In July 2011,
Uganda's Little League baseball team became
the first African team to qualify for the
Little League World Series, which was held in Williamsport, Pa., in August 2011. After beating the
the 22-time World League qualifying Arabian American Little League squad from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the Ugandan team
couldn't take part in the world series after their visas were denied (NYT; alt:
HuffPo), due to
concerns about birth certificate validity, but that's not the end of their story.
The Canadian team from Langley raised funds to travel to Uganda,
giving the Ugandan team the match they were denied.
Uganda Little League started out when
retired Proctor & Gamble Chemical Engineer Richard Stanley was visiting Uganda in 2003 as part of a
ACDI/VOCA Farmer-to-Farmer program.
Stanley is part-owner of the Trenton Thunder minor-league baseball team, and his interest in baseball became known to some in Uganda.
Stanley met Christopher Gashirabake, a Ministry of Justice official, who wanted to start Little League in Uganda. From that meeting, funds were raised to create and improve playing fields and provide equipment to the growing group of young Ugandan players.
In a few short years, the Uganda Little League team improved to the point they
triumphed in the Middle East-Africa Regional championship, earning a spot in the World League Series. But due to inconsistencies in birth certificates, the team was denied their visas. The birth certificate issue is not surprising, given that
before 2005, an estimated 4% of the population were registered, including only 1% of children under five. After their visas were denied,
the Saudi Arabia squad returned to the World Series for the 12th consecutive year.
Because Uganda's win over Saudi Arabia marked the first time an African country would have been represented at the Little League World Series,
their absence from the competition was well covered in the news.
Ruth Hoffman, a Vancouver-based mother of three baseball-playing boys, had worked in microfinance in east Africa, read about the Ugandan team's plight and wanted to help.
She started fund-raising and promoting for a "Pearl of Africa Series" event, to finally bring the Langley and Uganda teams together, after they were unable to compete in the Little League World Series. She worked with
Pitch In For Baseball, a non-profit organization that helps bring baseball equipment to kids around the world. Her efforts paid off, and
the Canadian team traveled to Uganda.
More:
Growing Baseball in Uganda (YT, 1 minute);
Opposite Field short (Vimeo, 5:32, with links to more short clips); both clips by director Jay Shapiro, who has been filming about baseball in Uganda for the past two years, to make the
Opposite Field documentary.
posted by Windopaene at 10:25 AM on January 20 [2 favorites]