Nasio’s Big Day Out

Nasio must have been good luck. Sierra Leone’s national football team won their first game in 5 years beating South Africa on a penalty kick. But Nasio was more impressed with the atmosphere and mostly the food.

I’m pretty sure this 5-year-old has never left the neighbourhood before I brought him to the stadium. He didn’t talk for the first hour. The taxi ride. Lining up at the gate. He was just taking it all in. People cheering. The big band playing. He loved watching the players warm-up.

His food intake was incredible. He would have eaten more, but I had to put a stop to it for fear of returning a sick little African boy to his guardians. It went something like this: one ice-cream plus half of mine (I must have been eating too slowly); one peace of fried chicken (I swear he ate the bones); one half bag of trail mix with M&Ms; about 2 cups of water; and a big bag of ground nuts.

Now all the kids in the hood want me to take them to the game! It’s tough to pick favourites, but Nasio and I have a bond. Absolutely nothing in common. I can barely understand his Krio, and he mine. But a strong connection nonetheless. He’s says “a get no padi” (I have no friends). But this is just a bad interpretation, because he has lots of friends. He just calls them brothers and sisters, as they do in Africa. If you live with them, then they are your brothers. He is an orphan, taken in by our neighbours. His “brothers” and “sisters” actually have blood links and mothers (and fathers somewhere). But he doesn’t. And he doesn’t look Sierra Leonean either. I’ll have to do some investigating, out of curiousity. (Photo: View of ground nut shrapnel at Nasio's feet)

But the big day out was a great success. Nothing stolen. No crying. Home-side win. And Nasio returned without a scratch. Maybe a stomachache. (Photo: Nasio watches the warm-ups through the fence)