Easter Sunday

April 16th, 2009 by Elias Parisca

Easter is the village’s version of Homecoming, when all the Adaklu Have citizens living outside (in cities like Ho or Accra) return home for church services, family gatherings and other various festivities. One of the main events to which the entire village attends is a football match between current citizens (home) and expatriates (away). By the time I arrived to the match, it had already begun. At halftime the score was 0-0. During the break the captain of the Home side asked me if I wanted to play for them. Not having played in a couple years, I hesitantly accepted, given that I’m currently in terrible shape with about 15 minutes of lung capacity before I begin gasping for air like the fat kid during running exercises in physical education.

They gave me 2 minutes to warm up and stretch. At this point I was undoubtedly the center of attention as most expatriates didn’t even know there was a “yevu” in town. All I could make out was the word “yevu” followed by some of the usual laughs, so I make it my only objective not to make a complete ass of myself. They put me up at forward, given that they think that’s where I will least cause trouble – only a couple of them knew that I actually played football during my youth. The second half began and I made some good touches on the ball, feeling good about myself. Twenty minutes into the second half the game was still tied at zero, at which point I began struggling for air. But then a scrambling ball jumps diagonally over the defense from the left corner directed to the empty area between the goalkeeper and myself - It was a sprint battle between the two of us. I used the little energy I had left in the tank for a final push. I ended up making it to the ball first (barely), flicked a header over the keeper, and the ball nicely bounced into the empty net. At that point the entire crowed rushed the field; people jumping, singing, yelling, smiling, and – obviously – laughing. The “yevu” had broken the deadlock and hell broke loose. The drums went off and my team was all around me celebrating – and “thanking” me, I assume because thank you is one of the few words they could say in English that I would understand.

In the end they left me until the end of the match (another 35 minutes). I almost scored another goal towards the end, but due to lack of energy picked up a mild injury to my right knee (I’m fine now). But that didn’t matter. In the end the score remained 1-0 and the party began as soon as the ref blew the final whistle. The match ended at 6:30pm, and at 10ish you could still hear the drums going off in celebration in the center of town. It was definitely a surreal scene at Adaklu Have on Easter Sunday.