Today though, I want to show you some more photos from the soccer pitch, where we have a team member (Coach of minor league soccer team Kumba Lakers) preparing a girls team for an exhibition match against FSS on Saturday as part of a women’s empowerment program that CFDP is putting on.

Enjoy

A young boy walks through the field where the girls team is practicing

CFDP founder Justin Forzano talks to young men and women about the drill that we will be running

Two boys selling snails, hang by the side of the pitch watching practice

young men and women work on ball control during a mixed gender practice

boys clown around during a soccer practice

A young boy focuses on the soccer practice that is in front of him

Girls listen to the instructions for the next soccer drill. Many women in Cameroon believe that soccer is a male only sport, even though Cameroon has a womens team playing in the FIFA World Cup

A young man selling food goods, takes a break from his labor to watch soccer practice

I met Justin in the late fall, and we began working together. I redesigned their website on a wordpress platform, and integrated their blog, so that as things move along, whoever is managing their PR, and online presence, can easily mange everything from one menu. They loved the results, and now I am spending two months in Cameroon photographing their project, and shooting videos to help explain the different facets of the program.

Today, join me on a trip to Barombi, across the lake in a wooden canoe that I was sure was going to deposit myself and cameras in the lake.

The trip to Barombi... Every time the "boat" aka hollowed tree trunk, shifted my stomach was in my mouth

Justin greets the children in the village

A man sprays his coco crop to protect them from insects and mold

The head of the water project, water enters the pipe here, where it flows 1.5 kilometers into the village

A Barombi fisherman prepares his new net

A couple and their new baby pose for a photo

A man stands next to his bio sand water filter

A group of men gather to say goodbye as we prepare to head back into town

When we arrived in the dump, we stopped at the local school, and visited with some children for a short time, while Dan spoke to us about what caused people to stay in La Chureca. The loss of value in their life, the struggle of rules in the outside world, the fear of rejection, like an abused woman who goes back to her abuser, or a drug addict who cant kick the habit after a near death overdose, these hold the people of the dump captive. In a cycle of constant struggle. With little chance of freedom, until their spirit is healed.

WE met a woman named Jessenia, (not Dans’ wife) who is living with AIDS. The Doctors give her only a few more years to live. She recently was given her own home in the dump, and she invited us in with pride, to a small shack, that I fear could barely hold up to a heavy wind. She invited us in, and as she told us her story, I was struck by the faith that this woman posses. She believes that God will heal her, and that alone, shows a stronger faith than I have. After a 10 or so hot stifling minutes, we walked outside and prayed with her before we continued on our way through the dump. For us a moment of insight into her world and disease, for her a life fraught with the knowledge that this virus will end up taking her life. Very possibly sooner, rather than later.

Praying for Jessenia outside her home

a child stands outside his home, where a day earlier, someone entered and stole all the food his family had, as he played soccer with friends

Sun sets on another day in Nicaragua

Morning in the compund

We had a great first day yesterday. We went to a wonderful church service in Managua, and it is amazing how different cultures, speaking different languages, can worship and pray together, as one body of the church.

The team met the kids from the girls home that Dan and Jessenia run, for the first time. Wow! They treated the girls, like they were cousins. I havent heard so much screaming and laughter for a long time, and it does ones soul a service to see kids just being kids, and college students acting like kids, both laughing, running, and singing at the top of their lungs.

We spent a good amount of time in the car, doing a loop from Managua to Masaya, and finally ending at the girls home, before finally heading home to the compound. Yesterday was a day of acclimation. Today will be a day of doing. Meeting people in the dump, most likely spending time at a school in the dump, and walking through seeing the oppression that weighs heavily on this small community.

Im not sure how much I’ll be blogging. I will be shooting lots of photos, but I dont want to post for the sake of posting. I want to be putting together a story to really show what Dan and Jessenia do here, so I may decide to just blog with photos from my iphone. but not today. Enjoy

P.S. Be sure to check out the trip blog @ www.mission2nicaragua.wordpress.com

Fresh Mango in the morning

Girls and a Clown; Lunch Sunday afternoon

Dan and Elias

Morning light

A room with a view