Having a Ball

This is Joseph. His lives in Kliptown – a shanty-town outside of Johannesburg. When I was in South Africa last week, I saw him pushing an old toy car around through the dirt. Joseph was supposed to be at creche (preschool) but he was feeling sick, so his mother made him stay home. As soon as we saw him, we knew he needed a soccer ball. As we walked over, he stared us down – probably wondering, “who are these guys.” I walked over and handed him a new ball. At first there wasn’t much of an expression. I think he was still wondering what we were up to. Once he dropped the ball to feet and started kicking it around – it seemed like he forgotten about his stomach ache. In matter of time he was all smiles. His mom said that up until this point, he had never owned his own soccer ball. Maybe he might be the next Drogba. Who knows?