Now Is the Time for Running is a middle-grade novel by Michael Williams. Originally published in South Africa in 2009 as The Billion Dollar Soccer Ball, it was republished internationally with its current title in 2011. Williams, a South African author who also runs an opera house, was inspired to write the novel after a series of xenophobic attacks in South Africa in 2008. During that time, around 45,000 refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom were from Zimbabwe, were displaced from townships and other communities. Many were injured, and at least 62 people were killed, according to a United Nations news report from 2009 (“Xenophobic Attacks in South Africa Draw Condemnation From UN Agency.” United Nations, 20 Nov. 2009). Williams believed that xenophobic violence and prejudice might become less common if people understood the hardships that refugees faced to get to South Africa in the first place.

This guide uses the 2011 eBook edition of the novel, published by Little, Brown, and Company. Pagination may vary in other editions. 

Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide feature graphic discussions of political and xenophobic violence, murder, sexual assault, substance abuse, addiction, and the results of violent attacks by wild animals. The source text also includes a xenophobic slur used against refugees in South Africa, which this guide obscures.

Plot Summary

Deo is a 14-year-old boy who has grown up in Gutu, a village in Zimbabwe. He lives with his mother, his grandfather, and his 24-four-year-old brother, Innocent, who has an unspecified developmental disability. One day, when Deo is playing soccer with the other village children, soldiers arrive and accuse the residents of Gutu of voting incorrectly (that is to say, not voting for the Zimbabwean president) in a recent election. The soldiers kill everyone in the village except for Deo and Innocent, who escape on foot. They bring with them Deo’s handmade soccer ball, which contains several billion Zimbabwean dollars. These dollars are worth very little, as Zimbabwe is experiencing hyperinflation. They initially flee to Bikita, a nearby district, where they meet a family friend who houses them for the night and suggests that they head for the border with South Africa to escape the ongoing violence.

Deo and Innocent get a ride to the border with a trucker. They have to hide as the truck goes through a roadblock manned by violent soldiers, but they make it to the border crossing at Beitbridge. Deo plays soccer with some other kids who are waiting for the border to open. When it does, the trucker leaves without Innocent and Deo. Looking for other transportation options, they track down a woman named Mai Maria who offers to help them cross the treacherous Limpopo River in exchange for all of their remaining money and their shoes. The river crossing is extremely dangerous, as the current is strong and crocodiles are rampant. Among the people who cross with Deo and Innocent are a boy with one leg named Patson and his father, who must carry Patson on his back. On the other side of the river, Deo and Innocent hide from gang members waiting to beat and rob refugees. Next, they are forced to run for two hours to get across a game reserve on foot, narrowly escaping attacks by hyenas and lions.

Once they cross the game park, Deo and Innocent find work on a tomato farm. They are paid 50 rand a month, or around $6.25 USD at a 2008 exchange rate (and $9.03 USD when accounting for inflation) (“Rand vs the Dollar.” BusinessTech, 13 Mar. 2016). They learn that the owners of the farm pay them very little money because any workers who complain will be sent back to Zimbabwe. Additionally, the residents of the nearby village resent the refugees for taking jobs that the villagers used to be paid more to undertake. After the brothers spend eight months at the farm, one of the other workers, Philani, convinces Deo and Innocent to pay for all three of them to get a taxi to Johannesburg, where he promises them work that will pay 1,000 rand per month. 

When they arrive in Alexandra Township, a poor area just outside Johannesburg, Philani abandons them, and the brothers realize that he merely used them to get to Alexandra and had no intention of providing them with employment. Deo and Innocent realize that many people in Alexandra are hostile to refugees, and they spend several days living on the streets. During a storm, the brothers meet a group of people who live inside a concrete bridge. This group agrees to let Deo and Innocent live with them as long as they provide childcare for two young children. For five months, the brothers live inside the bridge, eating leftovers that one resident brings home from her job at a restaurant. 

One day, violence erupts in Alexandra as residents attack refugees. In the confusion, Deo loses track of Innocent and spends the night at a church. The next day, he returns to the bridge and finds his brother’s body; Innocent was murdered. Deo spirals into grief, losing touch with the rest of the residents of the bridge and ultimately leaving Johannesburg for Cape Town. Once there, Deo becomes addicted to using glue as a drug to numb his emotions. He steals food with a group of young people, all of whom live on the streets. Eighteen months after Innocent’s death, as Deo is coming down from a glue high, a soccer ball hits him in the face. He spends some time playing with it, remembering the joy that soccer used to bring him.

The soccer ball in question fell off a truck. Its owner, Salie, comes to collect it and is impressed by Deo’s skill at the game. He recruits Deo into a street soccer league, explaining that all the members used to live on the streets but are now receiving lodging and support. They are preparing to compete in the Street Soccer World Cup, a soccer tournament consisting of players from around the world who have unstable living accommodations. The tournament will take place just three weeks before South Africa hosts the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Deo joins the league but soon notices that there are tensions among the players. Some players are South African, while others are refugees from other African countries, and the South African players feel that the other players do not belong. 

Salie, the coach of the group, gathers the players together one day to address their xenophobic attitudes. He asks everyone in the group to tell the story of how they came to Cape Town and what they experienced along the way. Everyone tells their story, and Deo is the last to share his own. At the end of the experience, the players all recognize that they have a lot in common, and they are finally able to overcome their differences and unite as a team. During the tournament, they play very well, though they lose a few games. They make it to the final, where they must compete against the highly skilled team from Brazil. Deo imagines that all people he has met on his journey, along with his family, are watching him from the stands. For the first time in a long time, he feels hopeful about the future. The novel ends without declaring the winning team.