Navy Lt. Cmdr. Wendy M. Halsey's volunteer work in Africa gives the tag of "World's Best Soccer Mom" new meaning.

During a recent deployment to the Horn of Africa in Djibouti, Halsey put together an impromptu program through which hundreds of soccer balls were distributed to orphans and other children in poverty-ravaged regions of Africa: Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and refugee camps on the Somali border.

A Navy Civil Engineer Corps officer with the Construction Battalion (Seabees) and married mother of three young children, Halsey last July left her family in Honolulu for a six-month deployment to the Horn of Africa in Djibouti. Her mission focused on humanitarian assistance, such as construction of school buildings, wells and medical facilities.

Working seven days a week — with Friday and Sunday mornings off — she managed to squeeze in time for volunteer work with a medical civic action project that serves rural areas in Africa. One day, while handing out clothes and shoes provided by the Army's civil affairs team for the project, Halsey happened upon a couple of soccer balls.

"We were giving out vitamins and doing basic medical care, and I handed out two soccer balls to the kids who were with their parents," Halsey said. "It generated the most enthusiasm."

That prompted Halsey, a former Stanford University soccer player, to look for more soccer balls. The search started with a conversation Halsey had with her mother in which she expressed her intent to help children at two local orphanages near Camp LeMonier, the American camp in Djibouti.

"I told her they already had enough clothes and toys, so to please send some more soccer balls," Halsey said. "I thought I'd get a few — I had no idea I would end up with over 300 balls."

Halsey's mother, a high school teacher in St. Mary's, Ga., got the school's National Honor Society involved, which led to a donation of 100 balls. The school's football coach had his team donate 20 more.

E-mails and word-of-mouth led to other donations. A donation of 30 soccer balls came from a women's group in San Diego made up of retired military members and spouses. One group member gave $100 in memory of a nephew, an avid soccer player who was among the first soldiers killed in the war in Iraq.

Halsey's in-laws pitched in with 100 more balls. A few months before Halsey's deployment wrapped up, a Hawai'i Civil Engineer Corps spouses group made a donation of flowered balls, which were a big hit among young girls receiving them.

At Camp LeMonier, Halsey became known as the go-to person for soccer balls. Some military personnel would stop by her office for a supply to hand out on travels to villages and elsewhere.

Halsey, a 1993 Stanford graduate, wanted to share her love of the game with the kids. "I played soccer in college at Stanford University, so it was very important to me," she said.

One day during the deployment, while in Nairobi, Kenya, Halsey wanted to hand out balls at a local school. Recent heavy rain had left the unpaved, muddy roads nearly impassable, but her Kenyan driver said he knew of a school they could get to.

The school's headmaster later called the delivery of soccer balls an answer to her prayers. It turned out the school had planned a sports day but had no equipment for the children, some of whom have special needs.

The school was close to the taxi driver's heart because his eldest son, who has cerebral palsy, had been a student there. Halsey gave the driver a ball to take home. The driver later told her that his 4-year-old son was so thrilled with the gift that he fell asleep with his arms around it.

At the end of Halsey's tour of duty, she learned that the soccer ball program had special significance for her replacement, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ra Yoeun, a native of Cambodia who fled to Thailand during the Vietnam war. As a young boy in a Thai refugee camp, Yoeun received cookies and soccer balls from Americans.

Yoeun was adopted by a family in Virginia, attended Virginia Military Institute and joined the Navy Civil Engineer Corps.

"He told me how ecstatic he was to be doing this," Halsey said of the soccer ball program.

His story, she said, gives her hope that little things can make a difference.

Lisa McLean is a freelance writer living in Hawai'i. Her husband is an active duty Navy officer.