By Jonatan Arriaga,

The kids at Kumasi Children’s Home saw a different dawn that morning. They had an extra reason to smile. They were playing football that day.

We got into the orphanage and the energized and vibrant kids warmly welcomed us! Football, football, is everything they were talking about!

‘Pass me the ball, I will score today!’ A kid told me as soon as I grabbed the ball to start the warm-up. The day is boiling but the feet of the young players were desperate for some action! There is water but no one sees it, they are focused on the ball.

Locals Vs. Obronis (foreigners). The local team formed by about 30 kids and the foreign team formed by volunteers and friends. The referee’s lungs took a deep breath and started the game!

Not a long time passed when the local team scored the first one! Three seconds later, the same team netted the ball! And so on and on. Endlessly! In about 20 minutes the score was 7-0! We tried our best against the local team but they scored another 5 goals leaving us no real chance to show our best foreign skills, which seemed pretty rusty that day!

After the match the kids enjoyed some fruit juice, fresh water and some cookies. It was great to spend such a great time with all the kids! I will count my days until I go back to Kumasi to play football again with them…and maybe my team will be able to win this time!