Tired, tired, tired...

Feeling tired this week, really, really tired. Was to be expected somewhat, with the second Michezo Youth Initiative tournament this weekend, but still, perhaps didn't expect to be feeling quite THIS tired. I have my moments where I wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew, if what I am aiming for is really possible for one person to manage. It would be one thing to be project managing a community program with paid staff members and a decent budget, quite another to be relying on for the most part unemployed youth and young people, many of them from the slum area outside Thika town, and running on the smell of an oily rag at the moment still. (Yeah, a long way from the $1.5 million that Mathare Youth get every year from their Norwegian supporters, though that has been 20 years in the building.)

But I should probably expect to have moments like this. It's not overnight that someone with barely a high school education and no work experience is suddenly going to be able to manage and coordinate part of a program directly dealing with 700+ children. And that's just the second tournament. Those numbers increase exponentially as we develop our football league (our planned progression after the introductory tournaments), plus start adding other projects in the area of drama, art, the environment and so forth. As I keep saying to my volunteers (and I can't help it, they do feel like "my" volunteers), "poli poli"... or "slowly slowly" in Swahili. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is a community football program with the potential to reach tens of thousands.

So, Dave (yes, have made a habit of referring to myself in the third person when tired and dazed), you've gotta remember the bigger picture, and that long road that will need to be walked to reach those goals... those goals that are possible. One of the advantages of replicating (in part) a previously successful program, there is some evidence of what works. Of course, every area has its own unique requirements.

Will be missing home a little more this month too. Christmas and New Year is always a great time to be in Sydney town – "Eve of the Eve" at the Forbes... Boxing Day harbour cruise... New Year's Eve fireworks always huge (and lucky!)... moonlight cinema... New Year's test at the SCG...

Anyway, last touches to be put on the plans and readiness for this weekend's tournament. "Bigger and better" is the catchphrase, with the definite emphasis on "better". We might actually have a few forfeits, with someone else holding a tournament the same day down the road. Stupid thing is, I've heard one of those running it is a guy called Stanley who has been helping us, and yet didn't think to check when our tournament was! Annoying. "Stupid", was how a couple of my volunteers called it. "He's a stupid, stupid man." I wasn't going to be so harsh, but has given me second thoughts on his value as a contributor to MYI.

Oh, reminds me... I've found out that even in community sports, I can't get away from politics. Everyone seems to have a problems or dark history with everyone else around these parts. So-and-so has said such-and-such behind his back, this guy over here was tried to take advantage of someone over there... Sigh... Sometimes feels like I'm the only straight person around the place, the only one with little enough self-interest to have absolutely no problem with gaining nothing at all out of all this so long as it contributes positively to the young people in the community. And you try convincing anyone of that in a country where corruption, self-interest and tribalism are a way of life!