World AIDS Day Soccer Tournament!!!!

As many of you know already I organized a soccer tournament with my village and a village 7 kilometers from Koudassi to celebrate World AIDS Day. The tournament was held this past weekend and I am happy to announce that it was a great success with only a few minor glitches.

The tournament started on Saturday in the village of Ati-Atovou. The chief in Ati-Atovou is actually one of the coaches for Togo's national soccer team Les Eperviers (the sparrow hawks), so he was kind enough to loan us his van to transport people between the two villages. Saturday the van arrived in Koudassi and took the girls soccer team, my counterparts, and some spectators to the village of Ati-Atovou. We started out by marching through the village with a megaphone to encourage people to come and watch the match. Once the crowd had gathered at the field we gave a talk about AIDS and distributed condoms to those who are old enough to be using them. Then the match began. The girls had a lot of fun playing and everyone in the crowd was very supportive. I felt kind of like a soccer Mom, cheering them on and making sure everyone was drinking water. Unfortunately the Koudassi girls lost to Ati-Atovou 0-1, but it was still a great opportunity for them. Sunday the tournament continued in Koudassi with the boys team. We basically did the same exact routine as the previous day and, hooray, the Koudassi boys won!!! Everyone was very excited and dancing and singing all over the field when the match was over. So now I am in Lome writing up my final report to submit to Washington D.C.. Thank you to all who donated to the project, I truly appreciate your support in making this a successful project.

Otherwise than that nothing too exciting has happened lately in village. Both of my chickens hatched chicks, so I now have several little mouths to feed. I made the mistake of trying to pick one of them up (they are just so adorable) and got attacked by a very angry Samantha. She pecked me so hard it drew blood. I am now afraid of her and have to carry a stick with me whenever I go to the bathroom in case she tries to attack me while walking across my yard. My cat, who was really starting to grow on me, is missing. I haven't seen him for a week and I think he either was eaten or has become a wild bush cat.

Christmas and New Years are coming up which means big village fetes so I am sure I will have many interesting stories to share in about a month. I hope you all are enjoying the snow and Christmas spirit. Until next time, Happy Holidays!