田思怡譯
Babacar Ndiaye, 12, doesn't know Babe Ruth from Bryce Harper. The boy's favorite baseball player is Ryoma Ogawa, who teaches Senegalese children to catch, throw, field and hit.
Baseball is called America's pastime, but Japan has been cultivating the sport in soccer-crazed Africa for years. Ogawa, 24, is the latest in a long line of Japanese baseball missionaries.
12歲的巴巴卡爾．恩迪亞耶不知道誰是貝比．魯斯，誰是布萊斯．哈波。這個男孩最喜歡的棒球選手是小川龍馬，他教塞內加爾的孩童接球、投球，守內外野和打擊。
棒球被稱為美國的國球，但多年來日本一直在瘋足球的非洲推展這種運動。24歲的小川是一長串日本棒球傳教士中最新的一位。
They have helped create leagues in Burkina Faso and Tanzania, and the Japanese government paid for new fields in Ghana and Uganda. African coaches and top players visit Japan for training. A few Africans have earned spots on teams in Japan's independent leagues.
Volunteers are sent around the world by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, which runs a program similar to the Peace Corps. They say baseball, which is one of Japan's most-loved sports, is rewarding beyond the field.
他們協助在布吉納法索和坦尚尼亞創立棒球聯盟，日本政府並且出錢在迦納和烏干達建新球場。非洲的教練和頂尖選手到日本受訓。幾位非洲選手已在日本獨立聯盟的球隊獲得一個位置。
工作性質類似美國和平工作團的日本國際協力機構（JICA），派志工到世界各地。他們說，棒球的回饋不只在球場內。棒球是日本人最喜愛的運動之一。
"Children can learn about team spirit and rules in sports, because there are rules in society," said Megumi Chiba, a JICA volunteer coordinator in Dakar. "We can contribute also for their health. Especially in Dakar, schools don't have sports grounds, so they don't have a chance to practice sports at school."
Ogawa's weeknight practices are held on a sandlot next to a military base in Dakar's Ouakam neighborhood. Volunteers and local baseball associations are often on their own because there is little government support.
JICA在達卡（塞內加爾首都）的志工協調人千葉美惠說：「孩子可以學習團隊精神和運動規則，因為社會上也有規範。同時我們對他們的健康也有些貢獻。特別是在達卡，因為學校沒有運動場，他們沒有機會在學校練習運動。」
小川平日晚上在達卡奧阿卡姆區軍事基地旁的兒童遊樂沙地練球。志工和當地的棒球協會通常得自力更生，因為幾乎得不到政府的支持。
There is no grass and no pitcher's mound. Players wear jeans, sweatpants or shorts. A big tree sits in left center field, and aircraft engines hum beyond the concrete wall in deep center. The soccer game behind home plate sometimes spills over.
"I've had to teach the basics very slowly," said Ogawa, a former high school outfielder. "They're very energetic, but it's all new for them."
那裡沒有草地，也沒有投手丘。選手穿著牛仔褲、運動褲或短褲。左中外野有一顆大樹，而在最深的中外野水泥牆外，飛機引擎嗡嗡作響。本壘板後方的足球賽有時越界進到了棒球場。
曾在高中球隊擔任外野手的小川說：「我必須很慢地教一些基本的東西，他們很有活力，但這對他們來說是全新的東西。」
During one informal game, a tall boy in yellow rounded third base, pushed aside his slower teammate, and scored before him, an act that would be normal for taxis on Dakar's hectic roads, but is against the rules in baseball.
Along with smiles, there is discipline. The boys must retrieve their errant throws. Before each practice, they remove rocks and trash from the field.
"If you don't pick up, you can't play," said Mamadou Bassirou, 13.
在一場非正式比賽中，一個穿黃衣服的高個子男孩繞過三壘，把前面一個跑得比他慢的隊友推開，搶在隊友之前得分，這種行為對達卡忙亂馬路上的計程車而言很常見，但違反棒球規則。
面帶微笑，也要求紀律。這些男孩必須撿回他們暴傳的球。每次練習前，他們得把場內的石頭和垃圾清除。
13歲的馬馬多．巴西魯說：「不撿，就不准打球。」
At times, it's a hot mess of linguistic and cultural misunderstandings. Ogawa speaks some French, but the players prefer Wolof, a local language. He calls out "strike one," "strike two," in accented English, and the boys mimic him. They ask him if Japan is the same as China, and if everyone knows karate.
有時，語言和文化上的誤解搞得一團亂。小川會說一點法語，但選手喜歡說當地的沃洛夫語。他用帶有口音的英語喊出「一個好球」、「兩個好球」，男孩們模仿他。他們問他日本是不是和中國一樣，是不是人人都會空手道。
