Now THAT'S integrity!

As I'm sure many of you will be aware, one of the greatest battles we face on a day to day basis here in Uganda surrounds the issue of integrity. One of the challenges is that with so many people struggling with poverty, the chance to make a few thousand shillings whilst compromising your values is a serious temptation. For example, whilst I would never condone a policeman accepting bribes, many get paid so little that I can understand that with hungry mouths to feed at home it can be a case of 'needs must.'

That is why arriving back from Christmas in the UK to the story below from Brian, my right hand man at Synergy, was so impressive.

Peter: Man of Integrity!

"What would you do if you were the only 'breadwinner' in your home, your father was blind, you didn't know where the next meal was coming from... and you were offered money to do something a bit dodgy, but would at least buy enough food for your family for the next few weeks?

At Synergy, building upon our Godly foundation involves consistently encouraging the development of Christian character in our lads. At the forefront of that is drumming home the importance of integrity.

This has recently really been put to the test in one of our players. Having reached the semi finals of the Tonny Mawejje Cup this Christmas, we were drawn to face a team from Masaka Town. This is a team who had put a lot of money and resources into their push for victory, even bringing in professional footballers from around the surrounding districts, paying big money and giving their players promises of hefty bonuses for every goal they scored and match they won.

To try and give them an edge, they decided to offer our keeper Peter, a sizable amount of money, to play below standard and help them win. To put this in perspective it would take him 14 Regional League matches for him to get this amount of money through playing for Synergy.

Peter is in desperate need of cash. He's the main breadwinner at home due to his father being blind. Did he accept the bribe? No way! “See my manager if you want to give me that money,” he said, and from then on ignored his phone every time they called him. More than that, on the day of the match, he put in an outstanding man-of-the match performance to keep that team at bay with a clean sheet allowing Synergy to win 1-0 and progress to the final where we eventually were crowned champions! Now THAT’S integrity!!"

Tonny Mawejje Cup

A GREAT BEGINNING

In other news, the Synergy team has also increased in number in the form of a new, and badly needed, under 13s coach mentor Tonny. He will be leading the work with our young academy players and has already bedded in nicely, even acquiring 8 new scholarships to a good private primary school for some of our younger players!

The Synergy Team: Tonny, Brian and Timmo

TEAM CROW GROWS AGAIN

And what blog would be complete without an update of an animal nature. We can proudly announce that the orphaned chicks, after intensive care with the help of makeshift hot water bottles, have all survived and have therefore now been named: Mabungi, Kibibi and Bruce! Kibuto (our puppy) is still as annoying as ever, and is getting ever closer to dogmeat kebabs! And finally Tim has finally started to win in his battle against the rats, as you can see, 2 bagged in the last 2 weeks! Pied Piper step aside!