Blantyre Market Street Football

The last few Sunday mornings have brought me into a new side of Malawian life. At 7:30 in the morning, we pile into our hired 4 row, 12 passenger mini-bus (about the size of an American mini-van). The driver and his money collector, the four CAC coaches, the six Play Soccer Malawi coaches, and the twelve kids from Ndirande leisurely squeeze in and travel to the Blantyre Center Market. First though, we stop by the private primary school that is kind enough to lend us their small soccer goals. The nets comfortably slide into the van, and we're off. We arrive at a bustling, chaotic African Market with varied street vendors selling their wares. The shops, consisting of a few large branches supporting either a thatched or corrugated tin roof with no walls, stand next to each other on the sloping, dusty, dirt paths lining what probably is a lovely stream, save for the trash and possible rotting food waste. Among the goods being sold are pants, shirts and shoes that I suspect may have come to Malawi as donations. Additionally, there are text books for sale, cell phones, converters and access to one slot on an extension chord to plug in your phone for a charge (many homes do not have electricity or plumbing). After passing these shops we enter the more traditional "produce" section. Essentially we are in an old, beat up parking lot with much of the pavement crumbled and eroding in the corners. Replacing the pavement are puddles of mud mixed with ashes from burnt sugar cane bark, plastic bags (majumbo), banana peels and probably some other smelly unmentionables. I give this detail because in the far corner of the produce section the vendors move their buckets of sweet potatoes, their piles of sugar cane and their baskets of cassava to give us a 35 yard by 25 yard street football (soccer) field.

With the sun shining, we set up a small sided game, going so far as to line the street football field with some sort of chalk. It actually looks quite impressive. Within just five minutes the crowd surrounding the field creates a wall covering 3 of the 4 touchlines. Each wall is three people deep. The last sideline is actually a ten foot high brick wall on which 25 young boys climb to cheer on the players for the next two and a half hours. As I was not playing in the first game, rather the match was between some of the women from the Malawi National team and one CAC coach, I join the young teenage boys on the wall and lead them on some cheers and The Wave. Even though I am an older white man, they welcome me into their clique and we have many laughs (most at my expense in trying to speak Chichewa). I eventually learn that many of these boys are homeless and earn money for food by selling plastic bags (like those given out in supermarkets) to other vendors and patrons, an obviously small margin business. Seeing them laugh, enjoying the soccer and forming a bit of community makes my self-deprecation worthwhile. But even more importantly, I know that their attendance at this event allows the city to educate them (and other vendors) on health and sanitation issues as well as other life skills. These are the reasons for my involvement.
Even after just two weeks I can see a difference in the market. Less trash is scattered, waste is properly moved outside of the market, and most importantly, more smiles appear. According to the press, Sunday Street Football also has helped women gain respect in the community as the female players pull themselves up off the cement during the matches, with scrapes and cuts, and continue to play hard. Additionally, the media touts a stronger sense of community as a result.
The only problem with the venture is that I eventually have to play, against 16 - 25 year olds. By the good grace of all the soccer gods, I played respectably, scored a couple of goals, and limped the next day only as a result of age and not injury! Comically, one of the hostel cooks in Mzuzu (some 900 km north of Blantyre) approached me two nights later to ask if I played Street Football as she had seen me on TV. Yes, apparently our game was broadcast on Malawi National Television. The humor in that last statement is not lost on me. However, I can deal with the paparazzi in order to bring awareness of the program and all of its benefits to the entire nation;)

From the glare of the flashbulbs,
Cristiano