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