akron beacon journal

Akron, Ohio

Posted Monday, 6 August 2007

Peace Corps volunteer discovers joy

Munroe Falls man helping to raise funds to aid people of Mali in Africa

By Jim Carney Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Monday, Aug 06, 2007

Scott Lacy grew up in Munroe Falls , but his life was transformed on his first trip to Mali in Africa in 1994 a

s a member of the Peace Corps. Not only did he become critically ill from rheumatic fever the next year,

but also he fell in love with the country and now works to help its people. Lacy, 36, formed a non-profit

group called African Sky that works to build friendship and understanding between the U.S. and Mali .

Q: How did the Peace Corps change your life?

A: The Peace Corps taught me that the poorest of the poor are the most generous and hard-working

people in the world. Despite their life challenges and endemic poverty, my host village was easily one of

the happiest places I've ever visited. One hour of hard work in the fields under the hot sun made any

troubles I had in the U.S. seem petty. This community took me in and cared for me as if I was a long-lost

relative.

Q: Was that the inspiration for your work in Africa ?

A: Inequality drives me crazy, and I do not feel whole unless I am doing something to mitigate the social,

economic and ecological violence meted out on hard-working farming communities in places like

Mali . . . . In addition to my work via African Sky, I teach to inspire young adults who prefer a life of service

to alleviate suffering as opposed to a life of shiny cars, real estate and making money for the sake of

hoarding it.

Q: What was your first impression of Africa ?

A: I was young on my first trip, so it captured my heart, mind and soul. I remember being awestruck as

Malians began to teach me of their history, a history in which this same region was one of the most

powerful on earth massive armies, embassies throughout the known world, sophisticated governments,

universities, and more and this is in the 1200s and 1300s. When I arrived in Mali in 1994, I knew I would

forever be connected to this amazing nation.

Q: How did African Sky get started?

A: I believe that friends take care of friends. I see it daily. So I created African Sky to create friendships

between U.S. and Malian communities, because I know that through friendship we can transform lives in

powerful ways on both sides of the Atlantic .

Q: What do Akronites need to know about the people in Africa ?

A: Akronites need to know that Africa is NOT a basket case. It is a massively diverse continent filled with

impressive histories beyond a pyramid here and safari there. Furthermore, the continent is filled with innovative

farmers, business people, scientists, teachers, community organizers, artists and more. Africa does not need

your charity, it needs your friendship. For example, if we cut U.S. subsidies for factory farmers who grow cotton,

Mali would not need the levels of aid it receives today. Also, Akronites need to know that we are all Africans,

every one of us. Molecular genetics have confirmed that we all came from Africa . For creationists, that means

Eden was in East Africa . For evolutionists, well, it means almost the same thing.

Q: You raised money for a school by selling Browns Backers shirts. How did this happen?

A: I was conducting my dissertation research when I was overwhelmed with guilt because of all the

knowledge, kindness, and experience that Dissan (his host village in Mali ) was giving me. I decided to recruit

my community in the U.S. to raise funds to build a pump for my host community as a physical token of my thanks

for all they were doing for me. . . . As I was putting together my ideas for raising money for the pump project, the

Browns Backers coordinator encouraged me to make a Mali Browns Backer shirt to sell to raise funds. We took the

idea and ran with it. Soon after, my sister made a great logo. She worked with my mom, dad, and grandmother to

print some shirts, and the rest is history. After an article in a few papers, we started getting serious numbers of orders.

Browns fans rock. . . . After a high-profile mention in the Sporting News, Sports Illustrated and several papers across

the U.S. , we managed to raise approximately $10,000, $15 at a time. . . . I told village leaders of our success, and we

all decided that instead of a pump, we would build a school. . . . Because so many people wanted to continue

supporting the school and Mali , I did the only responsible thing I could. After a pro-bono meeting with Akron lawyer

David Kern, I started the process of creating African Sky.

Q: How can Akronites help your organization?

A: They can visit our Web site and spread the word. We even have some school video. They can attend our silent

auction. They can attend a pig roast in October that we are hosting with the new Bougouni Browns Backers. They

can donate money, sponsor projects, or just buy an African Sky or Bougouni Browns Backer Shirt. We are selling a

new version in August.

^{Posted
Thursday, 17 October 2002}

Browns fan leads cheers by new backers -- in Africa Club T-shirt sales may score a touchdown, building a school

for village in Mali

Scott Lacy thought starting a Browns Backers club in western Africa would be a fun little undertaking, a way of feeding his hunger for Cleveland football while he's far from home. He didn't know it also would be a way of bettering lives.

Lacy is a Ph.D. student from Munroe Falls doing anthropological research in Mali , where he founded the Bougouni Browns Backers. He figured the fan club would be a way of keeping tabs on his beloved Browns while also sharing his love for the game with the people of his adoptive village, Dissan.

When word of the new chapter got out, correspondence started arriving from other Browns fans, Lacy said in an e-mail interview. Some wanted to donate to the village; others asked whether a club T-shirt was available to buy. The Bougouni group refused to accept handouts, he said, but it recognized the fund-raising possibilities. So with help from Lacy's family

back home, the members created a T-shirt to sell. At first, they hoped they might raise enough for the modest goal of installing a new pump for drinking water. Now it appears certain they'll raise enough to build a school.

The club has raised about $4,100 and has a goal of $5,000, enough to trigger a government grant that would pay for the rest of the roughly $20,000 cost of the school's construction plus the salaries of three teachers. Lacy is hoping for enough extra to buy solar-power equipment so the school will have lights -- a first in the village of fewer than 1,000 residents, which has no running water or electricity. ``This is a lot of money for a community where the typical household earns about 250 U.S. dollars per year,'' Lacy said. Without the proceeds from the shirt sales, ``there is no money in Dissan to build a school, no matter how much the government helps.''

Lacy credits the generosity of Browns fans and the Browns organization, as well as the help of family members who had the shirts printed and handle the sales. His sister, Kathy Lacy, designed the shirt's logo; his grandmother, Anna Smith of Cuyahoga Falls , organizes the sales, packages the orders and ships them with help from his sister and his mother, Chris Lacy of Munroe Falls ; and his father, Ron, helps by selling shirts to friends and colleagues.

Ground is expected to be broken on the school at the end of December, and Lacy said it should take about a month and a half to build. The new school will mean more teachers, less crowded classrooms and additional space to accommodate pupils from surrounding villages, he said. It will also serve as a testing center for determining who can go on to seventh grade in Bougouni – a test few pupils in the region take now, because traveling to take it is so expensive.

It's an unusual victory in a place far removed from American football, where most of the people have never seen a professional football game and hadn't played the sport before Lacy's arrival. Lacy, 32, first came to Dissan as an agricultural volunteer with the Peace Corps in 1993, shortly after his graduation from Otterbein College . Rheumatic fever ended his service prematurely in 1994, but he made up his mind to return. He visited Dissan in 2000 as a graduate student to seek permission for a long-term field study, and last year he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct his dissertation research toward a doctorate from the University of California , Santa Barbara .

Lacy lives and works among the townspeople, laboring alongside the farmers in the fields and immersing himself in the social rituals that are the village's heartbeat. He lives in a mud-brick room attached to the room of the village chief, and he eats and socializes as a member of the chief's family.

It's a simple life, but one built on community and caring, he said. ``The conditions may seem Spartan to someone just reading about the village, but it is a wonderful place full of luxuries that toilets, electricity and shopping malls cannot provide.''

Still, Dissan lacked one luxury Lacy missed: Browns games. He'd grown up during the days of the Kardiac Kids, and he found himself pining for Sundays at home with his family, a fire in the fireplace and a football game on TV.

He started the Browns Backers club to help fill that void by getting others in Dissan interested in football. The club calls itself the Bougouni Browns Backers after a larger town about 20 miles away, because Bougouni, unlike Dissan, is big enough to find on a map, Lacy said.

The group is made up mostly of farmers and schoolchildren in Dissan, who've never seen a Browns game but who nonetheless meet to socialize and hear Lacy translate articles from the Internet or from his free copies of Bernie's Insiders magazine. Old copies of the magazine are cut up so the members can have pictures to hang in their mud huts.

Lacy's favorite activities, though, are flag football games. He taught the village youth to play, which was a struggle considering he had to translate the rules into Bamanakan, the local language. ``At first it was a disaster,'' he said. ``Kids were throwing the ball around like it was rugby or something.''

Now they love playing football, Lacy said, and they've even changed the sport to suit their style. They've taken to wearing the flags attached not to their sides, but one in front and one in back. The defensive players wiggle their back sides to shake the flag like a tail and taunt the offense -- a critical part of the game in the village, he said.

Lacy intends to return to Northeast Ohio after finishing his field study, and he hopes eventually to make a documentary on the subject of his dissertation. He might also create exchanges between farmers and students from Mali and the United States .

Whatever happens, though, he plans to return often to the place he calls his second home. ``Now and forever I feel connected to this small village in the middle of southern Mali ,'' he said.

Maybe the people there will always feel connected to the Cleveland Browns, too.

Do you know someone who makes a special effort to be helpful or inspiring to others? Nominate that person as a Good Neighbor by contacting Mary Beth Breckenridge. Call her at 330-996-3756; send e-mail to mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com; fax her at 330-996-3695; or write to her at the Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640 , Akron , OH 44309-0640 . Please include phone numbers for yourself and the nominee.

Mary Beth Breckenridge is a Beacon Journal staff writer.

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