Allright, march is over and A LOT has  happened, too much that is difficult to put everything in one newsletter. But i will do my best.

The 8th of march is, as many of you know, the international woman day and because of that we arranged a special day just for girls here in Mfilou. The idea was to draw the attention of as many girls as possible to the event and on the program we had theater, football and Ndzango ( a game similar to rock-paper-scissors, but you use your feet instead). We invited girls from two different schools- a lot of kids and a lot of fun.

We have also finally started with the matches, march 13th was the kick-off day, after three months of training and waiting. So far the games are between the different categories in each facility. I have the responsibility  for the 14 yr olds at Mfilio, and our first competition was agains the 13 yr olds. The game ended 4-0 to us after 60 minutes of hard playing, and fine goals. The revenge game was not as easy for us, as our opponents got their game together and won 1-0. Let’s just say that my kids were angry and disappointed. I can actually understand them, who likes to loose against younger brothers?

Later on the 30th of march to 1 april, we had our annual camp for the team captains from Gothia’s three different facilities. In each age category there is a captain and a vice-captain, together they share different responsabilities with the team. Many of these kids see the task of being captain as an honor, and this is something we like to emphasize  by having this annual ”formation des capitaines”. This time we went to Djiri, a little village north of Brazzaville. We stayed at at catholic school which was surrounded by a breathtaking congolian landscape. The food was cooked on an open fire just outside the classrooms we sleeped in and we washed up in a small creek not far away from there. In many ways this is so far from my experiences in a swedish football camp but in others this is so much like home. The same spirit, same feeling of belonging and the feeling of knowing that there is nothing better right now than football. The days were about seminars, football, games, food and rest.

We even had some time to visit another football school located in Djiri called ”Rêve de gosse”. This school was build with financial help from a congolian minister, in the middle of nowhere and here there are kids that practice football, handboll, basket ball and judo. It felt quite odd to see a school with such a high standard such as playing fields, the cafeteria, changing rooms and internetcafé. Not the usual Congo we are used to live in.

The camp was amazingly fun and the kids were great. To be part of Gothia, part of this football project here in Congo is happiness. I’ve said this before and i say it again, but to kick ball with these kids here in Congo beats anything else.

//Football volunteers-by Elin