I am a cog. This is my blog.

A while back a friend of mine named Steve Farrell DM’ed me to ask for my support of an initiative he was taking part in. That initiative was called The Great Football Giveaway.” I donated some cash thinking I would never hear anything else about it. Then about 2 days after Steve came back from Tanzania he sent me the below message which I want to share with you because it moved me, Here it is:

“Dear Ben and Carl,

I’m back from Tanzania for a week now and I’ve just taken my last post-travel malaria pill. My farmer’s tan is fading and, like you, I’m getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. I thought this would be perfect moment to tell you the story of your donation, because while you’re taking time to give thanks for all that you have, some Tanzanian kids on the other side of the world are thankful to you for what you’ve given them.

Here in America, we have no concept of what football is to the rest of the world. In Tanzania, you can’t throw a rock (or kick a ball) without hitting a football pitch, even if it’s just a dirt lot with sticks jammed in the ground to mark the goals. The smallest village with no running water and no electricity will have a pristine football field and if they’re lucky enough to have a TV, chances are they’re crowded around it watching Chelsea or Arsenal. So dropping in, out of the blue and giving a child who has next to nothing a football and telling them to go play with their friends is an unbelievable experience. It’s like Christmas, the Lottery and the Superbowl championship all rolled into one. You see the kids go through what we began to regard as the clear stages of the Great Football Giveaway: shock (what are these people doing here?), disbelief (why are they handing me this perfect, brand new football?), realization (my god, they’re just GIVING it to me to keep!) and celebration (pure, unbridled, shrieking pandemonium and joy). And your simple donation made that possible.

Your balls now reside (figuratively) at a primary school south of Kilwa near the town of Mitole. We visited the school on our way south to Lindi where all three of our trucks were kind of leapfrogging their way along the main road with teams taking turns visiting schools. This school was one of the smaller schools we visited with only 100 students. They didn’t have a football pitch nearby so we had to set up our shoot-out competition where the kids would win the balls for the school by dragging out a couple of chairs and setting them up near a wall. I was in goal, so the outcome was assured. When we arrived at the school, they had no balls of any kind but we left them with 10 footballs and 5 netballs (sort of like basketballs) for the kids to share. The headmaster said they were saving up to build an additional classroom on the grounds but that this gift was “nearly as good”.

So many times throughout the year we’re asked to give and for whatever reason you decided the Great Football Giveaway was worth it, so it’s incredibly rewarding to show you exactly where your contribution went and tell you the story of how it was delivered. Now I would ask one more small favor from you: share it.

Share this proof of your donation with your friends and connections on Facebook or Twitter, not just to blow your own horn, but to hopefully inspire them to follow your example. When you tell them about it make sure they know they can get involved by donating to the Great Football Giveaway or to the Malaika Children’s Village, which our team donated to as well. Either way, you’ll be paying it forward in some small way and hopefully the cycle will continue.

Thanks again for your donation and participation in one of the most amazing charities I’ve had the privilege to be a part of and have a great and relaxing holiday.

Thanks,
Steve