Hockey and Outreach

Well folks it has been a while since I have giving anyone any material to chat about. This is due in part to my internet being up and down for the past three days. That has caused quite a stir with us over here. It is quite interesting from a psychological angle how our little pleasures have such a hold on us. I will be honest and tell you that I was no exception to this. I have been quite upset over it the past few days. Hopefully; the issue our Internet provider in Europe was having with their satellite has been resolved.

A quick little sidebar; I have come to realize that these paper thin walls are only there to hide us from one another. I am currently listening (against my own will) to some hip hop crap that the 20 year old next door is playing. It was nice for a little while not having a neighbor, but I think I am stuck dealing with this for the next three months. It makes Friday night parties on West High Street a walk in the park.

Anyway; back to the real reason why you all tune in. Due to popular demand, and the fact that I haven't talked about this in a while, I am prepared to provide you all with the latest in Base Camp Adder Hockey News. First, let me say that after this Wednesday's game we have improved our record to 3-0-1. The score break down for the games went like this. The first week of the session we won by a forfeit because our opponent didn't have enough players due to mission requirements. They have since dropped from the league. This was a blessing for us because they were the hardest team for us to beat. Week two brought us our tie. That score ended in a 5-5 tie against the "Goonies" after a 5 minute overtime period. (Our regular periods are 12 minutes long with a 5 minute break between them.) Our third game was against one of our two Air Force teams the "Flying Dragons." This is the first session they have played and they aren't doing so well, but they are getting better. We beat them 10-3. This past week we played the other Air Force team the "Fire Dawgs" which is the fire department. We beat them 4-1.

I failed to mention the name of our team. We are the "NHADS" which stands for New Hampshire Association of Dysfunctional Soldiers. The team name was my brain child which allowed us, as any group of grown men would do, to add a little bit of toilet humor to the game. As an example we give a nice loud "GO NHADS!" at the begin of each period. It's fun to see the other teams reaction.

I wanted to tell all of you about another big thing that I did earlier this week. On Wednesday morning I took part in a humanitarian outreach mission delivering candy, toys, and cloths to 3 local tribes. Yes, you are all correct, I had to go "outside the wire" to do this. Which is why I didn't say anything about it to anyone back home before hand because I didn't want anyone to worry. (Moms and spouses do that from time to time.) It was very sad for me to see so many children with so little. They were all bare-foot with soiled clothing and walking around their camp through the animal feces and on the hot sand. It was magical to see their faces light up when we arrived. They beg for everything, and they are so quick to grab at what you have. They don't care what it is or what it does, they just know they don't have it and they want it.

I have three moments that I want to share in particular. (I'm sure I will share more once I am home.) The first moment was watching a few of my peers show some of the children how to throw frisbees that we had brought them. They obviously had never seen one before. They got the concept pretty quickly. The second moment was when we started passing out soccer balls. They went nuts. One of the boys, I'd say around 8-9 years of age, grabbed one and started running. He didn't want to put it down because he was afraid one of the other kids was going to take it. The third moment that I would like to share is a personal one. I had a young boy come up to me, again I would say around 8-9 years old, come up to me and extend his hand to shake mine. I shook his hand and then he noticed that I had on a wedding ring. He pointed to it and I stated that I was "Married." He got a big smile on his face and said "OK" and asked to shake my hand again. This time he motioned to kiss my cheek. I let him and replied in kind. He then smiled and went on to see what he could gather up for himself from the toys.

There will be other opportunities to take part in those outreach missions before I leave, but I don't think I want to go on them. I had a good time and I wasn't concerned for my safety, but seeing what conditions those people live in and what quality of life they maintain is very had to swallow. When you are able to see some of the pictures you will fully understand what I mean. I saw some of the most beautiful children I have ever seen before and they are trapped in this hell and they will never know what beauty the world holds or have a chance at success because of the life they are destined to live.


With Love,

Matthew

"Peace Be With You!"