First: Field of Dreams
A narrative picture story that increases the understanding of the role that athletics play in the lives of athletes and their community. The story may focus on sports as a catalyst of change in gender, race, political, and cultural issues. It may feature professional or amateur athletes, fans, families, or any aspect of a community that is changed by its relationship to sports.
Dennis Kasumba teaches a disabled child to play baseball at St. Lilian Jubilee Home in Guyaza, Uganda. Some of the players along with their coach travel to the church-run home for disabled and disadvantaged children at least once a week.
Field of Dreams
Uganda baseball player Dennis Kasumba dreams of playing for Major League Baseball in the United States. From slaughtering cows at age 14, a father who left to fight anti-government rebels never to return and a mother who abandoned him at age two months, Dennis, 18, finds himself shoveling cow dung just to provide food for his grandmother and siblings in between his workouts. Unable to afford a gym, Dennis improvises using old tires, water bottles to tie around his legs and jumping up and down in a trash barrel full of water. Once a week he and his teammates visit a local orphanage to teach the love of baseball. They also teach them basic life skills but most important is giving the orphans love and attention.
With his dedication, hard work and his training going viral on social media, Dennis was invited to the amateur MLB Draft League. U.S officials had denied three visa requests, but finally relented, and Kasumba spent a month this summer with the Frederick Keys, a team in Frederick, Md. Kasumba, now back home, still dreams of becoming Uganda’s first major leaguer and has been invited to return to the Draft League next summer.
