4am- I lie awake with anticipation of going for a run on the beach. I am looking forward to the run, but also the peacefulness of the ocean, the quietness, the boats and just the smell of the salt water. PEACE yea
6:20 am- I have taken a 40 minute taxi ride to go pick up Mike and walk to the beach.
7:00 am- I put on my ZEMS (www.zemgear.ca) ready to go for a walk/run...not thinking about anything in particular as I go about my daily work and activities. I just want to do what I have to do and get my day going.
It’s funny sometimes how consumed we get with our personal things -- work, church, and for me...dreams. I can look and look for dreams...and yet the simplest dreams are right in front of me.
This particular morning, I didn’t have to look at all! There he was, a young boy maybe 7 years old, running along the beach with his father, kicking empty coconuts...practising their football (soccer) moves. I watched with interest as the two played together. I listened as George’s father Kofi, (I learned their names after) cheered on George and encouraged him to try a little harder. I was amazed and just stood watching as Mike was taking fotos. I saw something in this picture unfolding before me that gave me a new heart, or new passion to help these children.
I told you before when I was writing Kwame’s dream, that for most of these young Ghanaian boys; football is the ONLY escape from their poverty cycle. Not only for themselves personally but for their families as well. Unlike Kwame, most of these children will never get sponsored to go to an amazing football camp, but I still believe they deserve opportunities and I would love to show them that someone believes in them.
I would like to buy at least 10 footballs for my next beach run on Saturday ($15 each) and hand them out to the children and teenagers that are out practising their football moves by kicking empty coconuts, balled up plastic bags and little rocks.
We may never see the results of how a fifteen dollar football could encourage or change these lives, but we can certainly invest in changing their outlook in their poverty-minded present.
I have said a hundred times before that in Accra you cannot go where there are no people… and what I am quickly learning is that I cannot go where I cannot find a dream!!! I am so blessed!
Sherry Peters, Dream Agent in Ghana
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