Volleyball!

We've built about 20 volleyball courts as part of psycho-social rehabilitation of the communities we work in. In turn, we've just finished sponsoring our first tournament that took place in Lhoong - a hamlet that's about 1:15 south of Banda Aceh. Our villages from up and down the coast participated - all together, we were able to pull together enough teams for fill a 16-team single elimination bracket.

I went down to check out the finals and the competition was fierce! On the courts were some of the tallest Acehnese I've ever seen! Or maybe they were mercenaries, since I never see them on a typical field visit. The home team won 3-1 in front of the home crowd and took home 4,000,000 rupiahs! That's $400! Well, if you split it 12 ways, that's like $30 per player, which still ain't bad!

Next up will be a 2-week tournament that'll start the 3rd week of July. This one will be co-sponsored by USAID and Nike. The finals will coincide with a Congressman's visit. I'll have to start the planning process next week, since this one will have both a men's bracket and a women's bracket. We're hoping to fill 8 teams for the women's side. Stay tuned. I may have photos of girls wearing jilbab (headscarves) with a swoosh on it!