Sunday, May 2, 2010

Sports in Malawi


Football is incredibly popular in Malawi. Most people can't afford a real soccer ball so they take trash (mostly old plastic bags which are called jumbos) and roll them up, bind them with string and- voila- you have a jumbo ball like the one above.


Another popular game in Malawi is this one. Truth be told, I have no freakin clue how to play this game. I was told it was called net ball but again, I can neither confirm nor deny the validity of this claim. I have seen kids using corn husks to throw through the hoop but I'm pretty sure thats not how its normally played.

Anyway, as you can see from the picture, one of the reasons that I'm having trouble figuring out how this game is played is that I can't get close enough to watch it. White girl watching/chasing/asking for money is wayyyyyy more fun than net/cornhusk ball. So mostly all I see are the hoops and lots of kids running toward me. Who knows, maybe that's exactly how its played: throw some innanimate objects through the hoop and bide your time until you see a white person.

Too summarize: alls I know is that there are two (OK sometimes only 1) small metal hoops on a stick and that something is thrown through them at some point in time. You're welcome for that incredible vivid and precise description of this sport. Dontcha feel like you're in Malawi with me??

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