THE NEW TERRITORIES--July 21, 2015
You know, there's always a dead time on TV between last year's programs and the fall lineup. The same is true for the Team Wilson campaign. Last season we talked about the training for climbing Washington State's Mount Adams, and how that was resolved with the unbreakable soccer ball reaching the summit and the two old guys limping back to camp.But now, as I write this from the far side of the Pacific, I think it's time for the second season. Last year was about raising funds for the One World Futbol while preparing for the ascent of the state's largest mountain. We surpassed the goal of 100 futbols, thanks to many generous donors.
Time to distribute
Until now, only a few of those balls were actually donated -- partly because we wanted members of Team Wilson to be on-site for the donations to document and share the stories. This season it's about delivering the promise.I could sit back and let One World Play Project handle the job, but what's the fun in that? I want to be there when it happens, and I would like to share with you donors the story of the people who are receiving your gift.
Fragrant Harbor
Oh, I should mention that although this dispatch is dated July 14, I actually finished most of this several days ago, and I'm sending this to you from Fragrant Harbor, a community of 263 islands situated near the mouth of China's Pearl River. You know it better by it's more common name, Hong Kong.Well, OK, I'm really sending this from the Hyatt Regency in Shatin, a city on the outskirts of Hong Kong, in what is referred to as "The New Territories." Instead of spending my 70th birthday glissading down the snow-covered upper flanks of Mount Adams, I am sweltering at sea level in the former British Crown Colony in southern China just around the corner from Vietnam. It is hot and muggy here.
Gullible's Travels
Last year I learned a little bit about the difficulties of making contact and delivering the goods, and found out how big a job it is. Refugee camps and impoverished third-world locations are not environments I move through effortlessly. So this year it's time to learn, and I was a little tempted to call this first dispatch of the season "Gullible's Travels" as an acknowledgement of my inexperience and the mistakes I expect to make along the way. But those mistakes should make the venture that much more enriching.While Hong Kong is a honeypot of commerce, my understanding is that there are pockets of extreme poverty here, and I want to see whether any of them are suitable for One World Futbols, so I brought four along with me.
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Ann Anagnost |
So this is part of the learning curve. I have higher hopes for greater impact at another location in October, but I'll save that news for later.
Students are gifting futbols
By the way, across the street from my Seattle condo is the Seattle Academy, a private high school. Several students from there heard about the Madison Street Marathon last March, in which Wilson and I carried eight little Wilsons for 27 miles up and down Seattle's Capitol Hill, to raise awareness for the One World Futbol.Well, we raised a little bit of awareness, and the students raised $300 to take One World Futbols to Zambia. A contingent of Academy students go there every summer, so they are well aware of what Zambian youngsters use for soccer balls (pop bottles, rag balls, etc). When they learned about Wilson, they realized they could do something about that Zambian situation. I hope to share details about how they fare in their effort.
Keeping Wilson informed
Naturally, we won't be distributing One World Futbols without keeping our legendary unbreakable friend informed, so for Season two, we have this new blog, Letters to Wilson, which you are reading now. There will be a lot fewer dispatches this year, but I hope you find that what we send will be worth reading.If you are into reruns, you can visit season one's Brimstone and Ice. The archives remain online.
Love,
Robert
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