Mzungu Football

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My feet are killing me! Apparently they are not as resilient as the locals. I was invited to play football with some of the boys from the village. Playing football here means barefoot on a pitch that is a mixture of dry grass, dirt and stones. So in other words murder for my feet. But it was a lot of fun. We started off playing “piggy in the middle” until many more came and we started playing a match. The goal was a brick that you needed to knock over in order to score.

Nobody took the time to learn my name, or even speak English so I could understand. The only thing I could understand was “Mzungu” which means “white man” (person), and it was often followed by a collective laugh. But don’t think I embarrassed myself. I was the only one that scored, the match winner! I managed to run passed some players and with some luck I hit the brick. By this time a crowed had gathered to see the game, probably because the weird white guy was playing. But when the ball hit the brick there was a massive roar: “Ooooooh Mzunuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!”

I left with my head held high, feeling I made Europe proud!

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