The road to the Super Bowl?

After my inglorious head over heels plunge down the steep sand dune, my host "rescued" my reputation by throwing his football to me. I ended up on the flat plain at the bottom of the slope and proceeded to pass the ball to various dune jumpers from our team. For the next 20 minutes I played quarterback and wide receiver, and somehow managed to nail each reception and pass attempt. After awhile, I began making my gradual ascent up the sand mountain.

I kept playing catch with young Mitchell on the way up the slope. Suddenly I noticed a couple of local boys who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere on the slope with us. I motioned to one of them and then threw the ball to him. He had no clue how to catch or throw the football, but he returned it to me. Then I repeated the process with the other Nigerien boy, with the same result. Following this, I crawled over to the boys and demonstrated to them the proper grip for throwing a North American football and let them try it over and over again. Their skills improved the more they attempted throwing and catching.

Later, after we had reached the summit and were about to leave the area, the two boys, one dressed in white, the other in black, resumed playing catch with me. It was neat to see the smiles on their faces, a look of satisfaction of acquiring a skill that these funny North American people kept showing off. I assume that these boys had never seen a football before, and their likelihood of obtaining a football scholarship to the University of Nebraska and eventually making it to the Super Bowl is remote. However, their exposure to a cultural item from the other side of the globe may help them to relate to cross-cultural experiences they may have in the future, even if it is only in their own neighborhood. I know that the experience of sharing my culture with them while witnessing their culture and environment is an experience I will never forget.