Eres un Campeón

Once again I must apologize for my lack of a post last week, however I was very busy (even more so than usual) and did not have time to post an update. Either way, I will do my best to sum up the past two weeks.

Health-wise, I have unfortunately not be doing so well as of late. While my eye infection cleared up fairly quickly, I ended up getting another cold later in the week. Then, on Thursday (the 3rd) I re-injured my foot, in the same spot where I injured it about 2 months ago. Finally, I ended up not sleeping this past Wednesday night due to a very bad bout with a 12-hour stomach flu. (I then spent all day Thursday and half of Friday sleeping). Thankfully, I am now feeling much better health-wise, except for my foot which hasn't fully healed. Either way, my various health issues have not been enough to prevent me from having an otherwise excellent two weeks.

On June 30th, an 11-person team from Elevation arrived here in Cochabamba for a 2-week trip. I enjoyed hanging out with them during their time here, including working with them at CAT, taking them out or going with them to dinner, and going bowling with them. I even got to take them to Las Leñas, and they all agreed with my opinion that they serve excellent pizza. I said goodbye to the team this past Saturday, when they all headed off to the airport to go back home to Waterloo. I look forward to seeing them again when I return there this fall.

Last week, I spent all day Monday through Wednesday at CAT with the Elevation team, painting the girls room, which had already had some physical renovations done using money that the team raised back in Canada. In addition to painting the walls—which included painting some big flowers too—we varnished and did some minor repairs on all the wood furniture used in the room, and also paid to have a plastic floor cover (which will help to insulate the room and should be easy to clean) installed. The room now looks much nicer than it did before, to the excitment of not just the girls, but the staff as well.

At Nasaret, we celebrated the home's anniversay on July 4th with an entire day in the park. We had bbq'd chicken for lunch, and many spent the day relaxing. The highlight for me, however, was our afternoon game of Deathball. Deathball is a simple 5-rule game that John used to play back in the UK, at a school where he worked, and he thought that the soft grass in the park provided a playing field for it. So after lunch we made an announcement that we were going to be playing a game that was only for the "men" in the house, and off we went. Before starting the game, John explained the rules to the boys: 1) Your team must place the ball, with your hand on it, in the other team's "endzone", a small circular area; 2) No going outside the playing field with the ball; 3) No punching; 4) No kicking; 5) No crying. With the rules explained, John and I picked teams and play began. Deathball plays sort of like a violent version of rugby, and the kids absolutely loved it. I think it was good for them to be able to get out some aggression in a controlled manner, and it was also cool to see just how tough some of them really are. I think they probably enjoyed pile-ups most, since quite frequently there would end up being piles of 10 or more boys, sometimes not even bothering to fight for the ball.

Last Saturday (the 5th), I enjoyed going back to my Bolivian family's house in order to attend a surprise birthday party for Rachel, one of the Tearfund girls. I baked a chocolate cake for the occasion, and decorated it using M&M Minis, complete with an orange M&M llama. In addition to cake, we of course had pizza, and some truffles that Hannah had made. Rachel hadn't actually been expecting the party, so it was a nice surprise for her. The funniest moment of the night, by all accounts, was when I sang "The Happy Happy Birthday Song" (by The Arrogant Worms) to Rachel after dinner. I honestly had to stop singing a few times because I was laughing so much. For those of you who have never heard this song, a few of the lines from the song are as follows:

"Happy Birthday! Now you're one year older.
Happy Birthday! You're life still isn't over.
Happy Birthday! You did not accomplish much.
But you didn't die this year I guess that's good enough."

Rachel's actual birthday was on Tuesday, and we celebrated it with dinner at Las Islas, a not necessarily safe (stomach-wise) grouping of street food vendors on the north side of town. I enjoyed a yummy dinner of grilled anticucho (cow heart) with potatoe and yucca. (Thankfully, I was able to enjoy it without any undesireable side effects.) After dinner, the girls and Ludwe made their way to the movies, and I headed to Philipa and Lois's despedida. It was a fun party, although saying goodbye to them made me realize just how soon I leave, which is now in under two weeks.

The biggest highlight of the past two weeks, however, and possibly of my time in Bolivia, were the Nasaret boys' football (soccer) tournament finals this past weekend. Both our 9-and-under and our 12-and-under teams made it to the finals, which were played on Sunday. The entire house went to see the games, and everyone was really excited. The sub-9 team had a really hard-fought game, which they won 3-2. Beyond being a really good, exciting game of football, John and I (and the boys, and the entire house) pretty much exploded when the final whistle blew. The sub-12 team's game wasn't quite as exciting, due mostly to the fact that they had played a better team during the semi-finals on Saturday, and so the team they faced Sunday was less of a challenge for them. They won 7-1, against a team that was from a football school. The two wins were a really big moment for the boys, and everyone is still excited about it. John and I had coached them for over a month prior to the tournament, they worked really hard for it, and they got to see the results of their hard work. While I am of course excited to see the results of the time I put in with them, I am more excited about what this means for the kids themselves. Some of these boys worked hard and improved a lot, and they can see that. Also, for them to have won something, to have earned it, to be the best, is absolutely huge for them. When I think about the hard lives some of these kids have had, when I see the low self esteem some of them have, I can't even begin to imagine the good it does them to be able to say "soy un campeón" (I am a champion). It's just huge. To be able look at them in the eye and say "Eres un campeón" (You are a champion), and have them not think that it's just words, but something that they know is true, is just so awesome. While these boys are "champions" (special, amazing, awesome, worthy of being loved and cared for) in my opinion, regardless of whether or not they're good at football, there's something special for them in winning something, in being the best. They're not used to winning, they don't usually expect to be the best, and just maybe this tournament will start them thinking that they are good enough. And not just in football, but in the rest of life, too. Maybe some of them can begin to think "soy un campeón" in whatever it is they're doing, in whatever situation they're in.

We celebrated the victories with dinner—four massive (70cm/2'4") pizzas which the boys happily polished off—and a movie at my house Sunday night. It was a nice way to celebrate the victories, and also a good way to end the winter school vacations. Everyone came, not just the football teams, and was happy to celebrate. For the movie, we watched Kung Fu Panda, which both the kids and the adults (including myself) enjoyed. At the end of the day, all the kids went home, feeling happy and excited, thanking me for the use of my house and John for the pizza. I decided to leave cleaning till Monday morning, and went to bed, still happy for their victory.