Home visits and baby naming

For the past few months I have grappled with what role Soccer Without Borders plays in the local community and what my role exactly is as a Team Leader. From when I first accepted the position in mid-April to my arrival, a seven page manual defined and described these roles. Since my arrival, these roles have continuously evolved and gone far beyond the descriptions in the manual. An evolution I expected – there was no possible way a manual could inform me 100% on what SWB means to the community and the part I would be playing in the organization.  Even though I knew this, I spent my first three weeks here floating and trying to figure things out. I kept asking myself, “What am I doing here exactly? What is Soccer Without Border’s role in this community?” I know SWB uses soccer as a positive platform for change and that I’m here teaching and coaching underserved youth, but does it stop at that? I know it’s naïve to think that, but it is something I have been trying to figure out since I have been in Uganda.

I’m working in a country where approximately 48% of the population is under the age of fifteen (in America, only 13% of the population is under fifteen years. Globalhealthfacts.org). When you walk the streets, there are swarms of children running and playing with limited to no supervision. For the past three weeks I kept wondering if the parents of SWB participants know about our organization and what we do – Do they know that their children run off to the SWB center in the early morning until the early afternoon to learn English, various life skills, and to play soccer? Or, do they just think that their children disappear to play in the neighborhood/streets with other children (a very normal activity for children who cannot afford and therefore do not attend school)?

On Wednesday a very powerful experience changed this all and SWB’s role in this community became as clear as ever to me, making me even more excited (if that’s possible) for the year ahead. We went on our first home visits. Ever since my first day here, I have yearned to know more about the children that attend SWB, their stories, their lives outside the center, Uganda, the various refugees in Uganda, etc. and what better way to start than home visits?

JC, Katy, Kelsey, Rapha (our local director), Junior (a local coach) and I headed to Dark’s house for our first visit. Dark is a 5 year old female refugee from the DRC who lives right near our compound. She’s a charismatic girl with a strong personality, but is also shy at the same time. She’s also the queen of the streets. Every time I walk outside the compound, I see Dark running around with other children. It’s extremely hard to recall a time where I haven’t seen her or heard her screaming my name as I walk through the neighborhood. When I first arrived, Dark attended a majority of the programming but in the last week or so I noticed she hasn’t been present. On Monday I was told that she had a new baby sister who was born sometime the week before. I was so excited to visit her place and couldn’t think of a better first house to visit.

I should start off by saying that our house visits are not planned and the participants/families do not know that we plan on visiting. This is not done intentionally, but rather done because of the culture here. Many people are unemployed and therefore spend much of their time at home. Imagine the complete opposite of America where many work 9-5 jobs and coordinate when to visit each other. Since Dark and her family weren’t expecting us, Dark was absent when we arrived to her house (probably because she was just fulfilling her role as queen of the streets) but her mother, Odette, and aunt still welcomed us into their home with open arms. Their home consisted of one small, very clean living room and a bigger bedroom. There were only four plastic chairs in the living room, so Rapha and Junior sat on the floor. While I only spent an hour or so with Odette, she seems like a soft-spoken, humble lady. She does not speak English, so Rapha and Junior did much of the talking in Swahili. When I introduced myself, Odette repeated my name in an interesting way but I did not make anything of it until Kelsey pointed it out afterwards. After stating our names, Odette went into the other room and brought out the newborn baby girl. When we asked what the girl’s name is, she stated that they have yet to name the child and are open to suggestions. Rapha then suggested the name Sara (not sure on the spelling here, but they pronounce my name Sar-rah) and Odette nodded her head smiling. I then replied and said that Sara is a beautiful name. Odette and the coaches started to speak Swahili and I was lost. Until I heard my name a few times.  Then I was completely lost.  Junior just looked up at me and casually said, “She likes the name Sara. It is the baby’s name.” I looked at the other interns and giggled quietly. What had just happened? Was it real?

She handed the newborn to Junior and disappeared for about 10 minutes. I thought she went off to find her daughter and let her know that her coaches came to visit, but instead she returned with a bag of six sodas. Instantly, we interns looked at each other and didn’t know what to do. To buy six sodas is costly for some and the last thing we wanted to do is impose on Dark’s family especially financially. We were extremely grateful for the sodas and chatted away while we drank them.  We told her that we missed having Dark around and Odette told us how Dark has been oversleeping the past week. She continued to tell us how she appreciates our organization and how she enjoys dressing her daughter in the mornings before she sends her off to the center. A few minutes later, Odette held up the newborn (not lying when it was like the scene of Lion King) and said, “Sarrah.” It was real. The newborn was named right there and then. I guess I can’t say that she named after me, but I did have something to do with the naming.

We then headed to Benny and Esther’s house to visit their family. Benny is 12 years old and his younger sister Esther is 9. They are also refugees from the DRC. The both of them are part of our core participants who attend all our programming. When we were around the corner from their house, another participant Emmanuel (an 11 year old) grabbed our hands and looked so happy when I told him we were going to Benny and Esther’s. He then mumbled something along the lines of “my house” to me. I was a tad bit confused what he meant, but just concluded that they are neighbors and that we could go to Emmanuel’s house after to visit his family too if he lived nearby. The language barrier here is tough even though the language of Uganda is English, so I just nodded and kept walking.

When Esther saw us, she smiled shyly and continued playing with her miniature plastic doll. Her mother was sitting outside the house with an infant at her feet and her face lit up right when she saw us. She invited us into her house with a huge smile. Children kept following as we piled into the living room, including Emmanuel. I thought they were neighborhood children until the mother told us she is a single mother of 9. I do not remember the mother’s name, but she introduced herself in English and said that her name means happiness/joy. She lived up to her name – she was one of the most joyful ladies I have ever met. During the course of the conversation, it was clear that her appreciation for SWB was endless. Some tears were even shed at various times when she talked about the organization and what it means for her, her children, and the community. She then stated that she doesn’t have anything to offer us to repay us for our work, but that if we wanted something she could go out and get it. We told her that seeing her children daily was enough for us. It may sound cheesy, but it is a very true statement. Her eldest son then chipped in and said that he wished we had programming for older kids his age. Other than our adult English classes, which aren’t even held at the center, our programming is tailored towards younger children. To hear such a comment from an older boy was a powerful thing. At one point, the mother talked about Emmanuel and how he used to be a disturbed boy (their way of saying misbehaved), but now he disturbs less because of SWB. She talked about his transformation with so much pride and was extremely thankful of SWB for transforming her son. This is when I learned that Emmanuel is not a neighborhood boy, but rather one of Benny and Esther’s brothers! Now it made sense why he said “my house” and why he was happy to see us all.

Words cannot describe what happened on Wednesday. Somehow everything I have been grappling with the past few months clicked. I am not quite sure if it was from hearing parents talk about the program and its impact on their child or seeing tears shed because of our work (and as a result getting watery eyes myself) or just removing myself from what I do on a daily basis and looking at the bigger picture. Whatever it was I am delighted that it happened during week 3 instead of month 3.

Cheers from Uganda!