(Design by the talented Brian Carville. The softball player is Cat. Great, huh?)Saturday was the softball camp I have been planning for since last December when I solicited the help of Longhorn (and Olympic) Great, Cat Osterman, and an US organization called Kids to Kids. They both were eager to help support girl's softball in my site. Cat donated 11 gloves, 2 bats and catcher's gear-- an in-kind donation like none other. The new equipment arrived in June and was absolutely beautiful and high quality. K2K put up $500 for the camp costs- drinks, snacks, shirts, transport, etc. It was a great undertaking that took lots of planning and 6 PC volunteers to organize.
On Saturday five teams (about 50 girls) arrived to participate in a softball school and tournament. I was running around like crazy making sure drinks/snacks were there and everyone had what they needed. Unfortunately, I was having to also guard the gate so my own team didn't wander off. Not only do Salvadoran children have a wandering habit but there was also another event going on that they were itching to go to. I told them that they could go to the other event but that there were other girls who wanted to attend the camp that I had to reject that would be willing to stay all day. So they had a choice. In the end, they all decided they would stay all day. Girls started asking to go to the bathroom. Of course, I should have suspected something but I am trusting. I let them go 2 at a time until the first 3 didn't come back and my other girls told me they had left for the other event. Now, it was only 11 am and the camp was scheduled until 4. Some other girls had showed up just to play even though they didn't get the invite. So, I called the girls who left and told them to please send their t-shirts for the other girls to wear. I was mad that they left and lied to me but it was whatever. The rest of the campers were having a great time and I was running around all day trying to get good pictures of all of it. Finally, we ended camp ahead of schedule around 2:30. After eating all 20 cucumbers, the girls lined up to turn in the gloves, balls, and bats. It was at that time that we discovered we had only 8 out of 11 gloves. Now, two of the gloves were very distinct: one was a much larger glove for catchers and one was for lefties and had different markings. The third missing glove looked like the rest. I asked the girls where they were and they told me that the three girls who left early had hidden the gloves in their shirts when they left. I was angry but also cautious to cast blame. I wasn't entirely convinced it was the three girls because no one wants to believe that and I didn't even know if those girls had those particular gloves. I told all the girls I wanted the gloves back and I didn't care who turned them in. I should mention here that the other 3 teams who participated didn't ever have possession of the gloves mostly because my girls were very possessive of the gloves....they were not going to share. So, that is how we ended camp. I was obviously upset but the other volunteers assured me that the kids had a great time and that the camp was a success.
Sunday morning I decided to upload the pictures to my computer. I had taken more than 60 and was anxious to send them to Cat and K2K along with a big thank you. As I was going through them I saw that I had taken pictures of players I will now refer to as 1, 2 and3. Player 1 had the big catcher's mit, Player 2 had a normal one, and Player 3 had the lefty glove. I was shocked! Not only was it crazy coincidence that I happened to take pictures of all three of them, but THOSE gloves were on THEIR hands. Now, I was convinced that the other girls were telling the truth that the three had in fact stolen the gloves. So, I called my school director who said she thought the girls had just borrowed them and would return them Monday morning. I highly doubted this but waited to see anyways. Both of the families were not people I was willing to confront. So, Monday morning I went to the school and she said no one had returned them. So, we decided to call them in. Player 3 had to be called from her house because she goes to school in the afternoon and so she arrived first. I should explain some of the history between me and player 3.
Player 3 was my best student. She was the girl who I had proclaimed to many people that I would pay for her to go to University. She is the one I trusted to come feed Cleo,my cat, whenever I was not in town. She has a really tough home life- her parents divorced, remarried, and left her and her little brother with her grandma while they continued to have other children and lives blocks away. Neither one wanted to take care of their kids from their previous marriage. Her grandma was a good friend to me. She gave me free fertilizer and she lent me a stove and a refrigerator for the duration of my service. Then, in December, she suddenly died of a brain aneurysm. It was out of nowhere and terribly sad. The family had to find money last minute to pay for the body to be release from the hospital. I gave them $50 to help out. After I got back from Christmas break, things had changed. The family demanded it all back and yelled at me in the street when I asked them to help me pay for the $80 in repairs that I had had to pay when they gave me the fridge 5 months earlier. It was a very sad end to a relationship I had really valued. More sad was that the adults were putting the kids in the middle. So, needless to say, I don't hang out with that family anymore and Player 3 doesn't come over anymore.
So, back the the school office, Player 3 arrives before the others and I ask her if she has anything she would like to tell me. She says no and that she doesn't know why she is there. Then, the other two arrive. Player 1 and 2 both have a reputation for lying and being malcriadas. When the school director arrives, she talks and then I explain how three gloves are missing and the other players said that the 3 girls had taken them. P1 and P2 act offended immediately and start saying how they left their gloves with other players. My director starts furiously writing the names of these other girls. Then, P1 says she knows a girl who hid a glove in a tree but she doesn't want to accuse anyone or tell on her. They start saying how other people stole balls and they themselves are not guilty. They too have witnesses they can call. Finally, we call other girls who had accused them to the office and now they say they weren't accusing but that the other girls in the afternoon had. So now we have wait until the afternoon to talk to those accusers. Now, we have a list of people who P1 and P2 say have the gloves and they will be called in an interrogated. My director ends by saying it is the teams responsibility to recover the gloves. Player 1 offers her own glove in order to prove her innocence. My director says that if the gloves aren't found then parents will be called. Player 1 brazenly says, "call my parents!" She is so convincing that one of the teachers who was supposedly on my side starts stroking her hair to comfort her from my "accusations." But, I maintain aloud that the coincidences are too great and I even show them all the photos. After all is said that could be said, they start filing out to return to class but Player 3 lingers and tell us, "I have a glove." The director asks why she didn't speak up sooner and she says it was because she wasn't given a chance to talk and then she says she didn't steal it. She didn't know she was not going to return to camp. The other girls made her leave. She also says that the other two girls have gloves too. In any case, I say I am glad she told the truth and I know that it is hard to do it in front of her friends. I understand it is easier done in confidence. I told her how much I used to believe in her and that I think she is better than this. I tell her I hope she knows that she is special and should not hang out with other girls (who are unfortunately her cousin and her neighbor). She goes to her house and brings me the glove just as I am leaving the school. I say thank you and go to my house. When I get to my house she is there again to apologize. I repeat how great of a kid I think she is and how I know that if she stays on the right path she can accomplish anything she wants. I remind her how she is the smartest girl in her class.
In the end, I am glad the truth came out but am still having a hard time deciding what to do even if I get the gloves back. As in many times during my service, I feel like the kids in my community don't appreciate things enough and the adults are not as supportive as they should be. I keep thinking about the community I am working in up the mountain to get clean water and latrines. They are a much poorer community. Their team also attended the camp. They were extremely well-behaved. It makes me wonder if they would appreciate the new equipment much more...
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