Maddy's realizations from interacting with Khayeltisha's amazing soccer players and coaches

Kaitlyn, Claire & Maddy making new frien

Last week I started my activist project with the Khayelitsha Fire Fighters Soccer Club with Sara, Rav, Claire, and Kait. It was great meeting the coach, Power, and getting a feel for what will be doing to help for the rest of the time we are here. It is amazing how much time Power puts into this soccer club. He literally dedicates his life to it in order to make sure the kids have a team to play on. This week we jumped into it and I really got a lot out of it already. We attended practice and helped warm up and stretch with the younger team. Though there is a language barrier, the kids loved following our warm up drills and beating us in a lap around the field. Our speaker and music was also a favorite. As someone who played soccer growing up it was crazy seeing how different their practices are compared to those I had because of their lack of equipment. Growing up everyone at practice had their own soccer ball yet these boys all shared two, and one wasn’t even pumped up all the way. Also, many didn’t have cleats or sneakers or you could tell they were wearing one’s way too small or big. This made me realize I really want to start fundraising and helping the soccer club out with things I’ve always taken for granted because they were always given or provided for me.

GoFundMe fundraiser for the FireFighters

After practice Power took us into Khayelitsha to see if the other coach, Bongi was home. Though he wasn’t home, his mother and father were and immediately invited us in. His mom was so grateful we stopped by and couldn’t stop saying “I’m so glad you are here”. It never fails to amaze me how welcoming people are here and how genuinely happy they get from the little things in life. His mom has already told us to come over after next practice and she will make dinner. While at Bongi’s, there were two kids playing in the road in front of the house so we went outside to play with them. Soon enough it seemed as though the whole neighborhood got word that there were white girls playing in the streets and they all went outside to see these foreign faces. Once they found out we were American it added to their excitement. All they wanted to do was take pictures of us like we were celebrities or something. At first I thought it was sweet but then I was rushed with a mix of emotions realizing that I am not that special and we are human beings just like them. I became guilty for some reason when our uber came (we didn’t bring money for public transportation by accident) and we all piled into the car, something most of them have probably never been in before, and drove away while they lined up on the street and waved goodbye. When I got back home part of me felt like that was one of my favorite experiences yet while another part of me was guilty that they were so fascinated with us just because we were white and American.

On Saturday, we brought snacks to the youth team then attended a tournament for the senior team. We got to sit with them and watch other games before theirs began for a few hours. It was great talking to some of the players. Once again, we were the only white people there and one of the few women. A group of shy little boys sat next to me and though there was a language barrier I was able to talk and joke around with some of them and by the time we left we were best buds. The next day Power posted on Facebook something that stuck with me. He said as part of a longer status updating people on the tournament, “To my friends from US who were there from early morning to afternoon, trusting to be around our black community for that long on a weekend thank you guys, you made different to our thoughts about white people and for your contribution too”. It’s understandable that people could be confused at first and want to know why these “outsiders” were there, but it made me happy that everyone at the tournament, who I’m sure noticed us interacting with the teams and kids, could realize that though they don’t see white people a lot, they understood we were there with good intentions and just want to help make a difference in these kid’s life.