New Balls Please!

Children in Kenya are replacing soccer balls made out of garbage bags for the real deal thanks to local generosity.

Southern Indiana's Net-Surfers are among those helping the Hearts4Kenya charity, and the all-girls' team recently donated 20 balls, which made it to Africa with volunteer Sara Dickman, former varsity girls' soccer coach with New Albany HS.

Also helping the cause are Kraatz Sporting Goods, which has donated 25 balls, and The Quest Class of Trinity Methodist Church, giving 10 balls and 10 hand pumps. Uniform sets were also donated by various local schools.

Dickman said children of all ages play the game in Kenya, usually with a group of discarded garbage bags that are wound with any available string.

"These balls have an amazing bounce but are not close to the touch of a regulation size leather ball," she said.

She added that the regulation balls are a "gift from heaven" to the schools and orphanages in the rural communities of Oyugis and Amani, while the uniforms help the children play in tournaments.

"There will be young men and women who will have qualified to participate in a tournament, but thought they could not as they didn't have the required shirts," said Dickman.

"It is amazing that we put our players in shin guards, long socks, arch supports and braces, and a good pair of cleats. In this area of Kenya, in order to participate in tournaments the teams must have one game ball per team, and matching uniform shirts. Every other part of the uniform may be mis-matched or missing. Most of the players we have watched play barefooted.

“Every year at least one boys' team and one girls' team is able to advance due to the generosity of this community."

Net-Surfers' secretary Jamie Fischer said that this is the second time the club has donated balls to the cause.

"As a club, we feel this a worthwhile endeavor to help kids in a less fortunate situation enjoy the game of soccer," said Fischer. "We want to thank Southern Indiana United U16 coach Bruce Rigsby for helping us obtain the soccer balls at a very reasonable rate and providing them to us for the donation."

Hearts4Kenya, a charity based in Louisville, helps combat poverty, hunger and disease in small, agrarian communities in the Nyanza province of Kenya. Now in its 11th year, it has successfully completed a wide range of projects, including the construction or repair of several churches, clinics, orphanages, playgrounds and a tree nursery.

In recent years, hybrid seed, fertilizer and the instruction of irrigation and planting techniques have been introduced, enabling the people to become self-sufficient.

For more information on the charity, log on to : www.heartsforkenya.org

Pictured above: Children in Oyugis, Kenya play with one of locally donated soccer balls.