It’s a globe and you can start taking radius off of it, and so you can talk about physics. If you kick the ball on its side why does it go in that trajectory?”

Current crop of youngsters at Right to Dream

What about geography? The World Cup provides a great opportunity for the boys to learn about the world through the World Cup. One of my first memories as a child growing up in New Zealand was of a giant 1982 World Cup poster hanging at home on our kitchen wall. I can vividly remember the flags of the 24 competing nations. I can remember watching World Cup games and learning for the first time about countries like Brazil and Honduras and I can remember the goals that Paolo Rossi scored to take Italy to the World Cup. Indeed, my desire to see the world was perhaps sparked by the bedtime geography football questions posed by my dad to my brother and me.

The kids at R2D are learning about the world through the World Cup too. Each of them is responsible for researching one country that has qualified for the 2010 World Cup and it is their job to inform the others about that country: politically, culturally, socially — even eating habits. For example, what is the national dish in New Zealand? The kids then have to prepare and cook the food from that country for their school mates.

Everything at R2D is based around football says Doc George

The classrooms of the school are all about empowering the youngsters to take control of their own destiny. Each classroom is named after a black person who has made a huge difference for the black community. “We want the boys to know that they have got champions out there. There are people out there they can emulate”, said Doc George. Those heroes are people like Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Mohammed Ali and Martin Luther King. Some of the graduates have gone on to win scholarships to universities in the United States of America, others have signed professional contracts at top European clubs. The boys may come from isolated communities in a small, underdeveloped country in an enormous continent but with an education from R2D they are on the right path to achieving success on and off the field.

The boys clamour to sign The Ball

The Ball is round and so is the earth.

We found Chantal and André’s little slice of paradise Un Paradis à Ouaga in Phil’s West Africa guide book and decided to stay there. And what a delightful place it turns out to be. This lovely French couple are wonderful hosts and have been able to provide us with great insight into the region. They travelled around West Africa for 3 years in their Land Rover and decided to settle in Ouagadougou. “Why Ouaga?” we ask. “Because the people of Burkina Faso are genuine, extremely honest and friendly.”

André drives to Kalzi

André and Chantal tell Andrew that they support a local community called Kalzi, a small village 30 kilometers off the beaten track from Ouaga. They financed the building of a classroom and are set to invest more in infrastructure. Andrew travels with André and Chantal to Kalzi to have a look at what they are doing.

A street scene on the road to Kalzi

Unfortunately the school is closed. It is a Saturday and school holidays are starting today. Upon arrival, the Ball comes out straight away. It’s introduction to Kalzi is being played with in a game of table football.

Table football in Kalzi

A kickabout is quickly organised outside the village’s central community meeting place. It is dusty, very dusty. Warm, sandy Saharan winds have been blowing in from the north all morning. The sun is barely visible and, as usual, it’s blisteringly hot. With all this dust in the air, it’s not the best weather for football. But the children are flocking to The Ball.

We are ushered to the football field. Well, it is a very hard flat open area covered in dust. Large stones are set up as goals and teams are being formed. Lights versus darks. Henry, Messi and Drogba are all playing. Game on.

Thierry Henry

Lionel Messi

The game lasts for about 40 minutes. The kids, playing barefoot are full of running. Andrew and Alex, a guy from Italy who happens to be in town, are the captains.

The game in progress

They tire quickly and cough repeatedly. The score is tied at 2-2. Golden goal is played but neither team can score that all-important, decisive goal. Despite throwing everyone forward and half a dozen goalmouth scrambles the teams are inseparable.

The game is a close one

It’s going to be penalties to decide this one.

The game goes to penalties

Lights win the shootout, but there is delight all round at the end of the game. Yet again, it is a privilege to be involved, a privilege to meet the players and to have such fun.

Signing The Ball after the game

Bashir guides The Ball through Dakar’s crowded streets, past its sprawling market stalls and the football fields that can be seen lining almost every major street along the coast. Past the peninsula’s beaches where thousands of the super-fit Senegalese do their early morning exercise. Arriving at the football stadium, the West African adventure is truly underway. Update: thanks to Charles Takouet for the new pictures.

Meeting Special Olympics and DHL staff at the stadium in Dakar

There we meet the Special Olympics and DHL staff we are about to spend the next few days with. A convoy is assembled with a sound system at the head, set up on a lop-sided pick-up truck. We’re ready to go.

The soundsystem pickup truck

But hold your horses! There’s a delay. One often hears about “Africa-time” — people say “don’t expect it to run like it does in Europe, Africa is different.” Although this time, we’re delayed waiting for an Englishman to appear.

Visits to two schools for children with special needs are planned — first to Talibou Dabo, then on to Estel & Aminata Mbaye. We’re finally on our way. But hold on! The generator for the sound system is out of fuel. A quick stop at a petrol station and we’re off, on the road again. But hold on! “Where is Phil?” Panic. Have we left him at the gas station? No, there he is, in the thick of the action, hanging off the side of the pick-up truck, camera in hand, grinning from ear to ear.

We have some apprehensions, however. This will be the first time that The Ball is being used as a publicity vehicle for anything or anyone. Both of us feel slightly awkward, not knowing how we, or Special Olympics, will react to the events — nor, indeed whether they will be a success.

A Special Olympics athlete with The Ball

The Ball is the guest of honour at both Special Olympics events. The children are excited at each visit: photos with The Ball, more signatures, music, presentations, interviews with media — and football games, of course. The vuvuzela is a real hit.

Special needs children meet The Ball

Andrew interviewed at Talibou Dabo

Children and teachers celebrate with The Ball

Everyone loves the vuvuzela and The Ball

Our apprehensions evaporate as quickly as the sweat on our brows — it all makes sense now. Special Olympics had assured us that the presence of The Ball would make a real impact on their lives and we now realise that this is indeed true. Yes, our visits to schools and SO sports events are fleeting and our interactions with the children and their teachers and parents short — but there is a much bigger picture here.

Phil and a Special Olympics athlete kiss The Ball

We have to step back and consider the thousands of children in Senegal that are ostracised, often stuck in their homes, unable to leave because of the shame that their parents and familes feel about having them. The media attention that The Ball is helping to bring to their cause is considerable and across the board.

Earlier today, we were sitting with the Minister of Sport at a press conference. Two white guys wearing football gear with The Ball in a swarm of top Senegalese dignitaries dressed in their finest at the Ministry of Sport. In front of rolling TV cameras, the Minister of Sport made an emotional call to action that will be aired on national TV tonight.

The Minister of Sport interviewed on national TV

He asked the Senegalese people to support special needs children. He encouraged parents of intellectually disabled children to enrol their children in Special Olympics’ programmes. Phil speaks pretty good French, and was able to understand the Minister’s speech. Tears were welling up in his eyes as he listened. It was an unforgettable moment.

We know without a shadow of a doubt now that The Ball can be a force for change. And, as we travel, we are increasingly realising how powerful it can be. Next week, The Ball and Special Olympics will be guests of the President and Prime Minister of Mali. As it heads inexorably towards the World Cup, The Ball is going to bring similar issues to the attention of national leaders right across Africa.

The Ball’s reach used to be described as being “from street to stadium.” Now, perhaps we can add “from the people to the palace.”