A Piece of the Life Changing Puzzle

By: Alex Oleck

A week ago tonight, Jeff and I arrived in Uganda. Anticipation and excitement were high but we had no idea what to expect. What I came to find in the week to follow can only be described, for me, as a great dichotomy between devastation and beauty. This gorgeous sun drenched country is also blanketed by poverty the likes of which I've never experienced. Children barefoot in torn up clothes, dormitories with no shelves because the  children possess nothing to put on them, wooden shanties for stores and homes, and the smell of burning trash and diesel permeating the air. Yet despite these conditions that most would deem inconceivable, you will find an almost tangible beauty that resides in the hearts, words, and smiles of the Ugandan people. Never have I been welcomed so graciously and so warmly as I was when entering the lives of the people of this great organization.

Over the coming days I was not just received by the Fields of Dreams Uganda family, I was embraced wholeheartedly. Within a day Jeff was proclaimed Uncle Jeff and I, Auntie Alex. I spent the week watching soccer, which is admittedly not my favorite thing even though I'm married to a coach. However, this week that all changed for me. Soccer became much more than a game but rather a unifying force that brought not only a community together but became a common ground on which Jeff and I could relate and get involved. These children play with incredible intensity and they are committed with everything they have because for most of them it is literally all that they have. I have never witnessed joy like seeing the U20 team come out victorious in their semifinal win after an intense and nerve wracking shoot out. Mike Warneke, executive director of FoDU, said it well when we were discussing the match that evening. He said "so often in our lives we encounter happiness but it is rare when we encounter joy. " And that is what it was at it's purest and most simple form. I'd surely bottle it up if I could.

The soccer was fantastic and yet it is just a piece of the life changing puzzle that is FoDU. Through education advocacy, opportunity for connection, dream building, and emphasis on the person inside of the player, FoDU's goal is to create men of integrity and women of substance. The children of this program led beautifully by the Youth Council, a selected group of older children who focus on leadership, are becoming and in many cases have already become the very best of what we could hope for in a person. They show courage in the face of great odds, they are cooperative and supportive of one another on and off the field, they are serious when it's required and lighthearted when it's needed. They are charismatic in victory and gracious in defeat.

Alex and Jeff with Eddy and Manisul, members of the Youth Council

Queenie and Alex

In just one week, the children, staff, and families of FoDU have bulldozed their way into my heart and life will never be the same.

Today before we departed we had the opportunity to share a Christmas celebration with the Ugandan FoDU staff and the Youth Council. Before enjoying a meal together everyone in attendance shared what they were most grateful for in 2015. From funds for schooling to make education even an option, to first job opportunities to curb the fear of hunger, from hygiene kits to aid in school attendance, from chickens that were gifted by the organization to provide the opportunity for entrepreneurship, to integrity training to build character, it is completely evident that FoDU is not only saving lives but they are making these lives worth living. FoDU set a spark of hope ablaze in the hearts and minds of these children and I will standby with privilege and pride as we watch that spark, one day, engulf a nation.