Completely In Awe

By Carole Wilson,

Before departing Uganda, I had the privilege of observing several classes in two of our Fields of Dreams Uganda partner schools. At the Wakiso Children's School of Hope the first class I observed was the top class and baby class. One teacher was teaching both levels. She was at the board teaching a math lesson to the top class, children from age 4 and

5.  They were working on numbers between two numbers. They did two problems with the teacher. Then she passed out their writing books and these 4 year olds sat at their desks and quietly did 10 problems. While these children were working their problems, the teacher worked with the students in the baby class, about 3 years old. They were working on reading sounds, matching words, and writing words. These children were sounding out and reading words.

Then I went to a primary 3 class where the teacher was teaching a class on germination. First the teacher taught the lesson with the students orally repeating the information and writing it in their study books. She then had them turn around so they could not see the board and asked them questions. Because they had both recited and written the information, these students knew the information.

The next class I observed was at New Kabaale Busega School. There I observed a primary 4 class with 70 students and one teacher. He was teaching a social studies lesson. Again he had information on the blackboard. He would read the question, then the students would read the question, and he would ask for the answer. It was obvious he had previously taught this information. A student would answer the question, he would write it on the board, and the students would repeat the answer. They then wrote the questions in their notebooks.

At both schools, each teacher had one textbook and a blackboard. The students had a notebook. Having taught school, I was in awe of how these teachers and students did the excellent job they did with so few supplies. Not only were there hardly any supplies, there were four children sharing one bench and desk. In all the classes the students were involved in active learning and not listening to a lecture. The teachers all showed respect for the students and the students showed respect back. All in all, I was completely in awe of the teaching and learning in these two schools.

Purpose

By Dot Schucker,

My trip here in Uganda is quickly coming to an end. I can't believe that I have been here for almost 20 days. The things that I have seen on this trip can not be described in words. I have seen the best and the worst of this country in these few weeks. I can empathize with children who fear the dark and wait for the light to shine. I have personally seen those children. I have seen them at every stage. When they are fearful, they hide and won't come to your calling for fear of being hurt. When the light has finally reached their life, they smile the most beautiful smiles and hold your hand with such great passion. In this post, I will not be able to describe the full extent of what has happened here in this country. I will not be able to describe how much my heart felt like it was being ripped out of my chest. The only thing that I can do now is to just try to reach out to others so that they can feel at least a portion of what I feel. If I can accomplish that, I know that this country will be helped in such great ways.

The first ten days were spent in Gulu. Gulu is everything I expected it to be and nothing I could have prepared for. Their needs are so great. They need electricity for the deaf so that they can communicate. They need lights to prevent any more abuse to their children. They need school supplies to learn, more food to support their bodies, mattresses to sleep on, and genuine love from people who want to help them. They have none of that. I have described it to some as a direct example of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. At the bottom of this pyramid consists of needs of food, water, and shelter. Without these, a human can not reach other levels such as love and feeling belonged. These children don't even have the bottom level. They can't trust and love others when they are more concerned of their safety and surviving the world. These children have seen atrocities that I can not even begin to imagine. There were often days were I felt hopeless, and I wasn't even in the situations. However, there were always opportunities where I saw the progress. I saw a smile, a hug, an appreciative nod, or even just a child getting a little closer. My final few days at Gulu were some of the brightest. A young boy that had broken his leg at the tournament had personally sought me out and I took him to a clinic to get it looked at. After a day of me feeling utter hopelessness, the boy took my hand and laid his head on my shoulder. In this tiny move of affection, my heart was broke open, the dark chased away, and hope crept into the place where hopelessness had once been. Next stop: Kampala.

Some of my favorite boys are located in Kampala. I often think about these boys when I'm home. Abdul is one of those boys who will always hold a large piece of my heart. He is so smart and inquisitive. I love the pursuit of knowledge, and I do not find it a coincidence that this boy was placed in my life. I had learned on this trip that he had a heart condition and could not do many activities. As a nursing student, I started to see a pattern in these events over this trip, and I decided to react.

Tournament day is always a fun, interactive day for the players and the fans. The excitement they have for their teams reminds many that these are just children. You would be surprised how easy it is to forget that these mature, small beings are actually children! The day after the tournament was highly ironic in that our whole team faced a very dark day. We took three boys, who had gotten a scholarship to go to Wakiso to learn and play soccer, back to their village to visit their families. The atrocities I saw there still haunts me. The family of two of the boys held their children to no importance. They did not care. They found it more interesting that white people were even there and paid no attention that the children they had not seen in six months were back home. These children shuddered from their parents touch and kept a distance from them at all times. The whole team ended this whole interaction in tears or in anger. We were eager to get the boys back in the van and drive off. While this situation felt hopeless, it was not unlike the situation I had encountered 9 days before that. In the darkest of dark, there is a beacon of hope. We took these children to go eat. This restaurant had a trampoline and these boys played on this trampoline for a solid 30 minutes. They were laughing and joking, and their laughter and smiles quickly spread throughout the whole team. They had ice cream before dinner and one of the sweet boys ate his weight in food. Hope had, again, reached into that dark place in my heart.

I truly believe everyone has a specific purpose in life. Whatever that purpose may be, it should be carried out with all your heart. This trip has reminded me of my purpose: to help others. The only time I feel most at peace with the world is when I can see that hope rising in others that I have touched. I am called to action, and I will refuse to ignore it. As I venture back into America, I must remind myself to stay focused and passionate. I cannot let this world turn me bitter or blind, but I must use the pain and heartache to drive me further along my path. I hope that this hope will spread not just to my beautiful Ugandans but to Americans, as well

Words Are Not Enough...

By Mike Warneke,

Today is a difficult post to write. It seems as if our team has left such an incredible place of joy from yesterday’s tournament and traveled into some of the greatest despair we have ever been witness too. As often happens here in on our trips, agendas change, and new plans are made. Our team arose this morning fully expecting to spend the day at our partner school, New Kabaale Busega, but with a visit day for care givers on their campus our plans quickly detoured to Masaka instead.

I must quickly give you a little background information so you understand the full picture of why today was so difficult, yet also so powerful. I had the joy of getting to know a man by the name of Paius on Facebook through a contact I made at a music festival in May of 2013. We became friends and shared about our various activities, as we are both attempting to empower the children of Uganda through the means of soccer and education. This online friendship lead our team in early March of this year to travel to Masaka and see their work first hand. Upon our trip we were able to offer Paius a chance to select three of his most vulnerable children to get a fresh start at one of our partner schools in Wakiso, and he choose three remarkable young men, Paul, Paul and Fahad.

These young men have been at Wakiso Children’s School of Hope on scholarship, a huge form of gratitude that our partner school has shown us in appreciation for our FoDU programs on their campus. It has been five months since they have seen their families, and we thought it wise that we take them home to share with their communities how well they are doing, and how this new school has completely embraced all three of them. It was an exciting ride as we made a brief stop at the equator, and then continued on to Masaka. When we first entered the city we met up with the incredible young gentlemen that are behind Divine Soccer Ministries, and are the ones that introduced us to these special young men now living in Wakiso. Our time in Masaka started out joyfully as Paul, Paul and Fahad were able to come back to their friends as heroes sharing what they have been able to accomplish, and looking like changed people. One of the Paul’s had recently scored the first goal for Wakiso at the tournament yesterday and was placed on the select team, and the other Paul and Fahad were just placed on the Junior District Team for all of Wakiso. They were coming back to town as heroes, that all of their friends in the Divine Soccer Ministries could look up too.

And then the winds shifted. It was time to say goodbye to their friends, and take the boys back home to let their families know that they were thriving in their new environments. I have seen poverty both domestically back home in the U.S. and throughout Uganda, but our entire team was moved to tears at different times of our visits, as the situations these boys were raised in were indescribable. Each of these boys faced difficult challenges growing up: one struggled to feed himself and his younger brother living in very dirty surrounds; another faced an entire family of drug users, himself being a recovering addict at the age of 14, and the last young boy growing up in the slums of Masaka amidst drunkards, raw sewage and a mother who seemed to have no empathy for her own son. These three boys are survivors in the richest sense of the word. They have already overcome more than I can imagine, and somehow they are still dreaming for the future.

As difficult as it was to see their environments in which they were raised, it was confirmation once again that we are doing the right thing. For a child growing up in such a hopeless place, soccer is often the only bright spot in the glaring darkness that can easily consume them. As we drove back to Kampala we were able to take these boys to their first meal in a sit down restaurant, for two of them their first taste of ice cream, and they got the chance to simply be kids as they jumped and laughed on a trampoline. Our team is still struggling to make sense of what we witnessed today. There are simply no words to describe the painful environments that these boys were raised in, and yet we left them with smiles on their faces tonight. We attempted as best we could to let the boys know that they had nothing to be ashamed of during their home visits. They did not choose these environments or the neglect that was handed to them. However they do have a say in what happens in their future, and right now it is getting brighter each and every day.

Some questions simply cannot be asked, because no answers will do. All I can do tonight is trust that God knows what He is doing, and perhaps if enough of us wake up to the state of the world we are living in, then maybe, just maybe, there will be a few more Paul’s and Fahad’s getting a true chance to achieve their dreams. Words cannot paint the pictures of joy and suffering here in Uganda; you will only get half-truths and half-blessings until you come and discover this land for yourself.

I cannot thank Paius, Fred, Andrew, Joseph, and Robert at Divine Soccer Ministries enough for going into the shadows of Masaka and showing the children in their care that they matter, that they are loved, and that a brighter future awaits them. 

Well Earned Pride

By Jen Wilson,

One year ago, I participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Wakiso Children's School of Hope. Fields of Dreams Uganda made a commitment to create a soccer field for the children at Wakiso School of Hope and the surrounding community of Wakiso.  In June 2013, the field was a rocky playing surface not fit for an actual soccer match, but the children at Wakiso diligently practiced and played each day. After that initial ribbon-cutting the children and staff at Wakiso, along side the Uganda FoDU staff, worked tirelessly to create a beautiful field.

Today, another ribbon-cutting ceremony took place to officially open the field for the Fields of Dreams Uganda Kampala Tournament. District officials, Wakiso staff, FoDU staff, the FoDU Dreams Team, and the children of Wakiso rejoiced as the ribbon was cut and the first ball was kicked. A field seems such a simple thing to us.  We are surrounded by soccer fields in the U.S.A.  But, here in Kampala, field space is at a premium.  Wakiso Children's School of Hope now was one of the premier youth fields in all of Kampala.  Today, the stakeholders at Wakiso were filled with such pride to host the tournament at THEIR school on THEIR field.

As the first game got underway, the players on the U-15 Wakiso boys team were pushing hard to claim the first goal on the new field.  Each time the offense got close, the crowd would start chanting the name of the player. Several near misses occurred, and the first goal seemed imminent.

First, a little back story. On a previous trip to Uganda, the team visited a soccer group in the Masaka district. The team identified a few young men with talent and skill.  Due to our partnership with Wakiso, the staff of Wakiso offered these young men scholarships to live and learn at Wakiso.  What a gift!  One of these young men is named Paul...back to the story.

Finally, the first goal was scored...and it could not have been more perfect! Paul, the young man from Masaka, scored the first goal on the new field for his new community.  The crowd erupted into celebration.  The other students chanted Paul's name, and a huge smile spread across his face. The partnership between Wakiso and FoDU offered this young man a fresh start, and he rewarded his school with the first goal and a win in their opening match.  I wish I could have captured that moment to share with all of you back home!

As the day unfolded, there were so many more amazing moments. Students demonstrated their artistic ability in a Music and Dance competition with native dances and songs. The level of play during the girls soccer matches showed a great improvement from the first tournament I witnessed last year. Our FoDU U-18 boys select team played a friendly match versus the She Corporate 11. The She Corporate is a team composed of former members of the Ugandan Women's National Team, the She Cranes.  At the end of the match, our boys were victorious, 3-0. I was so impressed with the increase in their skill level and teamwork.  They worked together as a team, fought hard, and came home with a victory. And boy were they proud!  What a great opportunity to continue to spread the word about FoDU on a national level in Uganda.

The day concluded with our FoDU awards ceremony.  Smiles, hugs, medals, trophies, and goats have all become traditions I enjoy.  However, what will stick most with me from this day is pride.  The pride of the Wakiso staff and students to welcome a community to their beautiful field. The pride of Paul scoring the first goal for his new family.  The pride of the boys select team earning their victory over the She Corporate. Pride that was well-earned and well-deserved

Joy, Confidence and Hope

By Ashlee Powers,

I have officially been in Africa for 4 full days. Joining this trip for me meant an opportunity to help, have an adventure, and see the place I have heard so much about, Uganda. I want to share a few main points of our team's trip so far and about how Fields of Dreams is spreading hope everywhere we go.

The first school we visited this week was Wakiso School of Hope. I had heard about the joy that these vulnerable children had, but it was hard to believe until I saw it with my own eyes. As we climbed out of the van, children greeted us with warm smiles and hugs saying the Ugandan greeting, "you are welcome". Within the first ten minutes I had about 5 children hanging on each of my arms. Three girls in particular, Belinda, Juliet, and Rita stayed close to me all day. Belinda shared with me her story of how she has lived at Wakiso for 1 year because her mother is sick and cannot care for her anymore. She said,"we used to be happy and then when she got sick we were not happy anymore." Belinda dreams to be a nurse. I want so much for her to be happy.

The second school we visited was Vision for Africa. What stuck out most to me during this short visit to drop off football gear, was how thankful the young girls were for the hygiene kits Fields of Dreams gave to them in February. One girl that spoke said that, "we now have self confidence because we can use the hygiene kits once a month". That for me was so important to hear because for preteen and teenage girls self confidence is everything.

Even today, as we took a day to go exploring in Mbale on Mount Elgon, our wonderful national director, Jonathan, spoke to a young boy from Sipi Falls named Thomas Sam about his education and dreams. Within this 10 minute hike back to the van I learned that Thomas was good at English and in P5. When Jonathan asked what his dream was, Thomas answered, "to be like you." Even though Jonathan giggled and was embarrassed, I could easily understand the admiration that this young boy had for him after only knowing him for a short time because Jonathan had showed interest in his dreams. He gave him hope.

Warm Welcome

By Carole Wilson

Today we went to Wakiso Children's School of Hope. The children were excitedly waiting for us at the gate. When we left the van, the children ran forward welcoming us with big smiles and hugs. It was one of the warmest welcomes I have ever received. They are so proud of their campus and took us on a tour. You can see in their faces how much they want to be loved and I hope I was able to give them that today.

The school has a new football field, and they all worked very hard to make it happen. The students and staff even planted the grass on the field. They are very excited about having their first Fields of Dreams Uganda football tournament on it this Saturday.

On an educational focus, I was privileged to witness an oral quiz and debate between the children of The Wakiso Children's School of Hope and another of FoDU's partner schools, New Kabaale Busega. It was a first for both schools. It was all very exciting to watch. I was very impressed with the knowledge the children had on the rules of debate and how they presented their positions on their topic: Urban Life vs. Rural Life. Both sides did an excellent job. The children really focused on their side of the debate, made good points, and would ask for further explanation when the other team was making a point. The children' pride showed through.

I am so glad to be here and meet these children who have so many needs and at the same time, they take so much pride in their education.