During a visit to the Kibera Slums in Nairobi, Kenya in May, 2008 we had a tour of the John Paul II Mixed Secondary School. This is the very part of Nairobi when riots and burning of shops took place during the post December, 2007 election violence. Entering the Senior High School English Class we greeted the teacher and students in the typically warm and friendly African way. On the blackboard I immediately noticed three names:

Abraham Lincoln

George Washington

Joseph (Sepp) Blatter

Now you might find this a strange or unusual combination of names. My three American Maryknoll companions didn’t know who Sepp Blatter is. But, of course, all the Kenyan students did. In this soccer-crazy country that is passionately following the 2010 Soccer World Cup qualifying matches everyone – even in the slums – knows that Sepp Blatter is the President of FIFA (the French acronym for the International Federation of Association Football).