See the Ball, Be One With the Ball

by Sara Bonk



It was my first day today at my NGO, the soccer organization of buntkicktgut, and it was a wonderful first day experience even though it wasn't what I had completely expected. To get to my NGO, it's a rather easy 15 minute bus ride that takes me to a local park area where the headquarters are. While it was not hard finding my NGO, it was rather difficult to introduce myself to the group as I was so nervous. The people I had met today were welcoming and easily switched to English due to my lack of German language skills to speak with me. I met the head coordinators Matthias and Sokol who introduced me to the building, the boys who were already there to start the day's work, as well as give me a history lesson on the foundation of the NGO and what it stands for. Upon learning that the organization uses soccer as a platform in which the participants can learn and take life lessons from, I immediately felt at home as this was very similar to what I've done for 7 years with the golf organization in the US - The First Tee.
Afterwards, I got to know the only other American, Brandon, in the NGO who was there to help translate the website into English. He gave me a great low down of what to know and expect the next couple of days; this discussion then lead to him introducing me to Rudi who helped create the NGO back in the 90s when Munich was faced with a similar influx of immigrants from the Balkans during the wars in that area. Rudi and I ended up having a great hour long conversation that helped me better understand the mission of the NGO and how it has come to influence and better the lives of the participants that are in the organization. My last few minutes of the day were spent helping Gerda, the fundraiser organizer, edit and send an important summer camp calendar to the partners in Serbia.
All in all, I had a great first day experience, and honestly can't wait to continue working with them over the course of the next few days!

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 21, 2017 at 9:31 AM

    I <3'd reading about your first day, Sara! It's been amazing listening to everyone's first day stories...and how they are traversing through this experience. Looking forward to hearing more!

    ReplyDelete

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