We had been thinking and planning on it for several days...
The time had finally come...
We were going to gather all the children together for an epic event...
One to tell their children and grandchildren for generations to come...
We brought baseball to Kitgum, Uganda.
That is right everyone, we decided it was high time that all the kids learn how to play one of America’s favorite pass-times.
To prepare, we had traditional baseball food...
Or...
As close as we could get living in the middle of Africa...
So hotdogs were replaced with chapati’s (kind of a thick tortilla)
And soda was replaced by fruit punch...
But we called it good and everyone was happy!
Now for our field...
The pitchers mound and bases were marked by bright blue jerry cans laying on their sides...
A blue and a red bat were placed in the “dug out” a.k.a. the cement slab that goes around the house...
The baseball a.k.a. a bright yellow tennis ball courtesy of a nice road side vendor was moved out to the pitchers mound...
Teams were selected and lined up for the “rules” of the game...
The Pitcher, a.k.a. Summer, a.k.a. Mom stood up to introduce the various rules for this game...
Then out to the field one team went and the other team lined up in the dug out awaiting their turn to be “up to bat”. The Pitcher walked to her mound and I took my place behind the batter as the batting coach/assistant batter (for the smaller children) and also as the Catcher (my favorite!).
Everyone was ready.... The two 2 year olds and the 3 year old were sitting on the trampoline as our own personal “crowd” cheering us on. The players ranging in age from 4 year olds to the oldest who is 10...
We were all ready...
The Pitcher winds up and throws...
That is right everyone, we decided it was high time that all the kids learn how to play one of America’s favorite pass-times.
To prepare, we had traditional baseball food...
Or...
As close as we could get living in the middle of Africa...
So hotdogs were replaced with chapati’s (kind of a thick tortilla)
And soda was replaced by fruit punch...
But we called it good and everyone was happy!
Now for our field...
The pitchers mound and bases were marked by bright blue jerry cans laying on their sides...
A blue and a red bat were placed in the “dug out” a.k.a. the cement slab that goes around the house...
The baseball a.k.a. a bright yellow tennis ball courtesy of a nice road side vendor was moved out to the pitchers mound...
Teams were selected and lined up for the “rules” of the game...
The Pitcher, a.k.a. Summer, a.k.a. Mom stood up to introduce the various rules for this game...
Then out to the field one team went and the other team lined up in the dug out awaiting their turn to be “up to bat”. The Pitcher walked to her mound and I took my place behind the batter as the batting coach/assistant batter (for the smaller children) and also as the Catcher (my favorite!).
Everyone was ready.... The two 2 year olds and the 3 year old were sitting on the trampoline as our own personal “crowd” cheering us on. The players ranging in age from 4 year olds to the oldest who is 10...
We were all ready...
The Pitcher winds up and throws...
Swing and a miss, the game has officially begun!
As a side note, can I just say that it is awesome playing with kids who truly love one another... Even though most of them are beginning to become competitive, they were all cheering for one another and jumping up and down when someone came “home”.
Back to the game...
The kids LOVED it...
There were a few moments of confusion...
At one point one of the four year olds who was running to second base went and got the ball and handed it to the second baseman who promptly tagged him “out”.
The third-baseman ran “home” leaving the runner still standing on third confused as to why we were all jumping up and down screaming “run home! run home!”.
We had to pause the game mid-inning because Zippy the dog was chasing the chickens around the Pitchers mound... Entertaining :)
At the end of our time, we were only one and a half innings in. The sun however, was setting and although our field was wonderful, it hadn’t yet been fitted with our lights for night time playing so we had to tell the kids we would pick up the game tomorrow night...
The score currently stands at 3-1
But the game is young :)
Gotta love good ol’ baseball!
As a side note, can I just say that it is awesome playing with kids who truly love one another... Even though most of them are beginning to become competitive, they were all cheering for one another and jumping up and down when someone came “home”.
Back to the game...
The kids LOVED it...
There were a few moments of confusion...
At one point one of the four year olds who was running to second base went and got the ball and handed it to the second baseman who promptly tagged him “out”.
The third-baseman ran “home” leaving the runner still standing on third confused as to why we were all jumping up and down screaming “run home! run home!”.
We had to pause the game mid-inning because Zippy the dog was chasing the chickens around the Pitchers mound... Entertaining :)
At the end of our time, we were only one and a half innings in. The sun however, was setting and although our field was wonderful, it hadn’t yet been fitted with our lights for night time playing so we had to tell the kids we would pick up the game tomorrow night...
The score currently stands at 3-1
But the game is young :)
Gotta love good ol’ baseball!
That is AWESOME! Would have loved to see that and hear all the sweet laughter!
ReplyDeleteYour blog post before this one sure had me going... I thoroughly enjoyed it. :) Glad you survived. You are really a good writer.