World Cup Fever

Today is the start of the world cup and until today I had seen no sign of excitement from the people in Acornhoek. However, that quickly changed this morning as I left my house at 6:45am for a run. As I approached the main road, 3 children surrounded me. One was wearing jeans and a bafana bafana (this is the South Africa soccer team and it means “boys boys”) T-shirt, the other was wearing a sweatshirt and a bafana bafana hat, and the third boy had the South African flag drabbed around his shoulders. They started running next to me singing Waka Waka, the official World Cup 2010 song by Shakira.

As we ran the boys started taking off their bafana bafana gear and dressing me with it. Before I knew it I was running down the road with a bafana bafana hat, t-shirt, and the South African flag tied around my waist. Every car that passed honked their horn and flashed their lights yelling in Xitsonga, “United We Stand.” Most cars were decked out with South African flags. I thought for sure the boys would soon grow tired and stop running but I was wrong and pleasantly surprised. The more cars that honked the faster the boys ran.

They introduced themselves to me as Jeffrey, Sylvester, and Patrick. They were brothers and from the local rural development project (low-income housing) across the street from where I live. The oldest boy was 15 years old and was in clearly better shape than me. The boys ran ahead doing soccer drills as I kept a steady, slower pace behind them. They continued to circle back and at one point even pushed me up a hill. The boys were glowing with excitement. They told me it was a new South Africa and they loved Afrikaners. I explained to them that I was from the United States and they began running circles around me. Patrick then said, “This is a great day. We run hand and hand with our American friend and we celebrate all together.” As we continued on together, the youngest Sylvester, grew tired and I decided to give him a piggy back ride, it seemed like the only option to continue our celebration together and I was just praying he would get sick of it sooner than later.

As we continued along the road, we passed over 50 people walking into town (more than I have ever seen while running). With each passing person the boys would stop and give them a high five (which I had just taught them minutes earlier). Every group of people had a vuvuzela in hand and some type of bafana bafana gear. After 11km we finally arrived back at my place and the boys each gave me a hug and suggested it would be a good idea if I continue to train with

them.

Everyone will be leaving work today at 1:00pm to celebrate the World Cup in South Africa – the first time ever on the African Continent and I am happy to say that I finally feel the excitement!! (All of the pictures are from later that day).