For years, Vancouver sports fans have cheered little league baseball teams such as Hastings and Little Mountain as they chased the dream of competing at the World Series in Williamsport, PA.
Ugandan little leaguers have the same ambition. Last year, an all-star team travelled to Poland and won the regional tournament to represent the Middle-East and Africa at the Little League World Series.
Because the majority of the Ugandan players didn't have passports, birth certificates or even know their date of birth, securing visas for the trip became an insurmountable challenge. Their trip was funded by Little League Baseball but the team could not secure a letter from the regional Polish hosts that they qualified for the World Series and were not allowed into the U.S.
Vancouverite Ruth Hoffman didn't just ruffle upon reading about this inequality of opportunity in the New York Times, she responded with direct action in a way perhaps only she could. "Through no fault of their own, these kids are denied a trip," Hoffman told the Courier last week. "If they had come to Williamsport, people would have had a totally different perception of what is possible from Africa. These kids play good ball. Until you see them in person, it's mind-blowing."
She set the goal of raising $155,000. Fundraising hit a $115,000 target this week to purchase 23 plane tickets to send the Langley Little League team, Canada's representative in Williamsport this summer and the first team the Ugandans would have met at the World Series had they been there, to East Africa. Through the Canada Uganda Challenge and the Pearl of Africa Series, 10 players, 10 parents, one coach, a doctor and Hoffman-as well as a handful of volunteers paying their own way-will travel in January to the capital Kampala and rural areas as well as a sprawling slum to play at least five games with Ugandan little league teams.
Right to Play, an international organization seeking to break the cycle of poverty through sport, is on board. Nearly $100,000 will go directly to the Ugandan Little League Baseball.
The money will support three projects. The first is tuition for 22 students to attend a reputable school for two years; tuition and costs come to $600 a year.
The second is transportation. The league spends an estimated $6,000 each year so the league's half dozen teams can meet to play.
The third is a ball diamond, which Hoffman said, "Is like a beacon." When it's built, the baseball park will be set beside the Sharing Youth Centre, an indispensable provision for kids living in Nsambya, a monstrous slum adjacent to Kampala.
Committed to micro-finance programs in Africa-Hoffman learned from Bangladeshi economist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus-she is also the mother to three baseball-loving children. While living in Belgium for 13 years, her family travelled to Poland to represent Europe at the Little League World Series. She describes her sons, including twins "one's a catcher, one's a pitcher," as baseball addicts like herself.
"Most [Westerners] give money to Africa as a charitable thing. That's not what people want. They want the opportunity to compete on a level playing field," she said. Sports can be one way to level that field.
Through Right to Play and the Canada Uganda Challenge, young athletes will have sport infrastructure and a better-funded league to help them pursue their dreams. Most importantly, said Hoffman, the players stand to learn much more.
"Sport teaches a million different life skills about teamwork and respect and discipline and hardwork and leadership and humility," she said. Sports allows everyone to be on a level playing field and share those kinds of experiences that we share with kids down the street. It allows us to see that they're not any different from us."
The Langley Little League players and supporters will be in Uganda Jan. 15 to 21. To learn more, visit righttoplay. akaraisin.com/youthbaseball.
Twitter: @MHStewart
