I’ve never been to Paris before. It looks nice from the airport window.

Or at least what I can see of it, which is not much at all. I did manage to eventually fall asleep, only to be woken up a couple of hours later by the breakfast tray. Then you go through that awkward thought process: Oh God, was I snoring/drooling/making some unruly noise/flopping over the next seat/aisle? It doesn’t help when the crew seems to look at you like they know something that you don’t. Maybe it’s just me. The stewardess stood with my breakfast muffin and juice as I groggily fumbled with the seat tray. I heard her French accent through the music in my headphones – “Poosh down, ser”. Ahh. Right. I knew that. Now they have another thing to laugh about.

In any case, the rest of the flight went smoothly (except for a momentary freak out when I thought that the chocolate pudding cup I knicked from the dinner tray may have exploded in my backpack. But a quick check of its structural integrity and we were good to go.), and I found myself gazing out of the window from the Paris terminal, waiting for our connecting flight to Bamako. One more leg to go!

It’s a pretty sweet airport. They even have PS3 stations set up. Which, if you’ll excuse me, I’m about to go check out…

Next stop, Mali!

-R

The first leg of our trip went off without a hitch. We are safely in the air en route to Paris, France. I met up with Scott at his house this afternoon to finish up packing (cramming as much equipment as we possibly could into any bag available). We ended up with 4 stuffed bags (somewhere around 150-200 lbs) of jerseys, shorts, shoes, and socks. It was hard to get any accurate count of exactly how much stuff we’re bringing with the rush of today’s packing, but if I had to estimate, I’d say we have well over 100 jerseys, about 50 pairs of shorts, 50-75 pairs of socks, and at least a couple dozen pairs of some really, really sweet cleats. I have to give a few quick shout outs to the US Soccer Foundation, Eurosport, and the Cheshire High School Soccer Club for hooking us up with the bulk of the gear. I’m so excited to get this to the kids!

It’s hard to believe that this all started as a tiny idea in the back of my mind some 5 years ago – Oh, how cool would it be to start a youth soccer/education program? Not even in my wildest fantasies did I ever imagine that this passing notion of a dream would eventually place me on a plane (well, two planes) to Africa. But my love for soccer and youth education kept this concept in the depths of my consciousness, slowly developing itself into more and more of a feasible project.

However, I still lacked the platform to make the idea into a reality. This came almost two years ago to the day, when my girlfriend at the time, Steph (who went on to do some awesome projects in Chile and Nicaragua) introduced me to her professor, Scott Lacy, founder of African Sky. Steph, I cannot thank you enough for making this connection and for all of your help, support, and input during the initial stages of starting this project. (In hindsight, I was probably a real pain at times, so thank you for putting up with me). Two years of planning, program designing, and fundraising later, here I am. Unreal.

Every penny that you all have graciously donated will go directly towards buying brand new soccer balls, socks/shoes/sandals for kids that don’t have any, and lots of educational supplies – books, notebooks, pens, pencils, etc. For the kids I’ll be seeing that won’t be participating in the soccer programs, I’ve brought along plenty of stickers, candies, and gum. As Scott said, “They’re gonna flip!”

After sitting in a bit of traffic on the shuttle to JFK (where Scott started prepping me for the trip, including a brief history lesson. The family names used to signify professions – Koite for musicians and artists, Kante for Blacksmiths, Sangra for herders, etc. Really cool. I’ll get into it more later.) and dealing with the joys of airport security, we met up with our other traveling partner, Drew, who will be lead man on some of the architectural designs on the new Dissan schools. A few hours later, and I’m 41,000 ft somewhere over the Atlantic, listening to the new Buddha-Bar mixtape on the in-flight entertainment system. (I’m actually quite impressed by their music selection – Aloe Blacc, Nina Simone, Coltrane, and Ella/Duke. I don’t know what it is about flights, but I always find something new. Like that Parkour video Paul and I watched on our trip to Italy back in ’05. Except for the flight to India, where the same actor starred in all 4 in-flight movies, which ranged from drama to comedy to action. You would think that in all of Bollywood and the 1 billion Indians, they could find one other guy.) Crazy. (This trip and Bollywood.)

As little as I usually sleep on planes, I should probably make an attempt. I’ll get at you in Paris. Oui Oui! (1 of 3 things I’ve managed to learn in French.)

And please forgive my drawn out reflection earlier. This is just the first time in a month that I’ve been able to collect and organize my thoughts. That’s what happens when you’re stuck on a plane for 8 hours and the French dude next to you passes out before the take off. Seemed like a good kid though.

-R

It just wouldn't be a proper sending off in an Italian family without a big dinner, would it? (Ca, you technically got the first trivia question wrong, so I get to post this picture :P )

With all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays nearly complete and the big trip now happening within 48 hours, I thought that it would be a good time to catch everyone up on what's been happening with the project. (That and I really just don't like packing. Mom is freaking out.)

First and foremost, please forgive my lack of updating this blog over the past year, as it has been quite busy for me with graduate school, work, and various other projects and activities. However, this literary hiatus does not mean that there have not been any updates with the Little Eagles project. Despite my inability to participate in any major fundraising events, the donations have continued to come in, for which I am exteremely grateful. There are already plans in the works for some events in 2012, so be sure to keep an eye out for them.

For the past few months, I have been blessed with the addition of Sekou, a law student in Mali who has been brought into the Little Eagles team as Program Director. In the short time that I have been working with him, he has run some exceptional impromptu soccer clinics with youth around the capital city, Bamako (check out the youtube vids at www.youtube.com/user/LittleEaglesFootball), which we hope to replicate during my trip.

This trip has three primary functions for the two short weeks I will be there. The first is to run some pilot programs in Bamako and in the rural village of Dissan, which will allow us to develop stronger programs that Sekou will be running throughout the rest of the year. Second, we will be accompanying Scott Lacy, the founder and director of African Sky (and a really awesome dude to whom I am eternally grateful for giving me this incredible opportunity), to the various sites around rural Mali where new schools will be built in areas that have previously never had them (Mali has the second lowest literacy rate in the world). Little Eagles will hopefully become a big part of these schools and their programming in the future, using the power of soccer to further promote classroom learning. Finally, we're going to create some buzz about this project. Mali has a deep and rich culture, well known for its musical talent and some international soccer superstars. We're hoping to secure some big name endorsements (fingers crossed, Salif Keita). We will also be going to schools in Bamako to promote the project and to donate books, notebooks, and pens. The highlight of the trip will be two youth soccer tournaments, one in Bamako and one in Dissan, which I will make sure to write extensively about and provide plenty of media for you to enjoy.

I hope that you will join me on what promises to be a wonderful and interesting adventure to the mother land (cue Toto). I will do my best to consistantly update you with stories, pictures, and videos for you to experience this journey through my eyes, making new friends, experiencing a different and exciting world, and playing lots and lots of soccer.

Time to pack before Mum loses it.

R

Greetings Little Eagles fans! I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy and safe holidays and a successful and fruitful new year.

The next few weeks will be the biggest yet for the Little Eagles project, as we will be officially launching the program in Mali! Please continue to follow this blog, as I will be (doing my best to keep) constantly writing updates throughout my adventure to West Africa. Check back tomorrow or Tuesday for a preview of the trip. Only 72 hours to go until we're airborne!

All the best!

Rob

Little Eagles Football takes the greatest pleasure in introducing our new Project Director in Mali, Sekou Kante! Sekou has started running soccer clinics with youth around the capital city, Bamako. Videos and more about Sekou and his work is soon to follow!

Thank you all for your continued support on this project. Please forgive me for the lack of updates in recent months. I would like to inform you that big changes are currently taking place, and I will be posting many updates to the facebook site and to this blog. Stay tuned and thanks again for being a part of this wonderful project that will affect many young lives in Africa!