Sometimes the World Is No Bigger Than A Ball.

compas,
I wanted to share with you an interesting story. An interesting story that is about an interesting story that is actually a lot of interesting stories converging.
I just finished reading a book called 'Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, An American Town' by NYT journalist Warren St. John. The book (now out in paperback) chronicles the story of a rag-tag group of refugee youth from various parts of the world (mostly Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe) living in Clarkston, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. Under the guidance of Luma Mufleh, a Jordanian-American immigrant, they form a soccer team, the Fugees. But the Fugees are more than a soccer team. They become a family. The Fugees Family. Mufleh, a relentless tough-loving overachiever, starts tutoring programs for the boys, a cleaning business for the boys' mothers, many of whom are single parents - the boys' fathers having been imprisoned, disappeared or killed - and takes on the town's mayor and long-time residents wary of the changes taking place due in large part to the influx of refugees and immigrants in recent years. The book traces the journeys many of the boys and their families have taken from war-torn countries to arrive in Clarkston, and their struggles once here - language, culture, employment, housing, gangs, etc.
this is a story I stumbled upon a few years ago, in Sports Illustrated, and, after some perusing, learned more about through a documentary on ESPN (youcan find it on youtube). Then I discovered the team's website, http://www.fugeesfamily.org/ and learned even more.
Last year, the book came out, and, as I said, I just read it. And I recommend it to each of you. It's the kind of thing I dream of doing someday.
But wait, there's more. So the whole time I was reading this book, I had NO idea that the world was as small as it has shown itself to be now, that for me, there was a personal connection to the story.
One of the storylines follows the Ntwari family - mother Generose, sons Alex, Bienvenue ('Bien'), and Ivee - as they flee their war-torn homeland of Burundi, spend 5 years in refugee camps in Mozambique, before finally having their application for asylum being accepted by the UN and being brought to Clarkston - appointed as one of the UN's refugee re-location programs (with little or no input, it seems, from the locals) - Here, they start their new lives, and the boys quickly find the Fugees Family.
To make a long story short (read the book!) I discovered in the epilogue that the family moved to Ft Wayne, Indiana sometime in the last few years. As you may know, I now live in Fort Wayne. I was excited when I read this, thinking, "wow! I should find them, contact them, maybe we can start a Fugees team of our own?" I did a quick search online and found Bienvenue's facebook page. (gotta love facebook. and fear it at the same time!). His facebook picture was one of a fistful of soccer players huddled together, as if in pre-game pep talk, or post-game celebration. And they are wearing familiar colors - Green and white. Bien, it turns out, attends, and plays soccer for, my Alma Mater, Fort Wayne South Side Archers.
But wait, there's more. So I read parts of this story to my mother and sister, who is currently a senior at South Side. I start by asking if she knows of someone named Bienvenue Ntwari. She says no (it's 7am when I do so, and she is groggy, so...). By the end my reading the story, and upon seeing the cover of the book, with e team photo that includes Bien, but neither of his brothers, my sister realizes that Bien's older brother Alex is a friend of hers, that they had a class together at South Side.
but wait, there's more. One of my brothers, who attends a different high school, walks into the room. He, too, plays soccer. My mom mentions to him that he would like this book, and I tell him about the kids who are now in Ft Wayne. It turns out that my brother knows Bien. I don't know if it's through soccer, or some other channel, but... wow, what a small world!
I still would love to meet them, maybe play soccer together (I recently discovered an indoor pickup game with a lot of international diversity (and a lot of arguing)) or, hey, maybe even form a Fugees-like team for kids?
Who knows, we'll see.
But I thought it was an interesting story. An interesting story that is about an interesting story that is actually a lot of interesting stories converging. All of which I wanted to share with you.

Thanks for listening/reading.
-Emmanuel