Seeing the living conditions of kids the same age as his son and his teammates made it hard for Dean Cantelon to keep his emotions in check.

鈥淔or me, personally, it was hard to take, but you can鈥檛 be sad because these boys are happy as to what they have,鈥� he said on Tuesday, two days after returning from Uganda.

Cantelon accompanied the on a weeklong tour of the African country.

91原创, the Canadian Little League champions, is made up of 11, 12 and 13-year-old baseball players. The team was supposed to face Uganda in the opener of the Little League World Series in August, but the Ugandan players were denied visas to enter the United States, due to discrepancies in their paperwork.

After hearing about their plight, Vancouver鈥檚 came up with the idea to send the 91原创 team to face Uganda.

was organized by Right To Play, a humanitarian non-profit organization. Major League Baseball players and Derrek Lee, as well as Sportsnet baseball analyst and former player Gregg Zaun, were also on the trip as guest coaches.

They organized baseball clinics for the Ugandan youth.

when they played, while the other two games saw the teams mix their players.

When one of the Ugandan players took the 91原创 team on a tour of where he lived, Cantelon called it an 鈥渆ye opener.鈥�

The boy lived in a 10x10 foot unit with his entire family in a slum.

There was no electricity, no water supply and no toilets.

鈥淚t was really tough, you had to keep the emotions in,鈥� Cantelon said.

What really touched Cantelon was the boy鈥檚 grandmother presenting the entire team with bracelets.

鈥淓ven though they come from very little, they were very kind and caring,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd they want to give, even though they don鈥檛 have a lot.

鈥淲hen the boys saw that, it was definitely an eye opener for them.鈥�

On the ball diamond, the Ugandan youth were just like any other kid their age.

鈥淵ou see them out of where they reside, they are so upbeat, happy, you just wouldn鈥檛 know where they come from,鈥� Cantelon marveled.

鈥淭hey are just upbeat, happy-go-lucky kids.鈥�

Cantelon said he was impressed by the Ugandans鈥� skill on the ball diamond.

鈥淚t is amazing to see ... they come from very little, but just looking at them, they are able to prosper and develop as not only ballplayers, but as human beings,鈥� he said.

Seeing the living conditions made Ken Dubois appreciate home even more.

鈥淚n the slums, there is garbage everywhere and it doesn鈥檛 smell very good,鈥� he said.

鈥淭hey have to live with that I couldn鈥檛 handle that.鈥�

Dubois said what he took away from the trip was 鈥渟eeing what they deal with everyday.鈥� Cantelon doesn鈥檛 expect the memories of the trip to ever fade.

鈥淚t will be something that will be with us probably forever,鈥� he said.

鈥淵ou hear about it, you see it on TV, but it just doesn鈥檛 sink in unless you are there to see it firsthand.鈥�

Filmmaker will include footage from the 91原创 team鈥檚 trip in , a documentary chronicling baseball in Uganda.

was also on the trip and they will air a 30-minute documentary in March.

The trip also served towards raising money to construct a new baseball field closer to the players鈥� homes in Uganda, starting an educational scholarship fund and creating a travel fund to help send future Ugandan teams to international tournaments.

The fundraising goal to cover the cost of the trip to Uganda as well as creating all these legacy funds is $155,000 and just over $18,500 remains to be raised to reach that amount. To donate .

For more photos from the 91原创 team鈥檚 trip to Uganda, visit .