“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.”

Hello One and All!

The weather here is not giving up at all, it's meant to be the start of the winter months, and it's still hotter than...well some place really hot. Apparently this is freak weather, but luckily for us it means that, because the rains are slow in coming, the builders at the project are able to maybe even finish building the security wall around the premises, which toppled down because of a mudslide last rainy season.

The past week and a bit have been worked dominated, but have been really good. I haven't managed to leave Tejipio much (just last monday to go into Beach Territory to "play" some volley ball). So I have mainly just been based around the project with my little animal friends, lots of cockroaches going about just now...

One of the new projects that we have set up is another football project (apparently I should just get used to it, football is life and soul of Brazil, I have even been invited to join a women team-there are three of us on it now-even though my knowledge of playing football is pretty minimal, but the teenagers are very encouraging, they promise to be my biggest fans, I think that they probably just want to see me make a fool of myself). This project is mainly aimed at the older teenagers of the area, they come and use the project pitch two days a week to play football for three hours, and somewhere in between they are given a message, unfortunately there are about a million unexpected obstacles in the way of us being able to run this project sufficiently, and it is wearing me down a little bit, since I have heart for this project and it is already being attended by over 20 boys. Firstly there seems to be a never ending supply of mud on the field. Mud from where, it hasn't rained for days, I hear you say... Well turns out that this is HUMAN WASTE mud, that is coming from a pipe that carries the neighbours waste into a little pocket of our project. Apparently everyone but us seemed to know about this waste, and was Ok about it dripping into an area that children play in. Once we had pointed out that this was in fact, NOT OK, and very dangerous, you know, healthwise, they all seemed to agree and we have had many men standing around looking useful trying to sort the problem out. We suggested that maybe they just remove the pipe, but apparently this would only annoy the neighbours...So, so far we have no solution as how to get rid of human waste running into the project where children play. But do not be alarmed, phone calls have already been made, and the problem should be sorted out soon, please pray that the neighbours will be understanding, and that they don't ever stumble upon this blog. I had always wondered why the plants grew at such an alarming rate at the end of the football pitch. Now I know. And I wish I didn't.

The second problem that we encounter is that everyone seems to hate teenage boys, even other teenage boys seem to hate teenage boys (although they definitely do not have self-esteem issues too much here, they pretty much love themselves, which is a wonderful change from the prevailing emo culture in the west at the moment). So, the other male workers at the project, if I happen to turn my back cancels the football, or kicks the boys out when they come in, for no good reason really, that he has told me, but maybe I am missing some cultural point, but until someone tells me, I'll keep on missing it, so I just press on. Also the groundskeeper (my Brazilian 'father' of sorts) also likes to call the teens names and kicks them out if I happen to be late or not around, as do the workers of the seminary. Everyone seems to think that teenage boys are a whole lot of trouble (which they are), but once you give them a chance they are actually a wonderful demographic of people. I love our teenagers, and I am going to fight their corner, because someone has too.

The third problem is the teenagers language. They swear, a lot. Because what we are hoping to do with the football is give them a chance to play somewhere safe, fair, without fights and other distractions (the community pitch in Pacheco is ringed by drug dealers most days, the only time that they leave is when our sports Missionary Danny has his classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and this is only because Danny has spent a lot of time getting to know the community, and is a respected man here, and so they let him work unhindered, but everyone else, well...) and to bring them a small message of evangelism. The boys though, although they try very hard to respect us, swear, a lot. They also bring their little brothers along often to play some, who can't be over 7 years old, and they swear lots too. Swearing is frowned upon in the Seminary, and church/project grounds, which is quite understandable, and if the other pastors and groundskeepers hear them swear, well, they get kicked out, so part of my job is to sit, for three hours, chatting the boys who are not playing at that moment (5 a side pitch, three goal games) and looking out for swearwords. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depends on how you look at it, I don't know that many swearwords, so I really haven't a clue when they are swearing or not, I have to guess from the reactions of other people and the guilty looks on their face when it happens. And if they do swear they have to sit out, and more recently I have added some good old Coach Carter techniques of sit ups and push ups for each swear word as well, which brings no end of grumbling from the guilty party (they really are not very fit here) and no end of amusement from the others. In fact my job has recently been made easier because as soon as someone swears everyone stops and shouts to tell me, so that they can laugh when the poor guy has to do situps. It's effective though, mostly. I'm sure if I did a count there would be a very obvious drop in swearing, but I haven't counted. I might next week. The boys have taken to shouting LARANJA now instead, which means ORANGE, which I have also recently heard when I have been walking about in the community, makes me smile.

Fourthly, our project is located next to a battalion, which is sort of an army base, and so the walls the separate the two are topped with spiky pointy things, that when the ball lands on them, punctures and destroys quite a number of them. And with the amount it costs for a football, a good one, here, this can mean that sometimes good afternoon games have to be cut short, since 3 footballs have been punctured and no one wants to go home to get another one, well, because that's just tempting fate apparently. Also I am not the biggest fan of watching the teens climb over the wall the retrieve lost balls, especially since in this particular army base, they use live ammunition to practise. Wonderful.

So despite problems, and always having to stand up for these teens when the other adults blame then for all sorts of things that they possibly couldn't have done, or are trying to kick them out, or make them sick with waste mud, this is a project that I am quite excited about. I am hoping that eventually I can start a volleyball ministry alongside the football, since, well you know, where teenage boys go, there will be teenage girls. We have a volleyball net, and have space to put it up, it's just that we can't afford balls at the minute since all the project money is going into sorting out the bathrooms and showers and roof for the July camps. But, I think that perhaps after the July 'HOLIDAYS' I will start playing volleyball with the girls, because so far the boys have been terrific. I really enjoy chatting to them, learning more about what their aspirations are for the future, and just understanding more about teenage logic really. The more I get to know them, the more I see that we can do for them. But it's an uphill battle, because they aren't willing to meet us halfway yet, for example, if we give them English Lessons, they need to come along to the Sunday morning or evening service, it's a rule that all our other kids abide by, but these guys aren't having any of it. Yet. But they would benefit so much from the English lessons, for future work...But we will see how this situation develops.

Another good thing that has come from this project, from getting to know the young people in the community is that now, I feel a lot safer walking about later on at night. I know more of the people who seem menacing who sit on the streets and they run over to say hi, and give you a hug, and then go back to being menacing.

Some sad news is that one of our younger boys Robson, lost his brother this week, to a lethal combination of alcohol and drugs, a young man in our community. So we are going to try our best to help the family grieve. Hard times for two young boys who looked up to their brother, no matter what his weaknesses.

Also the father of our Host Mum, also passed away this friday, this month has been a really difficult month for the family, with two losses and more trips to the emergency room for surgeries and allergic reactions. Many a sleepless night for a couple who work their fingers to the bone as it is. Prayer would be warmly welcomed.

Have no particular plans but work, apart from verb conjugation for the next week. Will let you know how that goes.

Yours always

Emma