Coaching for Hope: Reflections

1.31.07 Overflow

If I could describe the last 10 days in one sentence, I would say it was a glass constantly overflowing. Each new day brought higher levels of inspiration, excitement, wonder, passion, and confidence in the project I am now involved in.
Often, I would make my way home, slowly picking my way through the dirt, dazed and smiling, my nerve endings tingling, my acceptance of joy simply brimming.

I can’t begin to describe or recount all that has happened over the last week, but there are many moments that flash though my head like a slideshow of color and light and movement. I still wonder of is not all just a dream. The office work: accounts, translations, “Bloody f***ing ‘ell” exclamations from my UK counterparts, makes me believe this really happened. Following are a few sketches of the last week:


ABPAM, School for the blind and partially sighted. Three new coaches are leading football training sessions with groups of blind and partially sighted children. One of the new coaches bounces a ball in the center of the circle. The bells inside the ball ring so that the children hear each bounce, then shout the number of bounces. They laugh together if someone misses, and shout excitedly whenever he bounces the ball.

In another corner of the pitch, David rolls a ball towards a small boy who’s excitement shows in the pinwheeling arms, continuous jumping, scrunched up face and big grin every time he hears the ball approaching.

The art session is inside, so I wander into the long room, and see 25 children sitting at a table creating football players out of tin foil. Yacouba Kaboré, a new coach, reaches around the shoulders of one child to help him form the arms and legs of the player, murmmering encouraging words and learning through his voice and touch as opposed to his eyes.

Video clip: HIV/AIDS Session #4, Group A led by Romain and Kafui. I sit apart from the table, surrounded by ten new coaches (two women and eight men). Romain leans against the front table, watching as the conversation bounces back and forth. The topic of discussion is how to properly store and use a condom. Is it OK to use if it has been in your pocket for several months? How do you negotiate sex with a condom? The discussion is animated and everyone has something to add, or ask. This is the type of learning I like to see. Finally, they come to a conclusion. I watch as Romain eases into the next topic, with ten faces eager around him to throw in their two cents and discover where the others stand.

Sound bite: Senior coaches meeting Monday, the 29th. I sat surrounded by the nine faces of local coaches who had made this event possible. Over the past week, I had come to recognize each one, their coaching style, their presence, how they interacted with the group. I had watched each day as they brought dynamism and excitement and skill and respect to their groups of coaches and was now anxious to hear what they had to say about the event. Someone mentioned that Tom would like for the coaches to try and quantify how many hours per week they dedicated to Coaching for Hope. Kafui, a.k.a. Benjamin points his finger in the air and says in his clear, quiet voice:
“There is no way to quantify the time we put into Coaching for Hope; it has entered into our daily habits. There is now no way to take it out.” His comment was supported by a loud chorus of agreement. “It’s in our blood!” “It has changed the way we live on a daily basis” “ Coaching for Hope is a part of our lives; you now couldn’t take it out if you wanted to.”