Well there it is, CWB’s spring project to Uganda for 2017 is done and dusted with the team all back in Blighty and currently suffering from Ugandan sun withdrawal symptoms. The words to describe how wonderful projects like these are can be tricky to find but I will try my best but first the facts and figures of what this marvellous team achieved, 3 towns, over 30 schools, dozens of new coaches and a few thousand kids coached in not only cricket but the ABCST message.
As with any great tale we need to start at the beginning, and for this CWB team that starting point was Masaka a couple of hours west of Kampala. It was clear to see on the first morning that there were some nerves floating around the first time volunteers but with the experienced helping hands of Clive and SJ plus CWB ambassador extraordinaire Emmanuel they managed to keep their cool and deliver some fantastic sessions to hit the ground running.
One thing that was clear for everyone to see was Masaka SS had a strong depth of cricket talent, this was most evident one afternoon when several of the girls team got stuck into some coaching. Afterwards the CWB team delivered a specialised coaching session where we found that the aforementioned girls are actually part of the Uganda women’s U19’s. Sadly however the Uganda rain washed out any hope of a festival to celebrate the work that had been done in the region over the first few days of the project. Cricket in the Masaka region has many strong assets but with long-term CWB friend Yusuf along with new friends Olive and Ali, Mens and womens cricket is only going to go one way.
10 Primary schools and several hundred kids in 2 days left the team in real need of a day of rest, although if you read our previous blog you’d know that some of the team may not be entirely happy with their project leaders choice of “rest” activity. Those thoughts of revenge soon disappeared once 12 teams descended upon the sports field of Masindi to compete in one of the best CWB festivals I’ve seen. As mentioned in previous blogs St Edwards won the day but there is no question as to who won the hearts of the team and that was Alpha and his friends from Family Spirit.
Leaving Masindi was hard but Entebbe called and after a bit of Kampala traffic the team arrived at their final home for the trip. Its worth pointing out that the team arrived at ViaVia guesthouse with trepidation after a drive down a dark beaten track, the next morning those fears were washed away thanks to some fantastic views and some french toast for breakfast.
With energy levels starting to run low and voices starting to sound like Rod Stewart after smoking 40 B&H in a row, the team dug deep and rallied together to squeeze out a last few shouts of Chika Chika Chika and Condom. Come the final day the weather once again tried to scupper the plans for a festival but with a last minute relocation to the Entebbe Oval the 10 teams managed to get some cricket in. One fantastic advantage of the relocation meant that not only did we have CWB coaches and teachers running the festival, we also had Kenyan Cricket hero Steve Tikolo and the rest of his Ugandan national team to cheers on the boys on girls. From what I saw I really think it made those boys and girls hit the ball at least 10 yards further just with the watching eyes of the national heroes standing next to them. Nakiwogo won the revised tournament by just the 1 run and they duly celebrated in style.
On our last night sat around the dinner table the team tried to share our favourite memory from the trip but for those of you who have previously done one of these trips picking just one memory is virtually impossible. We had some downs along the way but there were so many ups that any downs were soon forgotten. As I said at the dinner table on that final night, Carl and Co talk about CWB being a family at the training weekend but its only really at the end of an experience like we’ve had in Uganda that you really understand what they mean.
To Julie, Clive, Isaac, SJ, Clare, Tony, Manny and Joseph, we are forever family.
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is undertaken on every project, and consists of random sampling children from every school touched by a CWB project. Three children are asked a standardised set of questions before the main introduction and after each session is completed. When one or two schools are involved, the process is relatively straightforward… not withstanding the language difficulties and that some are naturally reserved….. However, festival day is quite another matter! It’s all hands to the pumps – huddles of adults (clipboard in hand) and children appear all over the field. This will be the second time that the school will have been sampled during the same project, allowing the sample comparison. Unfortunately, our first festival in Masaka was washed out, so the second set of M & E was not possible. Masindi allowed us to resample 11 schools and provides a good opportunity for comparison. Weather & time issues in Entebbe also curtailed the M & E opportunities for this part of the project. Although challenging, it is an opportunity to talk to the children on an individual basis. Most on this project were of primary age, but their understanding of both HIV/AIDS prevention and cricket varies wildly. This knowledge will allow CWB to review, amend and validate the delivery methodologies used.
It’s also worth a little mention to the magical Chimp experience we had at budongo lodge on the Sunday morning. It is such a wonder to look at our closest ancestors in their natural habitat. The afternoon trip down the source of modern civilisation is always a joy, although our young isaac did get bored after the 15th hippo.
On the business side of things we had a wonderful bunch of coaches, the likes of Ritah and Mable from family spirit have been mentioned in previous posts. Cricket certainly appears to be in enthusiastic hands for the future for Masindi.
I also want to mention a big thank you to Chris from Kabalega school and Joseph the local sports officer, who between them helped orchestrate one of the best primary school festivals I’ve seen. 12 teams competed across the morning with drama a plenty. My first ever super over in the semi-Finals with St.Edwards triumphing by 1 run. The same score line in the final resulting in St.Edwards being victorious over the coaches champions, Family Spirit.
Masindi has all the ingredients to thrive, energetic kids, creative coaches and sports officer with a desire to put Masindi on the map for cricket. The only ingredient left is whether the Uganda Cricket Association can support Masindi in achieving its dream.
Greg
]]>
]]>
Although one of our busiest and emotional days, it started like most other CWB coaching days…with hundreds of children all running slightly behind GMT. But once it got up and running and everyone found their coaching rhythm, the morning was a huge success with over 300 children coached from 4 schools. Our first inspirational Isaac of the day was a teacher from Family Spirit Orphanage. Despite being a bit timid in the coach ed session the day before, he quickly found his feet at my bowling station and became the titular leader of the other bowling coaches that morning, setting a tremendous example to all his fellow teachers through his enthusiasm.
Our second Isaac of the day was also present at the morning’s cricket, but his talents weren’t fully appreciated until we visited him at Family Spirit Orphanage that afternoon. Long time friend of CWB, Alpha Adowa, who volunteers at the orphanage for a week every month, organised our visit and introduced us. It was the closest to a rockstar experience we’ve had so far, with scores of children meeting us off the bus and shouting our names that they had remembered from the morning”s session. After the fanfare, where many balloons were cyclically blown up, handed out, and popped, we sat down to experience the children’s traditional African welcome dance. This is where nine year old Isaac really showed us how precocious he is on the drums, not to mention how precocious he was on the cricket field that morning too. Although said too often, it truly is an experience you had to be there to appreciate. Blog form really can’t do justice to the talent, coordination, and dedication of these children, especially given their background. Hopefully the pictures can help a tad.
For me, the most touching experience came from Isaac number three, Founder Isaac, who set up Family Spirit Orphanage over 15 years ago. He showed us around the Orphanage’s growing agriculture set up and explained their admirable plans for self sufficiency. The Orphanage has both livestock and arable setups, with everything from avocados to goats being farmed for and with the help of the children. On the walk back from the farm, along some very dusty Ugandan roads, Isaac told us the backstory of the orphanage. After first testing HIV positive in 1995, and consequently losing his job, he decided to spend what little time he thought he had left educating children in rural Uganda about HIV/AIDS. Family spirit was set up in 2002 with just 18 children. In 2017, Isaac still lives there with over 300 children, including two of his own, who are both HIV negative despite their parents’ status thanks to the growing availability of anti-retroviral treatment. Even more impressively, the Orphanage has under 40 HIV positive children, which although still too many, is at a rate significantly below the Ugandan average. Isaac then explained to us the lengths the orphanage goes to to break down stigma of all kinds: whether it be the HIV positive children always taking their medicine like all others with and in front of their peers, or whether it be the blind weaving teacher – or whether it even be the plans to hire a sign language teacher so the deaf children can communicate properly with all of their peers. Heartwarmingly, Isaac sent his gratitude to CWB, explaining how initiatives like this are often the only chance the children get to leave the orphanage walls for weeks on end.
Now I don’t know how much a name can make a person, but if it can, ‘Isaac’ surely can’t be a bad place to start…
Notable mentions should also got to Alpha, as well as teachers Ritah (mentioned yesterday), Michael, and Mable, who all do tremendous work at Family Spirit and have formed some truly fantastic relationships with their students. Please visit the Family Spirit Facebook page as well if you could spare the time (add link).
]]>Ready and waiting at 9am for the start of the coach education session it was clear to see that this was being governed by African time rather than GMT! In a wild flurry we eventually start with 20 teachers, many of whom are new to cricket and Greg quickly started getting them into shape!
The story that reflects the coach education CWB undertakes whilst here is that of Rita, from Family Spirit which is an orphanage a few miles outside of downtown Masindi. When meeting Rita initially in the morning she was lovely, however it was clear to see that she was lacking in confidence when it came to coaching cricket. Rita actively took part in the morning session, going about her business in a quiet yet concentrated manner, listening to the ABCT messaging and how this comes across in coaching points. And then the afternoon came about………
The afternoon session took us to Kilhande and Family Spirit for a session with approx 77 children. This was an opportunity for several of the coaches from the morning to observe ourselves delivering a session and then having a go themselves. Rita got paired with myself on the bowling station. It was clear to see that Rita instantly bonded with the children and they had enormous respect for her. She delivered it quite outstandingly. With confidence, connecting with others and embedding the ABCT messaging. It was a joy to see and a real highlight of my first week. Having never coached cricket before, there she was acting the part and being the part. Brilliant. The smile on here face afterwards said it all.
The lesson learnt here was that giving the opportunity for teachers to learn a new skill and practice this in an active scenario is absolutely key to their learning. And even more importantly, for CWB to leave a legacy of confident teachers with the ability to coach cricket whilst providing key ABCT messaging.
Following the afternoon session at Kihande and Family Spirit we headed off in two groups to Masindi Public and Masindi Town Model. My team were greeted with what can only be described as a fanfare welcome at Masindi Public. As soon as we got off the bus we were surrounded. Smiles and high fives all round. This was our first taste of a large number of children to coach in an hour session and we had had to get straight on with it. The 140 children were, let’s say, enthusiastic and it certainly tested our skills! At the end I was buzzing. We’d somehow pulled it off!
The other half of the team headed off to Masindi Town Model where they coached 143 really young children in difficult pitch conditions but this didn’t detract from the session delivery, which ran really well. This school had many inspirational messages displayed around the outer area, and the children again responded really well to the ABCT messages.
However, my final thought when we headed back to the hotel was the session Rita had delivered earlier that afternoon. GO RITA…….YOU ROCK!!!
]]>We leave knowing that 30 new coaches are ready to drive the game forward. Even though their time keeping has room for improvement, their passion and willingness to learn is unrivalled to those that have come before in my CWB experience. The real stars of the coaching however were the girls team from Masaka Secondary school. Although they were never planned to be on the coach education sessions they showed an appetite for the game of cricket and were a great help to all of us who can’t always be understood behind our regional accents.
In our time in Masaka we exposed 10 schools to the game of cricket and reinforced those ABCT messages. However the weather scuppered our plans for a festival finale at Masaka SS with what can only be described as a soaking for the ground. 6 hours of solid rain dampening the teams spirits and we could see our farewell for Masake being washed away with every drop from the grey skies. It was a real shame we couldn’t get any kind of a festival going, especially with the team from Uganda Cares ready and waiting with a testing tent.
Its clear to see though that cricket has a place in Masaka and with the driving forces that are Yusuf, Ali and the girls of Masaka SS it will be thriving sooner rather than later.
]]>Post lunch, where we sampled the local samosas, we headed back to Masaka SS for the afternoon session. Another successful session, another 4 schools coached and more practicing session delivery for our local coaches.
The team then worked with pupils from Masaka SS cricket team, coaching on specific cricket skills, training them in the art of spin bowling and batting skills. It was amazing to see the excellent standard the team were playing at, given their limited resources.
More happy children and more positive health messages delivered! Looking forward to the festival day tomorrow before we travel north.
This evening’s daily round up saw us prepare to say goodbye to Yousuf, a local cricket coach who has supported us throughout our stay in Masaka. He thanked the group for coming and spending time in Uganda… also he suggested that we slow down our speech when doing our intros to aid better understanding from the participants – good point well received by the team.
Ant has earned himself the title ‘Captain condom’ between us and is living up to this name. As we drove back to Masaka SS the children called out ‘condom’ when they saw him on the bus…. Clearly his impact is making a difference!
Not only has Captain Condom kept the children entertained… He has kept us all entertained with some priceless, innocent moments of hilarity. This evening when SJ’s dinner arrived… A local special, Tilapia (a fish – a big fish) Ant could not believe the size of it… And asked ‘is it double-sided?’ Hard to imagine a fish that isn’t doubled sided…. He will struggle to live this one down
Clare
]]>Coach education went smoothly, although one teacher came along with her class of children – Clive then ran an impromptu session with these… Everyone who turns up joins in!
The afternoon session ran at Masaka SS with the newly trained coaches having their first chance to deliver sessions alongside us. They did a grand job..!
Post coaching we visited Masaka Kids Africana, which is an orphanage in Masaka. Their motto is ‘dance, rise and shine’. They have 17 children aged from babies and toddlers right up to Qasim, their eldest boy who is 17 years old. They use music and dance to help to inspire and engage the children. Whilst there they put on a show for us of their dance skills. This included a moon walk, (real) twerking and even a jump in the air into splits! We took glittery pencils and balloons, which were so gratefully received. This was a humbling experience. I think we all walked away with heavy hearts.
Back at the hotel in the team huddle, we rounded up and summarised with input from Manny, Joseph and Yousuf and then came the Quote of the day from SJ….. “This is one of the best days I’ve had so far with CWB”- and this is SJ’s 2nd trip with the charity!!
And keeping on that theme, the Quote of the day from one of the children we coached was., Whilst looking for a tennis ball in the grass, she suggested to me that ‘You should use a different colour ball other than green so that we can find it easily in the grass.’ Great observation! Lesson learned.
Clare
]]>
]]>