Concordia Goalkeeper Collecting Saves in Tanzania
Note: Time yourself reading this article. Time will come up again at the end.
PORTLAND, Ore.—“Concordia is a Christian university preparing leaders for the transformation of society.”
Any Concordia student or faculty member knows those words as the university's mission statement, but those words took new meaning this summer for senior
Tori Talbutt (Boise, Idaho/Capital H.S.), a three-year starter for the No. 2-ranked Cavaliers women's soccer team.
Talbutt served as the university's charter student fellow with the
Lutheran Malaria Initiative (LMI) this summer.
That position took Talbutt on a 10-day educational trip to Tanzania to help LMI in its goal to eradicate Malaria by 2015.
The Beginning
As late as March, the summer of 2012 looked like it would pretty normal for Talbutt.
After all, she didn't know anything about LMI to that point in the year. Little did she know that Dr. Charles Kunert, Dean of the College of Theology, Arts and Sciences, was nominating her to go half way around the world with LMI at that very moment.
Kunert had just heard about the project himself, but knew Talbutt was a good fit for the program sponsored by
Lutheran World Relief.
“Tori was a natural for this position, as far as I was concerned,” said Dr. Kunert. “I had just had Tori in my evolution class and knew her academic acumen and the passion she brought to topics of justice and the environment.”
With that, Talbutt was off to Tanzania with several other students from LCMS universities.
The Trip
Talbutt's trip to Tanzania took her to several local parishes within the country where her and her fellow student representatives watched presentations on the different issues surrounding Malaria in each community.
“It varied based on where we were, but typically we'd come in and the Sunday School kids would come up and sing a song about all the symptoms of Malaria like 'my head is aching' or 'I'm throwing up,'” said Talbutt.
“Other times, the different churches would have their youth group perform a skit about some of the different myths surrounding Malaria. For instance, there are myths surrounding the use of bed nets to fight Malaria. Some people think the bed nets cause impotence or give people blood lesions on their face.”
True to her soccer roots though, Talbutt's favorite part of the trip was a Malaria awareness soccer game she got to play in at the Kisiwani parish.
“The entire community came out to watch the game and lined the sidelines all the way around the field,” said Talbutt. “What was fun too, was that—since it was all for Malaria awareness—the fans would wave signs about sleeping under a bed net during the game. Players would even bring out a bed net when they scored and pretend like they were hiding under it as part of their goal celebration.”
Talbutt called the soccer game “empowering” for her as it connected her to the people affected by Malaria on a more personal level.
“We didn't speak the same language so we couldn't communicate, but we could communicate through soccer,” said Talbutt. “We could laugh and joke and high-five because the game gave us this sense of camaraderie.
“It made me realize that soccer is such a unifying theme. It's popular everywhere and the feeling you get from playing it crosses all boundaries even when we were playing on a field of straight dirt and briar patches, like we were in Tanzania.”
The Effect
With that unifying theme of soccer and the fight against Malaria in mind, Talbutt now faces the tougher challenge of taking what she learned in Tanzania back to her classmates at Concordia.
The trip to Tanzania, after all, was meant entirely so Talbutt could spread what she had learned to people back home.
Talbutt also will be responsible for raising money for LMI and has set a goal of raising $25,000 this year. Half of that money has to come from organized fundraisers, while the other half has to come from major donors. In addition, every dollar that Talbutt raises this year will be matched by a major donor from Lutheran World Relief.
Appropriately, Talbutt will begin her fundraising efforts with an event at the Concordia women's soccer match against No. 18 Concordia-Irvine tomorrow, Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m. The fundraiser is fitting since a student from Concordia-Irvine worked alongside Talbutt in Tanzania over the summer.
As part of the fundraiser, students from the nearby Faubion School will receive free admission to the match with a suggested donation of $5. A table will also be set up at the entrance with information about LMI and Talbutt will make a presentation on the field before the start of the match.
All the events on Friday will make the match a bit abnormal for the Cavs, but head women's soccer coach
Grant Landy was only to happy to oblige.
“I am always excited when our players step out of their comfort zone and become involved in their local, national or global community,” said Landy. “Tori's outreach with this initiative tells me that she gets the bigger picture and ultimately, we want our graduates going out into the world and making a difference.”
Talbutt hopes for a good showing at the fundraiser on Friday, but knows her involvement with LMI will be ongoing.
“It's going to be a year-long thing,” said Talbutt. “I need to organize more fundraisers and be a resource for others to organize their own fundraisers. I've been talking to congregations every Sunday since I got back. I've been to four so far, just presenting on Malaria, collecting a good will offering and telling people how to get involved.”
In addition, the Center for Applied Lutheran Leadership will bring John Nunes, President of LWR, to the Concordia campus for a talk on Friday, Oct. 26. Nunes will repeat his talk on the following Saturday morning with both events free to the public.
The Nunes event will dovetail nicely with Talbutt's fundraising efforts and will hopefully give her a head start towards her $25,000 goal.
Regardless of when she reaches that goal though, Talbutt's experiences with LMI have helped her become the leader the Concordia mission statement wanted her to be and the leader Dr. Kunert, Coach Landy and several other people in her life knew her to be.
Okay, what's your time? Every 60 seconds a child dies of Malaria. The disease is completely treatable, but still needs hard work from lots of people to completely eradicate it. Learn how to get involved with the Lutheran Malaria Initiative by clicking here, or donate money towards Tori Talbutt (Boise, Idaho/Capital H.S.)'s goal of raising $25,000 this year by clicking here.