By Adama Kone, Teacher Project Manager

We want our teachers to get to know each other, so they can help each other and work together. to help with these connections, Mali Rising Foundation recently organized a soccer tournament for the teachers of our eight schools in the Baguineda area. Thirty-two teachers came together for some fun and bonding at the tournament.

The tournament was held at Lareen Mellor Middle School This school is home to eight teachers, and they really saw themselves as hosts to the teachers from the other seven schools. The teachers were divided into two teams, mixing up teachers from various schools so they al had a chance to meet and bond. In the end, the score tied at 4 to 4…a very high scoring game for soccer!

I represented Mali Rising Foundation at the match and at half time I got to talk with Mr. Doumbia, one of the French teachers at Lareen Mellor Middle School. Mr. Doumbia expressed his satisfaction with the game and said he was looking forward to another soccer game Here’s what he had to say:

I have been working at Lareen Mellor Middle School as the French teacher for about seven years and I am thrilled that Mali Rising Foundation gave us the chance to organize this game at my own school. I am excited to meet many teachers today that I had never seen before. It’s so fun for me to play with my colleagues this evening. The game is going great because it’s just sport; it is good for our health as well. In Mali, we say, “healthy mind means a healthy body.” This means that sport makes us healthy in mind too.

My team is losing for now but we will comeback for sure! Now my team has one goal and the other team has two. However, I am excited because I will score a goal before the end of the full time of the game I am sure. I have not played soccer for more than five years because I have never got this type of opportunity. This opportunity is better than  any other one because not only it helps me get to know more peers but also improve my health through playing sport.

Today, I am playing soccer with my peers and versus my peers in a very friendly way. I am also glad that they all understood that it is just a game and we are playing for fun not a big competition. Everyone is just playing friendly, which is making the game more interesting!

One more thing I am enjoying right now is my oranges during the half time. I love orange and this will give me more energy to play harder and score a goal.

I would like Mali Rising Foundation to continue this type of teacher gathering because it helps me connect I just shared my contact information with more than three teachers I didn’t know before today. From now on we are friends and will stay in touch. We will even go beyond this event by calling each other and sharing lessons and other stuff.

To finish, I would like say hats off to Mali Rising Foundation for this great opportunity of bringing us together to play sport !