Life is all about perspective. Our perceptions of what is good, bad, beautiful, ugly or anything in between depend on the individual and what his or her collective experiences have been. Paul Willis and Matt Glode, the executive director and director of youth programs for Seacoast United Soccer Club in Hampton, recently got a crash course in perspective.

The pair embarked on a goodwill trip to Kenya, spending three days conducting a workshop for Kenyan leaders of youth sports organizations, and then spent four days assisting with a four-day clinic for as many as 60 girls a day.

Living here in the Seacoast of New Hampshire, Willis and Glode both knew how fortunate they were prior to the trip. Once there, and upon their return, their appreciation for where they live and what they have reached a whole new level.

Gaining perspective

It isn’t as though Willis and Glode just fell off the turnip truck, mind you. Willis, 43 years old and a native of England, moved to the United States in 1984. He has had a successful soccer and business career that has taken him around the globe. And Glode, 25, who grew up in Barrington and played soccer at the University of New Hampshire, works with refugees each week at the Beech Street School in Manchester as part of the soccer club’s community outreach program.

But neither man had ever been to Kenya. They’d never seen the destitute streets of Nairobi.

“Imagine the worst slums you’ve ever seen and there’s a sign on a building that says ‘HOTEL,‘“‰" Willis said.

“You hear all the stories about a country overridden by poverty, but you can’t really grasp it until you’ve seen it,” Glode added.

You can’t really grasp it until you’ve met someone like Eve.

Eve, 16, is the mother of a 1-year-old child, which is commonplace in Kenya. Eve loves soccer so much she actually plays it, which isn’t commonplace in Kenya. Girls playing sports is, by and large, frowned upon. And that’s putting it mildly.

Eve would sneak away from her home to locations where her parents couldn’t find her so she could play. If her father found out, he would beat her. The beatings didn’t stop her, though.

One day, her father was walking home from work and he heard a bunch of boys in a field calling Eve’s name. He stopped to find out what was going on and couldn’t believe his eyes. The boys were calling to her because they wanted the ball — she was the best player on the field.

From then on, the beatings stopped. The father understood. He realized this was good for his daughter and that soccer could, just maybe, help her find a better life.

“That’s their culture,” Willis said. “But by doing something like this, we can create a difference.”

Creating a difference

Doing so, Glode explained, comes by way of helping to teach Kenyan community leaders methods of incorporating leadership skills, communications and so much more into soccer clinics. Not so much to make the girls better players, but to help them in life. Because make no mistake, soccer in Kenya isn’t seen as a passport to the good life. Far from it.

“Most program leaders have one soccer ball for the entire program,” Glode said. “There is no money.”

Many families live on the equivalent of less than 50 cents a week. Unfathomable for most Americans, to say the least.

Oh, and that one soccer ball? The Kenyan children are lucky if it’s an actual leather soccer ball. More often than not, it’s a homemade ball built from old newspapers and string. Eve made one for Glode, which he plans to use in his youth programs here in the Seaocast.

Willis, a Stratham resident, brought one home to his children along with some souvenirs he purchased from Kenya. But that homemade soccer ball is the gift they enjoy the most.

For Willis and Glode, those tattered soccer balls are constant reminders of the connection they made with their Kenyan counterparts. They are thankful to have taken the trip, which was made possible by a program sponsored by CARE International, Nike and the Mathare Youth Sports Association. Locally, Seacoast United received a grant from Liberty Mutual that made Glode’s participation possible.

The Kenyans, meanwhile, many of whom traveled as much as 10 hours to participate in the clinics, were there as part of the Sport for Social Change Network, which is a five-nation initiative sponsored by CARE International. Its goal is to use sports as a vehicle to bring social change as well as HIV and AIDS education.

Education through soccer

Willis and Glode witnessed this concept firsthand. They were shocked while watching a warm-up they are familiar with and use here in New Hampshire, only to realize it was being used as a method of teaching the girls how to stop the spread of HIV.

“Matt and I looked at each other like, ‘Oh my God,‘“‰" Willis said.

There were a lot of “Oh my God” moments on the trip, and Willis and Glode both said they are changed for the better.

In fact, Seacoast United continues to be in contact with the Kenyan community leaders and coaches they met, and hope to host a group of Kenyan players perhaps next summer. Considering the girls in Kenya are at risk just for playing, which they do in bare feet, visiting the Seacoast will be like a dream.

“Having these girls involved with a program like this is really a big deal,” Willis said. Most of us grow up reasonably content, if not happy, regardless of what part of the country we’re from because we don’t know any different. These girls in Kenya, according to Willis and Glode, are the same way, only they have nothing. They simply don’t have the same opportunities that most people in the U.S. have.

Yet Glode and Willis marveled at their enthusiasm.

Happy to be alive

As is the norm in Kenya, the players would often dance and sing in the mornings prior to beginning soccer activities. Regardless of their skill levels, they took to soccer quite well despite playing barefoot on dirt fields.

“The natural athleticism and enthusiasm was unbelievable,” Willis said.

That is a small part of what Willis and Glode brought back with them. At one point in the workshop, Willis admitted to the 30-plus community leaders that he had ulterior motives for being there. “I told them I want to teach our kids to appreciate what they have, and also that element to give back,” he said.

And yes, Willis is hoping Seacoast United can also go back to Kenya within a couple of years. “I feel like we really made a difference,” Willis said. “I know it sounds corny, but it really was a win-win situation for everybody.”

Actually, it doesn’t sound corny at all. It sounds like invaluable perspective.