Three years ago, the Wilson Campaign to raise One World Futbols came to a glorious end. Donors had sponsored 179 unbreakable soccer balls for distribution to children and adults in disadvantaged communities around the world. And Wilson, my traveling companion, who had become lost while ascending Mount Adams in Washington State, ended up being planted atop that mountain. It was a fitting climax to an entertaining saga of travel and fund raising.
Since then, I have spent time distributing the balls, in the company of a little Wilson, originally called “Jr.,” but now affectionately known as Jean Baptiste, who is riding on my backpack in the photo at the end of this post. (If that picture suggests the Sacagawea dollar coin with the image of Sacawagea and her papoose, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, well, that's probably just a coincidence.)
Now, by popular demand, the Wilson Campaign has been reopened and we are accepting more donations. Very shortly, the final distribution of the first 179 balls will be complete, with most of the four dozen remaining balls joining me in the impoverished nation of Malawi in Southeast Africa. Meanwhile, donors have asked how they may purchase more balls, and that is the reason we have rebooted the Wilson Campaign and extended our original goal of 100 balls raised. One of our target destinations for these new balls: the Dzaleka refugee camp, home to refugees from six African nations.
If you want to follow the adventures of distribution, just keep an eye on your e-mails, because we will be notifying you with each new post. (If you want to be on our notification list, e-mail me at dancingpotter@gmail.com.) And if you choose to make a donation, You can do so by going to the Wilson Campaign Web page. At this writing, the page needs a little tweaking, but it's functional.
Love,
And Jean Baptiste
