like most places in the world soccer or futbol is a huge passion for people and benin in no different. serge planned a tournament with 8 local teams. we arrived for the first game late which meant the trophy arrived late. at the beginning the teams were playing their 'b' team more like a friendly game, but when we broke out our $20 trophy from the US they went crazy. they were calling the better players for the second half and word spread that more was at stake. hundreds of people came out to the games, it was a great way to see and spend time with those in the village. on the day of the semi finals we were going to organize a team of us and play the kids, but the elders of the village found out and challenged us to a match. this is completely out of the norm for the elders and it was a huge honor for us, plus it was so much fun. we were completely schooled by these ripped up 70 year old men. the village loved it, we loved it, and the elders loved it. it was such a symbolic action of the bonding that was taking place between us and the village. each night we would go sit with the elders and the children, watch the match, and enjoy something that transcending the language barrier, difference of culture, and age.
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