Kicks from 'Cats: The Lagos Project
1/26/2010 10:04:51 AM | General, Men's Basketball
Education, Basketball and Faith
Last June I was a part of a 15-person team that included native Nigerians and Davidson basketball players Andrew Lovedale '09 and Frank Ben-Eze '12, founder of Samaritan's Feet Manny Ohonme, Florida State head women's basketball coach Sue Semrau and other Davidson students, staff and alumni that traveled to Benin City and Lagos, Nigeria.
My personal involvement with Kicks From 'Cats started when I wrote the feature story, “Lovedale Extends Love Home” for last year's event. At that time, I had known Andrew for three years and was familiar with his story. I knew him to be a model citizen and deeply religious individual. I knew his heart for helping others. I knew he collected shoes to take home to bless people he considered less fortunate than himself. And I knew he considered himself extremely fortunate.
I wrote what I knew at the time, designed mostly to inspire you to donate shoes for a good cause. When Samaritan's Feet got involved, I remember sitting in the conference room with Andrew as we told him they were donating 10,000 pairs of shoes for him to take home. His reaction was so genuine and so real... so inspiring.
Somewhere along the way, the feature story, the T-shirt design, the posters all became more than just work.
Let's go to Nigeria, Morgan Clark, assistant director of marketing and promotions, would say. Yeah, let's do it, I'd agree.
I don't think anyone thought we'd really do it. I'm not sure we thought we'd really do it. But we raised $3,500 each and boarded a plane along with a team of mostly strangers for a mostly strange place.
We packed our clothes in carry-ons, so we could pack duffel bags full of shoes and basketballs. We did not expect a glamorous vacation, but I'm not sure we could ever have been fully prepared for what we would experience in 10 days.
We spent most of our time visiting churches, schools and communities and distributing shoes. We got up at 5 a.m. every morning to pray and sing with our Nigerian teammates and partners at Pro-Health International, who were running a free clinic at the near-by local hospital where we also volunteered and distributed shoes.
Seven of our days were spent in Andrew and Frank's hometown of Benin City, eating with their family, spending time with their friends, learning their culture, and worshipping and partnering with their community to give away shoes.
Frank, Andrew and Coach Sue led basketball clinics on two separate days. Watching Andrew and Frank lead their the Nigerian basketball players in Knock Out and Simon's Says is one of my personal highlights of the entire trip. Earlier that spring as I watched Andrew graduate to easily the biggest ovation, I didn't think I could be more proud. I was wrong.
It was hot, and we were tired, and we were dirty, but I learned so much about the world, about Frank and Andrew and about myself in those 10 days. Even all these months later, I'm still processing it.
(If you have not already, please read the blog for a play-by-play of our daily activities.)
Giving shoes to children who so desperately needed them was touching. Getting to directly see the results of all of our hard work over the previous months was rewarding. Meeting Andrew and Frank's families and friends and seeing up close and personal the challenges they have overcome to succeed was humbling and inspiring.
We went with the mission of delivering the 10,500 pairs of shoes that the Davidson community donated. And we did.
But that's not where the story ends. We came home with a new mission. Or really, the next part of the equation.
If you have ever been privileged to hear Andrew or Frank's stories, you have heard them speak of the importance of basketball in their lives. But neither would ever stop there.
There are three parts of their lives' equations: basketball, education and faith. Neither works without the others.
Andrew expanded on his philosophy in his blog from the trip, “We spent a couple of days in Nigeria, but we touched them forever. This trip might make all of us feel guilty for what we have or the lifestyles we live, but the ultimate is for us to understand how lucky we are and remain grateful to our creator. From an understanding of how fortunate we are and gratitude to our creator, we then develop habits that help us extend some of that luck to others who are less fortunate, thus redirecting their gratitude to our creator.”
Education, basketball and faith.
“Education is a tool,” Frank adds. “Just like basketball. To succeed, you have to have an education because it opens the right doors. I had the opportunities to go to a good school and good camps and play for the national team. Not everybody has those opportunities.”
We were given white lab coats and huge black rubber boots. We didn't exactly have our pick of sizes, and many of us didn't really see the need for such heavy boots. Put them on, we were urged.
The Hands at Work school, in the loosest sense of the word, is a one-room shack divided into four smaller classrooms by chalkboards. The floor is covered with cedar shavings similar to what would be found in the bottom of a hamster cage.
Here the children, unable to afford education and forgotten by the government, are given a daily lesson and perhaps more importantly, a hot meal. With only enough plates and spoons for one class at a time, one of our volunteers spoons rice out to the children.
That's too much, he is continually told, not out of spite, but necessity.
After the children have eaten, they go dutifully to wash their plates and forks so the next can eat. These children are touching, but it is the ones outside the school that truly break my heart; the ones even this school doesn't have room for.
Because we are (mostly!) white and because we have shoes to give away, we attract a crowd wherever we go, and we have grown almost used to it at this point.
Our digital cameras are a hit with the kids, as are the three remaining power bars and two packs of cookies I have in my purse. The children, barely clothed and barefoot, treat the broken pieces I give them like gold. I wish I had more, but I do not.
After we have finished at the school, we embark on a walking tour through the community.
Now we understand the need for the rubber boots.
The streets, in the loosest sense of the word, are littered with trash. At times, we are up to our ankles in what is not exactly clean water.
We'll board the boats over there, we are told.
The boats, in the loosest sense of the word, are wooden canoes, captained by 10-year-old boys. We are given a tour of the water community, a collection of wooden shacks on stilts, connected with wooden planks that the people use to sprint between shelters.
As we ride past, the people wave eagerly. When we wave back, the joy on their faces is contagious. And yet, we wonder, joy?
Our entire group is moved, and we want to help. At that moment in time, most of us would have given nearly everything to do so.
And so sitting around a table on our last night in Nigeria, our 15-person team pledged to raise the money to build a school in a slum in Lagos, Nigeria, homeland of Frank and Andrew.
Education, basketball and faith.
So many months ago but immediately after that day, I wondered in my entry, “Never a terribly materialistic person, how can I possibly want for more now that I have seen those with so little, so happy? Usually a terribly vain person, how can I possibly care now that I have seen those unburdened, so carefree?”
Over the past months, I have discovered a deeper appreciation for the difference between a need and a want. I hope that one day I can fully realize it.
But what I have learned along the way is that helping is easy and, as trite as it sounds, every little bit helps.
But there's so much more to be done. There's so much need. And most of us are so blessed, I like to think, so we can bless others.
“Life is all about opportunities,” Frank says. “If people don't have the money for education, how can they have good grades? It's a cycle. The Lagos Project could create a place where these kids could get a good education and break the cycle.”
And so at the Georgia Southern game on February 6, you can help support Andrew and Frank again by purchasing a Paint it Red event T-shirt. Proceeds will support the school fundraising efforts. You can also stop by the display in the lobby to see pictures and videos from our summer trip, see school plans, ask questions and donate directly.
Andrew, still as humble as ever, corresponds by e-mail from Europe where he is now playing professionally. (Miss you!)
When we emailed him the details of this season's promotion, he responds, “It was really a very emotional moment for me, and I just realized how blessed I am to have you all in my life. I know I am not there but my heart will be there on that very day.”
Then adds, “Can you save some of the T-shirts for me?”
But of course.
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