Yi people and the One World Futbol

Dear Wilson

Imagine a village with children who have never seen a soccer ball.

This was the case earlier this month until Huang Yu arrived in Sichuan Province, China. Yu is an anthropologist who has been teaching at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I introduced you to her in my letter of July 28, just before leaving Hong Kong. You may recall part of her research involved studying the loss of biodiversity in Chinese food crops because the use of commercial seed is leading farmers to stop saving seed.

Futbols almost confiscated

Yu took a couple One World Futbols with her when she entered China, knowing that she would be in communities where the people are very poor.

But that almost didn't happen. When Yu tried to take the balls aboard a plane in Kunming in Southwest China, they were almost confiscated. As she explains it, "the security people wanted to deflate the balls and couldn't. They were afraid that the balls would explode under the high pressure on the plane. I argued with them and eventually could keep the balls."

What a great story! Yu, who is not only an honorary member of Team Wilson because of her help; now she is a Team Wilson pioneer, for introducing these balls in a part of the world where they are so unknown that they worry airport security. Team Wilson has broken ground in the world's most populous country.

Here's what she did afterward, as explained in an e-mail:

Professor Huang Yu

Dear Robert, 

I gave one futbol to a village located in Luguhu Town, Yanyuan County, Sichuan Province. The county lies in a high-altitude basin (2400-2500m elevation). The children belong to the Yi ethnic minority group. The villagers there grow buckwheat, corn, potatoes, and sunflower for family consumption. 

Yi village at Luguhu Town. Photo by Huang Yu

They also sell the extra produce to the market. Some of the children are called “left-behind children” whose parents go to coastal cities and do factory or service work. The village is adjacent to the famous tourist site Lugu Lake. In the summer, children often walk 2-3 hours to Lugu Lake to sell sunflower seeds and souvenirs. There is no sports facility in the village. I donated the ball to children and they were very happy. 

I gave another futbol to a village located in Mianya Town, Yanyuan County, Xichang City, Sichuan Province. The village is also dwelled by the Yi ethnic minority group. They used to live in the mountains and moved to the current basin area about 5 years ago to get their children better schooling opportunities. 

The current village used to be an apple plantation, but the owner abandoned it a few years ago due to the decline of profit. He sold some areas of land to his former employees, many of whom are the Yi people. Now the village is very poor without drinking water and electricity. Most families grow buckwheat for their own consumption and also raise sheep for cash. The adults either go outside as migrant workers or get day labor in the adjacent walnut plantation. 

There is no sports facility in the village and the children’s activities include catching wild birds and collecting wild mushroom. I gave the futbol to the village head and he promised that he would let children play the ball often. A lot of children have never seen a real futball before and they were really excited to have the chance to play it.

best,

Huang Yu

 

At least some of these Yi farm children had never seen a soccer ball. Photo by Huang Yu

I had to read Yu’s e-mails a few times to absorb everything she said. Then I looked up some information. 

The Yi People

Here’s what Wikipedia says about the Yi ethnic group:

There are an estimated 8 million Yi people in Thailand, Vietnam and China, where they represent the seventh largest of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the People’s Republic of China. In China, they live primarily in rural areas, usually in mountainous regions. Most are farmers, herders of cattle, sheep and goats. They speak “mutually unintelligible” languages.

Buckwheat. Photo by Huang Yu, Inset from Wikipedia.

Buckwheat

And here’s what I found out about buckwheat:

You know, never once in my 70 years did I ever wonder what buckwheat was. I just assumed it was one of three things: something related to afalfa; a character from a Little Rascals movie that would be politically incorrect nowadays; or the same character, satirically recreated by Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live.

Well, it’s none of those. Buckwheat isn’t wheat. It isn’t even a grass. It’s actually related to rhubarb, knotweed and sorrel. It’s referred to as a pseudocereal, similar to amarynth, whose seeds are eaten like grain. Its production declined in the 20^th Century with the introduction of nitrogen fertilizer used for other staples, but it has been cultivated for probably 8,000 years, first in Southeast Asia. 

Wikipedia states that it has been in Finland as early as 5,400 BCE. Buckwheat handles elevation well, and has been  grown on the Tibetan Plateau.

Just think. Someday those children of buckwheat farmers who lack electricity and safe drinking water will see a "real" soccer ball and they will think it's just a cheap imitation, because Yu brought them unbreakable soccer balls that won’t wear out and go flat.

Love,

Robert

Futbols to Zambia

Hey Wilson,

Would you believe that, because of you, there are 13 one World Futbols being kicked around in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia?

In Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, a Seattle Academy student introduces African youngsters to the wonders of the One World Futbol. Last March, publicity about Wilson's Madison Street Marathon inspired the students to raise money for the balls and take them  to Africa as part of their summer program.

Outcome of the Madison Street Marathon

Those balls are in Africa because of the Madison Street Marathon that featured you and your relatives last March. Remember the marathon? (If not, click here for the story.) We were going to hold it on the Ides of March, but rain persuaded Team Wilson to shift to St. Patrick's day, and the 27-mile march up and down Seattle's Madison Street Hill got coverage in the Capitol Hill Times. That coverage, and the fact that we were lugging eight of your relatives back and forth past the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences got the school's attention. When they found out about how resilient you were, the students got inspired. They decided to take One World Futbols to Zambia as part of the Academy's summer service program and they raised funds to purchase the futbols.

Seattle Academy seniors  Jessica Whetzell, Deanna Faour, and Ian Zunt, with the One World Futbols the school raised. Yes, it's true -- they aren't all blue.

Traveling to Zambia is no small feat. The flight can take between 24 and 30 hours -- the 30-hour flight goes through Dallas, Paris and Nairobi to reach Lusaka, according to Melinda Meuller, the faculty member who hosted us at the school for our show-and-tell after our marathon. The fact that academy students go to Zambia every summer means they are well aware of how difficult it is in distressed communities to maintain a standard ball of the world's most popular sport, and how useful your type of ball truly is.

Futbols and computer labs

Melinda explained that the students spend three weeks living and working at Lusaka, operating out of a lodge owned by a man who sponsors a boys soccer team. Two of the futbols went to that team.

"The goals of our Zambia Program are to support our Zambia partners in their educational missions, and to give our students an opportunity to live and work in communities outside the USA, in support of those communities' goals," she explained. She added that--

Adademy students work at several schools in Lusaka:

• At Munali Boys Secondary school, Munali Girls Secondary School, and Munali's "Special School" for Deaf students, we mostly assist with computer training. Seattle Academy, in partnership with Zambia Pacific Trust, helped these schools outfit computer labs (starting in 2001). The schools now have full-time computer teachers, so our visits are now focused on cultural exchange, as well as supplementing the schools' equipment with new laptops. We donated four futbols to the Munali schools.

• At Birdland School (a private primary school, with a mission to include among its student body vulnerable children, such as those orphaned by AIDS) we also support their computer program, but also their library (which Seattle Academy helped to build), and their new science program (Seattle Academy 6th grade science students put together science kits each year, which we take to Birdland). We donated the rest of our futbols to Birdland.

Playing soccer at Birdland school, whose mission is to include among its student body vulnerable children, such as those orphaned by AIDS. 

By the way, the students had planned to donate 20 balls, but Melinda reported that American Airlines lost a bag that contained seven. They have filed a lost bag claim, and plan to re-purchase the lost futbols.

Well, this letter has been about the balls that were raised and donated by the Academy students. In a couple months I hope to be telling you more about distribution of the futbols that Team Wilson raised. In the meantime, enjoy the view from the top of Mount Adams. It has to be spectacular, with the Perseid meteor shower overhead this week. Wish I was there to see it. It's kind of overcast in Seattle.

Love,

Robert