Football (or Soccer, depending on where you're from)

On Sunday there was a big football match at the hospital. (We happen to have a pretty nice field here). I think everyone was surprised at how many people showed up to watch. There were people sitting on top of cars, people sitting on top of the fence surrounding the hospital, and people on the roofs of nearby houses, not to mention the crowds lining the edges of the field.

This was my first experience watching a football game in Africa. It was pretty fun, and there was a lot of excitement in the air. Whenever a goal was made by the Impfondo team, half the audience would rush out onto the field. You would think this would slow down the game quite a bit, but they ran back to their places pretty quickly so it didn't really.

I sat for a while very squished by people, holding Raphaella, with Cherissa, JDD and some others crowded in around me. Lauren and I walked around a little too - and got plenty of stares and people yelling at us and taking pictures of us. That part wasn't so fun. It's especially annoying when the guys get right in your face yelling "white person!" or saying that they want to marry you. Now that I can understand a little Lingala I can hear some of their conversations among themselves and some of what they say to me - and it usually just gets me frustrated.

The Impfondo team (yellow) won - which thrilled the majority of the people, and they all went parading off very happy. The area cleared fast - considering there was probably about two thousand people, and we headed back to the Blue House for our prayer/singing time.