Goooaaal

Well, I promised the fifth grade boys that if any boy got a grade 8 or higher for his final grade on his report card, I would give them a soccer ball which although might sound like a generous offer, I wasn’t expecting more than 2 to get it since most students don’t get higher than 7. Unfortunately, none of them reached the Mount Everest of eight this time around but I’m hoping for the third trimester but all their grades improved. A new soccer ball is a gold mine for boys here especially the fifth grade boys at school. Every recess they play soccer and every Friday afternoon I have to chase them off the school yard while they plead for another five minutes for soccer. On the streets they will play with a deflated, brown remnants of a ball and if they don’t have access to that, they will play soccer with a plastic bottle or a large rock or anything they can find. .