Out of Cincy, into Africa

[EnglishBengal]

[size=3][b]Out of Cincy, into Africa[/b][/size]

By GEOFF HOBSON
March 23, 2007

10:50 p.m.

Chad Johnson’s voice is known for its high-pitched, fun-loving boasting cackle that fits so nicely into post-game sound bites.

But soon his more somber tones will be the soundtrack of a film documenting crushing African poverty for which he’s the narrator.

Johnson, who can still smell the stench of the Nairobi slums, spent 10 days in Kenya stunned as he recorded shoeless children drinking water out of puddles one minute and running around and laughing and kicking a soccer ball the next.

Now that he’s back in the States, he’s vowing to help clothe many of the children squeezed hopelessly among a million people churning for life along 300 acres.

“I can’t even begin to explain it,” he says, still amazed. “We don’t know how lucky we are.”

Johnson has spent his offseason vacation where everyone and no one knows his name. After traveling to London to watch soccer’s Chad, Thierry Henry, play two games for Arsenal, he flew nine more hours to Kenya at the invite of Feed The Children and ended up playing soccer in the mud with barefoot kids.

They know the River Dance in London. In Nairobi, they only know him as the guy who brought a bunch of soccer balls.

And Billboard Chad and NFL Network Chad and Pro Bowl Chad could care less. The most recognizable Bengal was only worried about the lions when he ventured out of the city slums into a village in the bush.

“I look to my right and there’s got to be hundreds of zebras and gazelles and you know the lions have to be right there somewhere,” Johnson said. “And I look to my left and, man, there’s a dude about 50, 60 yards away from all those animals not even looking and just starting a fire with a stick to cook something.

“I mean, it’s just amazing. I told the chief of the village I want to come back and live like them for a week. They need to know a month in advance and they’ll build my hut.”

Back in the slums, it wasn’t only the mud. It was feces and urine and anything else that flowed through the streets of a neighborhood with no plumbing.

“That’s all they know. You should have seen how happy they were when I dropped off all those soccer balls,” Johnson said. “They were running so fast and I was getting stuck in the mud and I was wearing shoes.”

“There’s no bathrooms. There’s no food. There’s no deodorant. There’s no water. Nobody can take a shower. There’s nothing. It’s sad,” Johnson said. “It’s like a (disaster). It’s horrible. If there was anything like that here the government would do something about it in a week.”

There was the smell and the mud, but it was mostly the kids. The kids that had no idea who he was. The kids in a school of about 380 he hopes to help by hooking up with Reebok and sending them shoes, shirts, shorts, socks.

“They’ve got clothes but they’re two or three years old and they wear it every day. None of it fits. The shirts are too big,” he said. “And if they do have shoes, they’re not the right size. They have to cut out the toes.”

Johnson filmed it all and he says he’s got a stack of tapes. Robert Bailey, one of his representatives, plans to get them edited and turned into a film. He may have a sequel sooner than later after talking to the village chief. Johnson was taken with the bush when an 18-year-old man greeted him wearing a lion’s mane on his head.

“I asked him how he got it and, hey, he had to kill a lion,” Johnson says. “I’m telling you, after we’re done working out (in the spring, I’m going back there to live like them. It’s amazing what they can do with nothing.”

There are 44 huts in the village made out of mud and cow dung and they are veritable cottages at 13 by 13 big compared to the 8 by 8 sardine cans in the city.

“They live with the animals. They drink cow milk, they drink blood. The chief’s son speaks English and I told them when I came back there would be media that wanted to see that. They didn’t mind. They said to let them know a month before I come back.”

While Johnson’s interest in Africa is humanitarian, his interest in British soccer borders on obsession. He traveled to watch his favorite player, Henry, a speedy Frenchman who likes to score.

Sound familiar?

Johnson laughed. He said he could still jump leagues and join Henry in London with the Arsenal.

“They said as long as I can run like I do, they’d have a place for me on the soccer field,” Johnson said. “They love their soccer over there. There’s more coverage, more interest there than what we get if you can believe it. The fans really get into it. They stand and cheer the whole game.”

Johnson says he saw Buckingham Palace, but he didn’t go in. For him the royalty is Henry and his teammates and that’s with whom he hung while over the pond.

“They knew me. They like what I do on the field. Everyone over there loved the River Dance,” he said of the Irish jig.

But he saved his best camera work and heart for Kenya, and hopes to show some pictures of the trip when he gets back to Cincinnati in a few days for the start of workouts.

“I tell you,” he said. “I think it would be hard to complain about anything again.”


[url="http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5950"]http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5950[/url]

[Guest Tigris]

That was a pretty good article. Sounds like it changed him a little bit. I guess Chad isn't all about "me" like I thought.

[Rumble In the Jungle]

that was sweet, can't wait to see videos of the whole trip.

[bengalsfan850]

i always knew chad was a nice guy, hope he backs up his statement on giving a bunch of those kids clothes

[Farbeyonddriven]

[quote name='Tigris' post='461770' date='Mar 24 2007, 11:46 AM']That was a pretty good article. Sounds like it changed him a little bit. I guess Chad isn't all about "me" like I thought.[/quote]

Nah! Chad has a huge heart.

-E

[Guest oldschooler]

[quote]“I tell you,” he said. “I think it would be hard to complain about anything again.”[/quote]


Best thing I`ve read so far this offseason.



No but really, Carson should print this quote out, but it on a wrist band,
and show Chad next time he complains during a game.


[img]http://images.nfl.com/photos/img8983701.jpg[/img]

[size=3][b]"Do I have to show you the wrist band again ?" [/b][/size]




Just kidding. Good story about Chad. Hopefully it does make him mature a little more though...

[-GoBengals-]

[quote name='EnglishBengal' post='461723' date='Mar 24 2007, 05:26 AM'][size=3][b]Out of Cincy, into Africa[/b][/size]

By GEOFF HOBSON
March 23, 2007

10:50 p.m.

Chad Johnson’s voice is known for its high-pitched, fun-loving boasting cackle that fits so nicely into post-game sound bites.

But soon his more somber tones will be the soundtrack of a film documenting crushing African poverty for which he’s the narrator.

Johnson, who can still smell the stench of the Nairobi slums, spent 10 days in Kenya stunned as he recorded shoeless children drinking water out of puddles one minute and running around and laughing and kicking a soccer ball the next.

Now that he’s back in the States, he’s vowing to help clothe many of the children squeezed hopelessly among a million people churning for life along 300 acres.

“I can’t even begin to explain it,” he says, still amazed. “We don’t know how lucky we are.”

Johnson has spent his offseason vacation where everyone and no one knows his name. After traveling to London to watch soccer’s Chad, Thierry Henry, play two games for Arsenal, he flew nine more hours to Kenya at the invite of Feed The Children and ended up playing soccer in the mud with barefoot kids.

They know the River Dance in London. In Nairobi, they only know him as the guy who brought a bunch of soccer balls.

And Billboard Chad and NFL Network Chad and Pro Bowl Chad could care less. The most recognizable Bengal was only worried about the lions when he ventured out of the city slums into a village in the bush.

“I look to my right and there’s got to be hundreds of zebras and gazelles and you know the lions have to be right there somewhere,” Johnson said. “And I look to my left and, man, there’s a dude about 50, 60 yards away from all those animals not even looking and just starting a fire with a stick to cook something.

“I mean, it’s just amazing. I told the chief of the village I want to come back and live like them for a week. They need to know a month in advance and they’ll build my hut.”

Back in the slums, it wasn’t only the mud. It was feces and urine and anything else that flowed through the streets of a neighborhood with no plumbing.

“That’s all they know. You should have seen how happy they were when I dropped off all those soccer balls,” Johnson said. “They were running so fast and I was getting stuck in the mud and I was wearing shoes.”

“There’s no bathrooms. There’s no food. There’s no deodorant. There’s no water. Nobody can take a shower. There’s nothing. It’s sad,” Johnson said. “It’s like a (disaster). It’s horrible.[color="#FF0000"][b] If there was anything like that here the government would do something about it in a week.”[/b][/color]

There was the smell and the mud, but it was mostly the kids. The kids that had no idea who he was. The kids in a school of about 380 he hopes to help by hooking up with Reebok and sending them shoes, shirts, shorts, socks.

“They’ve got clothes but they’re two or three years old and they wear it every day. None of it fits. The shirts are too big,” he said. “And if they do have shoes, they’re not the right size. They have to cut out the toes.”

Johnson filmed it all and he says he’s got a stack of tapes. Robert Bailey, one of his representatives, plans to get them edited and turned into a film. He may have a sequel sooner than later after talking to the village chief. Johnson was taken with the bush when an 18-year-old man greeted him wearing a lion’s mane on his head.

“I asked him how he got it and, hey, he had to kill a lion,” Johnson says. “I’m telling you, after we’re done working out (in the spring, I’m going back there to live like them. It’s amazing what they can do with nothing.”

There are 44 huts in the village made out of mud and cow dung and they are veritable cottages at 13 by 13 big compared to the 8 by 8 sardine cans in the city.

“They live with the animals. They drink cow milk, they drink blood. The chief’s son speaks English and I told them when I came back there would be media that wanted to see that. They didn’t mind. They said to let them know a month before I come back.”

While Johnson’s interest in Africa is humanitarian, his interest in British soccer borders on obsession. He traveled to watch his favorite player, Henry, a speedy Frenchman who likes to score.

Sound familiar?

Johnson laughed. He said he could still jump leagues and join Henry in London with the Arsenal.

“They said as long as I can run like I do, they’d have a place for me on the soccer field,” Johnson said. “They love their soccer over there. There’s more coverage, more interest there than what we get if you can believe it. The fans really get into it. They stand and cheer the whole game.”

Johnson says he saw Buckingham Palace, but he didn’t go in. For him the royalty is Henry and his teammates and that’s with whom he hung while over the pond.

“They knew me. They like what I do on the field. Everyone over there loved the River Dance,” he said of the Irish jig.

But he saved his best camera work and heart for Kenya, and hopes to show some pictures of the trip when he gets back to Cincinnati in a few days for the start of workouts.

“I tell you,” he said. “I think it would be hard to complain about anything again.”
[url="http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5950"]http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5950[/url][/quote]


and its a fucking disgrace it would take that long here...

[EnglishBengal]

[quote name='EnglishBengal' post='461723' date='Mar 24 2007, 04:26 AM'][size=3][b]Out of Cincy, into Africa[/b][/size]

By GEOFF HOBSON
March 23, 2007

10:50 p.m.

Chad Johnson’s voice is known for its high-pitched, fun-loving boasting cackle that fits so nicely into post-game sound bites.

But soon his more somber tones will be the soundtrack of a film documenting crushing African poverty for which he’s the narrator.

Johnson, who can still smell the stench of the Nairobi slums, spent 10 days in Kenya stunned as he recorded shoeless children drinking water out of puddles one minute and running around and laughing and kicking a soccer ball the next.

Now that he’s back in the States, he’s vowing to help clothe many of the children squeezed hopelessly among a million people churning for life along 300 acres.

“I can’t even begin to explain it,” he says, still amazed. “We don’t know how lucky we are.”

Johnson has spent his offseason vacation where everyone and no one knows his name. After traveling to London to watch soccer’s Chad, Thierry Henry, play two games for Arsenal, he flew nine more hours to Kenya at the invite of Feed The Children and ended up playing soccer in the mud with barefoot kids.

They know the River Dance in London. In Nairobi, they only know him as the guy who brought a bunch of soccer balls.

And Billboard Chad and NFL Network Chad and Pro Bowl Chad could care less. The most recognizable Bengal was only worried about the lions when he ventured out of the city slums into a village in the bush.

“I look to my right and there’s got to be hundreds of zebras and gazelles and you know the lions have to be right there somewhere,” Johnson said. “And I look to my left and, man, there’s a dude about 50, 60 yards away from all those animals not even looking and just starting a fire with a stick to cook something.

“I mean, it’s just amazing. I told the chief of the village I want to come back and live like them for a week. They need to know a month in advance and they’ll build my hut.”

Back in the slums, it wasn’t only the mud. It was feces and urine and anything else that flowed through the streets of a neighborhood with no plumbing.

“That’s all they know. You should have seen how happy they were when I dropped off all those soccer balls,” Johnson said. “They were running so fast and I was getting stuck in the mud and I was wearing shoes.”

“There’s no bathrooms. There’s no food. There’s no deodorant. There’s no water. Nobody can take a shower. There’s nothing. It’s sad,” Johnson said. “It’s like a (disaster). It’s horrible. If there was anything like that here the government would do something about it in a week.”

There was the smell and the mud, but it was mostly the kids. The kids that had no idea who he was. The kids in a school of about 380 he hopes to help by hooking up with Reebok and sending them shoes, shirts, shorts, socks.

“They’ve got clothes but they’re two or three years old and they wear it every day. None of it fits. The shirts are too big,” he said. “And if they do have shoes, they’re not the right size. They have to cut out the toes.”

Johnson filmed it all and he says he’s got a stack of tapes. Robert Bailey, one of his representatives, plans to get them edited and turned into a film. He may have a sequel sooner than later after talking to the village chief. Johnson was taken with the bush when an 18-year-old man greeted him wearing a lion’s mane on his head.

“I asked him how he got it and, hey, he had to kill a lion,” Johnson says. “I’m telling you, after we’re done working out (in the spring, I’m going back there to live like them. It’s amazing what they can do with nothing.”

There are 44 huts in the village made out of mud and cow dung and they are veritable cottages at 13 by 13 big compared to the 8 by 8 sardine cans in the city.

“They live with the animals. They drink cow milk, they drink blood. The chief’s son speaks English and I told them when I came back there would be media that wanted to see that. They didn’t mind. They said to let them know a month before I come back.”
[b]
While Johnson’s interest in Africa is humanitarian, his interest in British soccer borders on obsession. He traveled to watch his favorite player, Henry, a speedy Frenchman who likes to score.

Sound familiar?

Johnson laughed. He said he could still jump leagues and join Henry in London with the Arsenal.

“They said as long as I can run like I do, they’d have a place for me on the soccer field,” Johnson said. “They love their soccer over there. There’s more coverage, more interest there than what we get if you can believe it. The fans really get into it. They stand and cheer the whole game.”

Johnson says he saw Buckingham Palace, but he didn’t go in. For him the royalty is Henry and his teammates and that’s with whom he hung while over the pond.

“They knew me. They like what I do on the field. Everyone over there loved the River Dance,” he said of the Irish jig.[/b]

But he saved his best camera work and heart for Kenya, and hopes to show some pictures of the trip when he gets back to Cincinnati in a few days for the start of workouts.

“I tell you,” he said. “I think it would be hard to complain about anything again.”
[url="http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5950"]http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5950[/url][/quote]
I can just imagine Chad Johnson playing soccer in the English Premiership.....no not really! He's not that good!

Considering he supports Liverpool, I could never imagine him in an Arsenal strip. Though the fact that he's best friends with Thierry Henry is pretty cool. Most of my family support Arsenal, wonder of they've heard of Chad.

[|Bengal Migration|]

[quote name='GoBengals' post='461977' date='Mar 25 2007, 04:00 AM']and its a fucking disgrace it would take that long here...[/quote]
I was going to make this post, myself, but was afraid to start a J&D thread. But since you said it first, I'll simply add the old...

x2

[Cricket]

[quote]...Back in the slums, it wasn’t only the mud. It was feces and urine and anything else that flowed through the streets of a neighborhood with no plumbing...

[Chad:] "I told the chief of the village I want to come back and live like them for a week."[/quote]


Is anyone else concerned that Chad might pick up a nasty disease due to unsanitary conditions?

[Jamie_B]

[quote name='Cricket' post='462137' date='Mar 25 2007, 01:24 PM']Is anyone else concerned that Chad might pick up a nasty disease due to unsanitary conditions? [/quote]



No. This is Africa, not Cleveland.

[Guest Tigris]

[quote name='Jamie_B' post='462154' date='Mar 25 2007, 01:43 PM']No. This is Africa, not Cleveland.[/quote]

[Go Tory Go!]

[quote name='EnglishBengal' post='462001' date='Mar 25 2007, 06:36 AM']I can just imagine Chad Johnson playing soccer in the English Premiership.....no not really! He's not that good!

Considering he supports Liverpool, I could never imagine him in an Arsenal strip. Though the fact that he's best friends with Thierry Henry is pretty cool. Most of my family support Arsenal, wonder of they've heard of Chad.[/quote]

I'd love to see Henry at Paul Brown Stadium someday, though the short 17 week schedule will never allow it...

[Scoutforlife591]

I would think that at some point the training staff caught wind of his trip and advised him as to the proper vaccines.

I wouldn't worry though, it's Chad, he's taking a needle every halftime.

[Guest BlackJesus]

[b]As someone who has been to some of the crowded slums of Kenya ... and lived in Tanzania (several months of that in mud huts like the ones he describes) ...

I am glad to see that Chad had a chance to go through this experience ...


and I think it will make him more mature and hopefully focused in the long run. [/b]

[Guest BlackJesus]

[size=2][color="#556B2F"][b]I remember living in this particular hut back in 2004 ... for about 4 weeks along with chickens and a small goat who lived in there with me. It is definitely a humbling experience. [/b][/color][/size]



[center][img]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j318/Tredcrow/Illusion/thoreauhut2.jpg[/img]
[size=1][i](Myself pictured with my Tanzanian baba & mama - by the time I left I looked like Tom Hanks in Castaway.) [/i][/size][/center]

[Guest ONYX]

[quote name='BlackJesus' post='462207' date='Mar 25 2007, 03:40 PM'][size=2][color="#556B2F"][b]I remember living in this particular hut back in 2004 ... for about 4 weeks along with chickens and a small goat who lived in there with me. It is definitely a humbling experience. [/b][/color][/size]
[center][img]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j318/Tredcrow/Illusion/thoreauhut2.jpg[/img]
[size=1][i](Myself pictured with my Tanzanian baba & mama - by the time I left I looked like Tom Hanks in Castaway.) [/i][/size][/center][/quote]

[color="#FF0000"][b]Is that a knife in your hand BJ? No wonder they look nervous.[/b][/color]

[Guest ONYX]

[center][img]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j318/Tredcrow/Illusion/thoreauhut2.jpg[/img]


[color="#0000FF"][b]Tanzanian Man: "Honey, if he asks us to get in his boat, run like hell." [/b][/color]





[color="#FF0000"][b]Seriously though BJ, pretty cool pic man. [/b][/color]


[/center]

[Scoutforlife591]

From the looks of you BJ, you should sign off every post like Mully, but instead you a quote from one of Bill and Ted's adventures.

I'm sure it's a hell hole in terms of America, but it looks pretty lush.

[Guest BengalBacker]

[quote name='Scoutforlife591' post='462239' date='Mar 25 2007, 05:27 PM']From the looks of you BJ, you should sign off every post like Mully, but instead you a quote from one of Bill and Ted's adventures.

I'm sure it's a hell hole in terms of America, but it looks pretty lush.[/quote]


That's an old pic of BJ. This one's more recent.

[img]http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1563/bjsuicide4ag.jpg[/img]

[|Bunghole|]

[quote name='BengalBacker' post='462277' date='Mar 25 2007, 04:55 PM']That's an old pic of BJ. This one's more recent.

[img]http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1563/bjsuicide4ag.jpg[/img][/quote]
I knew Jim Morrison wasn't dead!

[Rumble In the Jungle]

[quote name='BengalBacker' post='462277' date='Mar 25 2007, 06:55 PM']That's an old pic of BJ. This one's more recent.

[img]http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1563/bjsuicide4ag.jpg[/img][/quote]

that'll always be classic

[Guest oldschooler]

[quote name='BlackJesus' post='462207' date='Mar 25 2007, 02:40 PM'][size=2][color="#556B2F"][b]I remember living in this particular hut back in 2004 ... for about 4 weeks along with chickens and a small goat who lived in there with me. It is definitely a humbling experience. [/b][/color][/size]
[center][img]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j318/Tredcrow/Illusion/thoreauhut2.jpg[/img]
[size=1][i](Myself pictured with my Tanzanian baba & mama - by the time I left I looked like Tom Hanks in Castaway.) [/i][/size][/center][/quote]


How in the hell did you keep your clothes so clean ? Ecspecially those WHITE SHOES ?!!!


[quote name='BengalBacker' post='462277' date='Mar 25 2007, 05:55 PM']That's an old pic of BJ. This one's more recent.

[img]http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1563/bjsuicide4ag.jpg[/img][/quote]


That pic is always good for a laugh

[Guest BlackJesus]

[quote name='oldschooler' post='462359' date='Mar 25 2007, 09:59 PM']How in the hell did you keep your clothes so clean ? Ecspecially those WHITE SHOES ?!!! [/quote]

[b]My clothes stayed fairly clean ... I had a friend there in the village that I paid to wash my clothes with the river/well water and he would then sun dry them and bring them back to me. As for my shoes ... the day I took this picture was like the 2nd day I wore these shoes. I arrived with several pairs of shoes ... and a few days before this I had to chuck the pair I had been wearing because I started to get small worms that were living inbetween my toes .. and my shoes had started to heavily mold and smell. Thus these shoes are almost brand new at this time (I bought them before going to Africa .. and this is the 2nd day wearing them). Also I normally wore Sandals ... but during this time I had started wearing shoes more often because of the worms in feet thing. [/b]

[Rumble In the Jungle]

[quote name='BlackJesus' post='462379' date='Mar 25 2007, 11:34 PM'][b] I started to get small worms that were living inbetween my toes .. but during this time I had started wearing shoes more often because of the worms in feet thing. [/b][/quote]


[img]http://forum.go-bengals.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/31.gif[/img] [img]http://forum.go-bengals.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/31.gif[/img] [img]http://forum.go-bengals.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/31.gif[/img] [img]http://forum.go-bengals.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/31.gif[/img] [img]http://forum.go-bengals.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/31.gif[/img] [img]http://forum.go-bengals.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/31.gif[/img]