Games and opening happiness 

While driving with our host in Togo we heard on the radio: ‘the three Coke Happiness Ambassadors are due to arrive and they will be here in the studio! Tune in to hear their stories and chat with them in person!’ Wow! Now that was unexpected, hearing about us on the radio was the coolest thing. We ended up being on two different radio stations for an hour apiece. People were calling in and telling us about their happiness. It was an amazing experience actually hosting a call in on the radio. In the evening we went to a street party organized by Coke. They had music playing and people were dancing to all the different African versions of ‘Waiving Flag’. I’m telling you these people know how to dance! They have natural rhythm flowing in their blood! Even the kids were shaking their legs to the music in a way I could not replicate. The people here love to hang out with their friends and play games. They are not afraid of making fools of themselves; it’s all part of the game. Going up on stage and ‘wooing’ a Coke bottle as a competition is just good fun for them. There is no embarrassment, only fun. It’s so refreshing and liberating to be a part of it.
I had a great moment with some street kids. They were hanging out outside the tent eyeing my Coke. I gestured to them that they could have it but an official shooed them away when they tried to come in. I got up and walked out towards them and held out my Coke bottle. They looked at me with big grateful eyes and took it as if I were offering gold. After about thirty seconds of sharing sips between them they had managed to empty it till the last drop. Then amazingly one of the kids came up to me and handed me the empty bottle and in the sweetest voice said ‘merci’ (‘thank you’). They all followed suit and then ran off looking back at me with happy eyes. How a bottle of Coke could bring such simple pure happiness and a wonderful exchange I will never forget.