Outreach Soccer Camp!

Hi, Tim here! Well our first full week has gone by, and we are feeling quite at home. This week we ran the soccer outreach camp. Monday we used as a planning session, not knowing what to expect it was difficult to anticipate how things would go. The first group of kids showed up around 8:45, the morning was cool for PNG weather around 24 degrees. I was sweating already, perhaps more due to nerves then the actual heat and humidity! The stadium has a seating capacity of about 1000, it has a beautiful track used for the South Pacific games in the 90’s, and the grass was comparable to turf on a fairway, very lush and green. It was quite exciting to have the opportunity to use this facility.

The plan was to start at 9:00 but groups of kids kept showing up. By about 9:30 we started running the first drill with about thirty kids, and I thought to myself this is a good manageable number with the 16 balls I had brought along! But the kids kept joining in, by 10:00 there were over sixty kids. And instead of 8 – 12 year olds as Ian mentioned at Church, 16, 17, 18 year olds started joining in as well, and some younger than 8 as well. They all seemed very keen on learning or perfecting there skills. I was amazed that only 3 or 4 kids wore shoes and only 1 had soccer shoes, the rest went barefoot. At around 10:30, everything is approximate with time here; Ian led a devotion in the grand stands. Ian also had them cheering - I’m sure you could hear the cheering all over Lae.
I guess the word was out about the camp, kids began showing up before we would get there to set-up at 8:30 and by 9 ish on Wednesday there were about 100 kids, youth, and some adults. Some lived in settlements close enough to walk but many rode in on the bus. I would give the instructions and demonstrate and Ian would translate if necessary, it was difficult for everyone to hear so Nadia borrowed a Megaphone (besides the soccer balls, the most effective tool at the camp). Wednesday I lead the devotion while Ian translated. Ian then asked if they wanted to sing and before he was finished talking they broke out into a song with various parts, it was unbelievable. Many of the children have some church background, some attend the church Ian preaches in. Ian mentioned that there is list of Christian songs that are well known by the Nationals. The singing was amazing – they sang with all their hearts, I’m sure with the 120+ people including Moms & Dads that it could be heard all over as well. After serving drinks and kaikai (food), we took to the field and finished the session with games. Thursday was pouring rain but that didn’t stop kids from turning up we still had over 100 and they all wanted to play! On Friday we included various challenges worked into the program. Lis and I had brought 30 t-shirts to handout – we were not able to give one to everyone, so we had juggling and penalty shot competitions and gave a shirt to the winners from each age group.

We donated most of the soccer balls, giving 2 balls to the 4 different settlements there were represented at the camp. Unfortunately, one of the groups ran off to the market we were told to sell the balls! There were a number of parents and older members of the Reformed Church that helped out, we gave them Canadian souvenirs. It was a very rewarding experience – though it had its challenges trying to communicate – the kids were always very excited, and really created an opportunity to get to know the Papuan Nationals, kids wave when you see them on the streets and smile quickly. It was also a great way to draw in the older youth and young men, very few go to Church and there is an issue with gangs, and share the gospel with them!