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    January 18, 2012

Canadian Little Leaguers Give Ugandan Team a Chance to Play

   Hilary Heuler | Kampala
   Photo: Reuters
   Supporters of the Uganda national football team chant slogans outside
   the Mandela national stadium before their match against Kenya's
   Harambee Stars in their Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier in Uganda's
   capital Kampala, October 8, 2011.

   When a Little League team from Uganda was denied the visas needed to
   play in last year's World Series, a Canadian team decided to go to
   Uganda to play them instead. The two teams faced off on Tuesday in a
   game they both thought should have happened a long time ago.

   Uganda's Little League team

   Spirits were running high as two Little League baseball teams took the
   field here in Mpigi. Both teams of 11-to-13 year-olds were filled with
   the most talented players in their countries, and they had worked hard
   to get the chance to play this game. This was not the Little League
   World Series. But it should have been.
   Last year, the Little League team from Uganda became the first African
   team to ever qualify for the World Series - a children's baseball
   tournament played every year in the United States. Qualifying meant
   beating all other teams both in Africa and the Middle East. But their
   dreams were shattered when, at the last minute, their applications for
   U.S. visas were denied.
   So instead, one small part of the tournament came to them. This week,
   the Little League team from Langley, Canada, who had been scheduled to
   play the Ugandans in the World Series, is in Uganda giving the Ugandan
   team the chance to play the game that should have happened last year.
   They are calling it the Pearl of Africa Series.

   World Series
   Uganda player Adrian Lutaya, who is 12 years old, said he and his
   teammates were crushed last year when they heard that they would not be
   going to the World Series after all.
   'Everybody was crying, saying, 'what is the problem? What is the
   problem?' All of us, we cried,' said Lutaya.

   The Canadians' travel to Uganda was made possible by Canadian coaches,
   parents and other organizers who read about what had happened to the
   Uganda team. Together with Right to Play, an organization that promotes
   international development through sports, they set out to raise
   $155,000.
   The money is being used not only to send the Canadian team to Uganda,
   but also to help finance the Ugandans' education, build a new playing
   field in Kampala, and provide the Ugandan players with a travel fund
   for future games.

   Funding
   Canadian Head Coach Dean Cantelon says that for him and his team, it
   was the least they could do.
   'We weren't there, we're not in their shoes, but we felt for them and
   we thought that was extremely wrong," Cantelon. "They didn't go to the
   World Series, so Canada is here to hopefully make things a little
   better.'
   Nick Atkinson, 13, one of the Canadian players, says it is important
   for them to be here in Uganda.
   'I feel pretty great to give them the same experience that we got, to
   give them the chance that they deserved," he said. "Because I know if
   we won three tournaments and we were told that we weren't allowed to go
   to the World Series, we'd be pretty devastated.'
   The Ugandan players' visas were denied due to problems with their birth
   certificates, which can be difficult to come by in a country in which
   many people do not even know their birthdays. Filmmaker Jay Shapiro,
   who is making a documentary about Ugandan baseball, explains that this
   is a common problem in international sports.
   'Most of these kids are orphans and weren't born in a hospital. And if
   they were, it doesn't exist anymore," said Shapiro. "There's other good
   teams out there in other countries that have the same problem, the
   documentation problem. It's bigger than Uganda, it's bigger than
   baseball.'

   Caring
   But Canadian Ruth Hoffman, who helped to organize the event, says
   bringing the Canadian team to Uganda will teach kids on both sides just
   as much as playing in the World Series, if not more.
   'Ugandan kids are going to know that kids half way around the world
   care, and that they're just like them - same dreams, same interests,
   same passion," said Hoffman. "The Canadian kids, I think they're going
   to feel empowered and inspired by the fact that a small group of people
   were able to stand up and do something. I think these kids will have a
   wonderful foundation to do the same when they're older.'

   Baseball
   Baseball is still a fringe sport in Africa, where most children grow up
   playing soccer. But there are several hundred regular players in
   Uganda, and baseball is gradually becoming more and more popular.
   Back on the field, in the town of Mpigi outside Kampala, a tense game
   was being played. The Canadian and Ugandan teams were tied at the
   bottom of the sixth and last inning. Then Felix Barugahare, 11, hit the
   ball and scored one final run for Uganda, propelling the team to
   victory. He was carried off the field in triumph.
   After the game, Barugahare says he now thinks that if they had made it
   to last year's World Series, they might even have won.
   'I'm feeling good because we have won, and that was my dream to play,"
   said Barugahare. "This is the game we should have played in America. It
   means that we can beat Canada, we can beat any team.'
   The Ugandans say they are working with the American Embassy to solve
   the problems with their documentation. When the next World Series takes
   place in August, they say, they are sure to be there.