Hoop Dreams

Obama was on Choco´s cell phone and Choco wanted me to talk with him.
¨Hola, soy Yarred¨ I say in my sloppy Spanish accent.
I listen, I listen while all my youth group is waiting patiently for me to say something more. ¨Okay pues, 3 meses, está bien.¨ I end the call adn let them know that Obama is going to pay our barrio, Ojo de Agua, a visit in three months to construct a basketball court. They all cheer, some laugh.

It´s all a game and they know it, but why not dream big. The thing is these kids dream big every day and every dream is attempted to be realized in the moment. The agenda planner doesn´t exist. The future vacation travel dates don´t exist. The year in which they will be able to read, pass all their exams, and graduate from high school doesn´t exist. So what do you do when everything is in the moment???? You build your own basketball court. The guama tree was chopped down, they took a piece of scrap rebar down to auto body shop to get it welded into a hoop for three and half dollars, and then they nailed it into the tree, dug a hole in the dirt road and within hours we were playing a two on two basketball tournament in our own neighborhood. Creativity has no end here and that is why my first week in site I have focused most all my time with the youth. Studying for Math exams which happen today, playing ¨pelota¨ until we lose the baseball over the cement wall of the foreigners gated summer home, and best of all just passing the entire day outside.

One week has passed fast. I´m in my own modest house next to my Power House Dona(Casa de Potencial) and eat a variety of food which is always served with white rice or plaintains. It rains every day around 2pm and that means I just chill... something I am still learning how to do correctly.

I´m trying not to use my planner much, but I do know in two days I will be talking it up with the kids about imortance of NO trash and LOTS of trees in their community.

Eat well every day because it´s worth it!
Jared