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Coaches Across Continents: Cliffs, rains and rocks
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Coaches Across Continents volunteer Charlie Crawford talks about his last CAC programme of the summer of 2015 with Uni Papua in Mulia, Indonesia.

The flight into Mulia is a journey not many make. Our plane slid five adults, an infant, a motorcycle, and eight boxes of One World Futbols deep into a green valley of central Papua.

Working again with Uni Papua, the Mulia doctor and programme leader, Dr. Jepprey, welcomed us to his home that overlooks the southern valley and the one-and-only airstrip. The Doctor’s house was unique in Mulia. Designed by an American, the layout had a strangely familiar feel to it.

Turner and I had the weekend to settle in before the start of the programme on Monday. It was an appreciated time to get our bearings in this chilly surreal setting. That weekend, after a particularly harsh rain, we woke up to learn the water hose had been damaged. This naturally meant that the early afternoon turned into a hike following the hose and up the mountain to solve the problem. Some digging and climbing later we rested with our mission a success on a cliff overlooking the lower end of the valley. The steepness of some of these mountains was as close to sheer drops as possible while still being climbable. Somehow though, the soil was rich and in this seeming impossible setting we were surrounded by lines of crops. A misstep would mean a tumble to the bottom, and it was here that much of Mulia grew their food.

As we rested with our new friends from Uni Papua, some half dozen kids joined us with a smile and disappeared into the cliffs only to return some time later with freshly picked pineapples clenched in each hand. It was a proper welcome to a new world.

As the week went on, we fell into a familiar cycle of coaching in the afternoon and working at local schools in the morning. Each morning would involve a couple of our participant coaches and a couple hundred school kids. The fields themselves were something of an experience. Between mountains, most would be at some degree of a slant. Between daily rains, the grassy patches would turn to mud. But most impressively, the ground of Mulia is mainly made up of various sized shale rocks which meant navigating a playing field required an entirely other skill than most players have to deal with. Regardless of conditions, when the rains came and the rocks hurt, our coaches would smile and insist on one more game.


[This article has been edited by the Operating Team]

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Asia
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Football (Soccer)