Tom Archdeacon: ‘You could just see the joy’

Belmont soccer players will be well dressed as guests at Dayton Literary Peace Prize event

As the store’s soft piano music played in the background and Von Maur sales associate Ryan Belcher ran a tape measure over the shoulders and down the arms of Herbert Chongwain before fitting him with one stylish jacket after another to the approving nods of the accompanying women and teammates, Julie Raiff was struck by a comparison to the past.

“I remember Herbert once said something about how, when he first came to America, the clothes he wore made him feel different,” the Belmont High School soccer coach said. “Well, these clothes will certainly make him and his teammates different now, too.”

When Chongwain came to the United States from Cameroon as a middle school student five years ago, he said he initially struggled:

“It was hard for me to fit in. My accent was thicker then and people used to laugh at me and mock me for the way I talked and the way I dressed. We had just gotten here and we had no money. I used to wear old-fashioned stuff and out-of-style stuff.

“Sometimes people would say, ‘You don’t belong here. Go back to your country. We don’t want you here.’

“But I wasn’t going to let words hurt me. I had seen a movie once where Denzel Washington was like a slave and he told the other slaves, ‘Don’t let the slave thinking get into your mind or your heart.’ ”

Chongwain persevered as well, and now, a senior at Belmont, he is the captain of the soccer team, a track athlete and on this evening he was the center of attention in the men’s clothing department at the upscale Von Maur department store at the Greene.

“He and the rest of the guys just look so stinking sharp,” Raiff grinned. “It’s neat to see them feel so very proud and very handsome.”

The wrappings on the outside — be they the threads of Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren or Michael Kors, all courtesy of donors associated with the Dayton Literary Peace Prize (DLPP) — finally matched the beauty of the guys they covered.

And the total look will be showcased Sunday at the DLPP’s sold-out, $5,000-a-table, black-tie awards celebration at the Schuster Center.

This is more evidence that the Belmont soccer team is the most unique prep sports team in the Miami Valley. It's made up of athletes from 18 nations and four continents. Some are Muslim, some are Christian, 21 are boys and two are girls.

>>> ARCHDEACON: Belmont soccer team boasts international flavor

Many of the Bison players were displaced from their homelands.

The family of junior defender Bibebibyo Seko fled war in its native Congo, went to Tanzania and finally ended up in a refugee camp in Mozambique where Bibe was born and lived several years.

Ramadhan Ndayisaba, a former Belmont player and now the team’s young assistant coach, fled ethnic strife in his native Burundi. His grandparents stayed behind and were killed. He ended up living in refugee camps, especially in Tanzania, for most of the first 15 years of his life.

Other players endured violence, as well.

Junior Nyaz Ibrahim grew up in Baghdad, Iraq. His older brother, Azad, served as a translator for American troops until he and five U.S. soldiers with whom he was on patrol near Fallujah were killed when their Humvee hit an IED in 2007.

When ISIS found out about the link, it threatened the family and finally kidnapped Nyaz’s dad, pulling him right out of the car. The rest of the Ibrahims fled to Turkey. Nyaz’s dad eventually escaped and the family made its way to America.

They came to Dayton, thanks in part to the Catholic Social Services Resettlement Program, which helps the parents find jobs here, while the high school students often end up at Belmont, which has an extensive English as a Second Language program.

While the Bison soccer program is poorly-funded, it nonetheless finished 8-1-1 under Raiff’s guidance this season.

And as the community has learned about the team through a pair of recent Dayton Daily News columns, many people have begun to embrace the resilient players. No one has done it more than the Centerville High soccer team that handed the Bison their first loss and knocked them out of the postseason tournament.B

ARCHDEACON: Belmont soccer team inspires community

“We want our kids to understand there is more to life than just winning a soccer game,” Centerville athletic director Rob Dement said.

Before the Belmont game Centerville players collected 80 pair of slightly-used or new shoes for their rivals. After the Elks won 4-1, they hosted the Bison to a pizza gathering and then an impromptu dance fest in the locker room.

A friendship was born that night, and at each of the Elks’ next three tournament games, there was Raiff and all her players sitting in the Centerville student section, cheering on their new pals.

Since then, with the help of Centerville coach Jeff Monbeck, some Belmont players have gotten invites to join the Ohio Galaxies club teams. In fact, this weekend three players joined one squad for a tournament in North Carolina.

That friendship between two disparate programs — one from a suburb of means, one made up almost exclusively of immigrants and refugees — caught the interest of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation.

Each year it presents literary awards “recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace” and a lifetime achievement award.

As part of the celebration, the late Hans Tschudin and his wife Sherry would buy one table for area students and, when needed, get them clothes, both for the event and so they could be worn later.

This past summer Hans died and the Foundation began the Tschudin Challenge, in hopes another donor would provide a table for students.

Steve and Molly Cobb stepped up financially and after that there was a discussion over which area students — high school to college — might be invited.

That’s when DLPP board member Constance (Connie) Gardner Flotron recalled the story of the Belmont soccer team and their new friendship with the Centerville players.

“They fit perfectly everything we stand for,” said Sharon Rab, the DLPP founder and co-chair. “They represent everything we want to accomplish:

“People who come together in the spirit of community. People who overcome language barriers or possible innate prejudice. People who looked beyond everything and got to know each other as people.”

Susan Strong, a DLPP board member and the director of enrollment at the Miami Valley School, agreed:

“For them to participate in the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, they know first-hand the power of this mission.

“They all walk the talk and because of it, we walk away knowing more.”

Mutual trust, love

When Rab called Raiff with the invite, saying both Belmont and Centerville would get five seats at the table, she told her not to worry about her players having clothing for the event.

She had had four local donors — Susan Strong, marketing consultant Ann McDonough, retired teacher Helen Prichard, and gastroenterologist Dr. Urmee Siraj — who agreed to take the three players representing the Belmont team and Ndayisaba on a shopping trip to Von Maur the other evening.

The players first assembled at the school and had no idea what they were getting into.

One thing Seko did know: “I don’t have any fancy clothes at home.”

Some of the donors were a bit nervous about the initial meeting with the students, as well.

McDonough drove to Belmont with her stepdaughter Meghan, a soccer player and track athlete at Miami Valley School who will be taking a school immersion trip to Ghana in January.

McDonough’s older daughter, Rebecca, recently started a two-year stint working in a remote village in Ethiopia, where she’s helping people with agricultural, health care and education needs.

“Driving over Meghan and I were saying, ‘Boy, I hope this isn’t awkward for anybody,’ ” McDonough said. “But from the moment we got there, the kids embraced us and told us their stories and all I could think of was that quote from Maya Angelou:

“’We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.’”

VIDEO: Meet the Belmont High School soccer team

Yet when the group walked into Von Maur, at least one player was taken aback.

“Herbert was having a little sticker shock,” Raiff said with a smile. “He pulled me aside and said, ‘Coach, this is so expensive.’

“And I told him, ‘Herbert, they brought you here. They know what it is. They want to do this for you so you feel comfortable Sunday night and have a good time.

“Now it’s your job to receive it graciously and remember this, so when you move forward one day and have an opportunity to do it for somebody else, you’ll know how good it feels and you will do it for them.'”

Strong said she was surprised by the Belmont players: “They were more eloquent and at ease and mature than I thought they’d be. Then again, the journeys they have been on probably matured them in a way that we cannot understand.”

As the fitting session went on, the players — with the help of ever-attentive Von Maur associates like Belcher and Drew Phillippi — began helping each other chose an ensemble.

Overseeing much of it was Raiff, who the players say is like “a second mother” to them.

She does more than just coach the team. She drives many of the players home after practices and games. She buys them meals and equipment and counsels them on matters of education and life.

The mutual trust and love is evident.

Prichard — who taught 41 years at Covington, Fairmont and Tippecanoe — saw it:

“I believe there are angels on this earth. And Julie is a guardian angel to those boys.”

‘A lot of goodness’

After the clothes were picked out and then fitted by a seamstress, they went to dinner at the Pasha Grill next door. That’s where the group especially bonded.

Ibrahim was especially familiar with the food and made suggestions for everybody.

Chongwain sat next to Meghan and, drawing on both the African connection and the fact they each run track, they forged a friendship.

“What you see is just a lot of goodness considering all they’ve been through,” said McDonough, her voice beginning to break. “You’d expect them to be different.

“As much as we can be inclusive and respect each other regardless of race, circumstance or religion, the better we’ll all be.”

Siraj — who was born and raised in Bangladesh and now lives here with her family — felt the same:

“All of a sudden people around the world are seeing America with a whole different viewpoint — one that says certain people don’t belong. But that’s not what America really is.

“For our society to really succeed and be safe, everyone needs to feel they belong. And this is a very unique way of doing that. These boys know ‘Yes, we belong.’ ”

As Rab put it: “You can only overcome all this hate with love and tolerance.”

While the DLPP group — which Rab said is backed equally by people of both major political parties — is trying to do that, so are other area groups and individuals when it comes to the Belmont soccer team.

RELATED: View photos of Belmont soccer team

Dement said he’s heard from other area high schools who would like to join the Centerville effort. Raiff has received a few donations and next year hopes to set up a college showcase for her players and others from the Dayton Public Schools.

As she watched her smiling players get fitted with their new clothes, she smiled:

“They’re such an incredibly good group of kids. They’re so gracious. They appreciate their opportunities here. And I don’t just mean today…I mean in America, period.”

And with that her voice faded and the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Her point was evident in everybody from Seko, who speaks four languages and just got accepted into the National Honor Society, to Ndayisaba, who became an American citizen when he graduated, has studied criminal justice at Sinclair, is working a job at the court house and hopes to become a Dayton police officer.

“My mom goes to school to learn English at a church in downtown Dayton,” Ibrahim said. “There are students from a lot of different countries there and she said when they read the newspaper article about us in class, she felt really proud of the whole team.”

The evening with the guys from Belmont especially moved Prichard:

“It was such an uplifting thing for my heart. I know we did a lot for them, but I believe it was more for me. I think everybody felt the same. They gave us more than we gave them.”

That could be, but it sure didn’t appear that way when the Belmont guys thanked and hugged everyone as they said goodbye.

As she headed to her car in the darkness, Siraj happened to catch a final glimpse of them on their way to their coach’s car. Each carried a Von Maur bag containing their shoes, socks, belt and tie.

“They were jumping and skipping along the sidewalk, just goofing off and laughing,” she said. “You could just see the joy.”

And Strong wishes others could see it and hear it, too:

“I’d like to see them share their stories more — in schools, whatever. I don’t know what their mission is though. I’m sure they just want to be regular teenage boys. And they are. They’re regular American teenage boys.”

… Only better dressed.

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