Football (a.k.a soccer)

One of the challenging aspects of living in Musoma is that it is difficult to find good ways to exercise. As the Tanzanians stay fit by walking or cycling places, they do not understand why anyone would go running just for the sake of exercise. Add to that my white skin and I get quite a bit attention if I go running or even walking for that matter. Since there are no gyms in Musoma I am limited to whatever I can do in my living room.

Fortunately, once a week there is a way for me to escape using workout DVD's in my living room. Every Sunday a group of my friends and colleagues get together to play football (or soccer as I would normally call it). When we first began playing the biggest question was where we would play. Although there are various football fields around Musoma they were either in use or a bit too public for our taste. As football is definitely the sport in Tanzania, everyone in the immediate area would join in and our teams would grow large quickly. The other consequence of playing on one of those fields would be the large audience we were guaranteed to attract. Since neither of those situations was conducive to the low-key game we wanted to play, using those fields was not an option.

Right around that time one of my colleagues was clearing a space in his yard that was close to the size we wanted and private as well. Although we started by playing in the dirt, he has put a lot of work into it and made it into a beautiful grassy field with goals at each end.

So every Sunday a group of us come out and play together. Although it is mostly men there are a few of us girls brave enough to join in, including one 12 year old girl. Everyone is welcome and we play for fun, although the competition does heat up sometimes. A few Tanzanians join us as well.

Although I usually end up with bruises after a game I love playing! It's not that I'm really good but it's fun to run and play with people who I normally see in a different situation. We leave our titles and work at the office and are just a group of people having fun together and working off the stress of the last week before another one begins. Besides, where else can you kick your boss in the shins and get away with it?