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I was never a soccer fan. But all that changed when the FIFA World Cup finally came to South Africa. I was converted. Though I am more than 2,500 kilometres away from the action I can still feel the excitement. Every night the sound of vuvuzelas (the iconic trumpets of the 2010 FIFA World Cup) blare from bars and passing cars. Then, every morning in the Sustainable Cities office we chatter amongst ourselves: “Did you see Ghana’s goal? Incredible!” We are all praying for an African team to win.
It seems like the whole city of Dar es Salaam is partaking in one big month long celebration. This is truly football fever —and Tanzania doesn’t even have a team competing. Meshak, one of our Tanzanian support staff, loves football. His normally quiet and conserved demeanor changes when you mention the World Cup. His eyes widen and a big smile runs across his face. His favourite teams are Brazil and Ivory Coast. He secretly wants Ivory Coast to win, even though Brazil has a much better chance at taking the cup. Recently, Brazil and Ivory Coast went head to head. We know that Meshak only has a small radio for listening to the game, so my colleagues and I invited him to watch the game on a big screen TV at a local restaurant. His eyes widened at the thought of it and he nodded his head with excitement.We met for the 9:30 p.m. match, but I was slightly late. I entered the restaurant and joined my friends at the table. “Mambo vipi, Meshak?” (How’s it going, Meshak), I asked, but there was no reply. His eyes were glued to the game unfolding on the screen. Sadly, Brazil won, but Meshak was still satisfied that at at least one of his favourite teams had won. A few days later South Africa played Ivory Coast. Meshak joined us to watch the match on the big screen again. On our way we passed buy a small shop that sells sodas, beer, eggs, bread, candy, and other assorted products. Next to the little shop was a small Hitachi TV screen balancing on top of a wooden crate. Fifty men stood and sat around it mesmerized. No time to stop — Meshak was excited about the big screen. We arrived. But, the restaurant was completely vacant, and the big screen was blank. What do we do? We stood there looking at one another in search of alternatives. Quickly, I remembered the small Hitachi TV next to the shop. We joined the men right as South Africa scored. Everyone jumped up with their hands in the air. Quickly, they reassumed position and watched attentively. Then, I realized that the commentary was in Portugese. The stolen signal was coming from Mozambique, Tanzania’s Portuguese speaking neighbour. A man brought out a small radio from his pocket and began broadcasting the Swahili version of the play by play. Although, South Africa won in the end, they hadn’t accumulated enough points to move on to the next round. Nevertheless everyone was satisfied with the action packed match. The vuvuzelas blared on the streets as night fell upon the city. I smiled to myself and turned to Meshak: “When’s the next game?” Afton Halloran grew up in Ladysmith. She has lived in Japan, Norway, Ghana, Uganda and now Tanzania, East Africa. She is currently a urban agriculture project officer with the Sustainable Cities NGO in Dar es Salaam
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