Tales from Uganda

1. A typical day

A normal day starts with the team setting off to our first school at 8-30. Upon arrival at the school after a water stop (vital in this heat) we find a deserted playing field. This soon changes however as one large class of at least 60 kids (English class sizes eat your heart out!!) emerged onto the field for their P.E. lesson. This was most definitely the calm before the storm!!

Shortly afterwards pandemonium broke out. The kids 20 minute morning break began and cue the arrival of what seemed like thousands of kids onto the playing field. The team whilst not running an official session had 20 mins to try to entertain and educate them and split off into several groups doing various different activities. Tasks ranged from catching, batting, dancing and simply just belting a ball in the air for someone to catch. Their enthusiasm was unrecognisable from anything seen back home. Simply the sight of tennis balls was enough for some, let alone having the opportunity to touch/catch/hit it. I would say the 20 minutes flew by but by the end of it some of the team were looking like they’d been out there all day! A proper introduction for the seven CWB debutants on the trip. Coach education followed and whilst we were expecting 20 teachers only 15 turned up (3 some 20 mins late) and instead of having 3 hours we only had 45 mins. Nowhere near as much time as intended but still enough time to get the teachers thinking about things. That said we played a game, run by the local teachers (albeit it with some assistance) as an example of a game they could play with the kids.

Coach education finished and the team split into two for the two schools they were working with at midday.

After a quick introduction from the head teacher at Gulu Public school the group lead by Grant after a CWB and ABC introduction from Tracey launched into their skills with a group of around 80. Good fun was had and you could see there was some natural ability there, a fact backed up by the two Cricket trophies to be found on the head-teachers desk! A request from the teacher for a dance from the CWB team whilst the kids sang an ABC song completed the session.

2. Time keeping, panic and enthusiasm

We are beginning to understand Uganda timekeeping – it doesn’t exist!

The Uganda youngsters are amazing. Throwing, catching and fielding absolute naturals. They also have a tough competitive streak and like to win at St. Joseph we did a bowling drill with a hard ball and at time the ball would go crashing into their shins with no hint of anguish whilst the coach (senior pro) took one on the ankle and was writhing in pain much to the pleasure of the class The kids returning from their lunch break caused the group to panic as they thought that they might have a group of around 300. Thankfully a teacher turned up and dispersed the crowd back to their lessons whilst a group of around 50 remained. The team had them trying several skills around 3 stations, Grant’s experience told as he placed his station in the shade. A couple of hours flew by with the kids having loads of fun and key messages being delivered before the kids departed for the day and the team retreated to the hotel.

3. ABC’s limited menu and sports kit

After a normal breakfast the team (minus one suffering from the Ugandan equivalent of Delhi belly) headed off to Arua Hill Primary school for some coach education. The teachers who had attended the previous day delivered the session brilliantly integrating Cricket skills with ABC messages with ease.

The team headed to Buddies for a quick bite to eat. Upon arrival we were given an extensive menu of Chicken and Chips or Chips with Chicken. Derek (Uganda’s under 19’s Captain and one of our local coaches) was delighted, similar to a child at Christmas! An hour later chicken and chips arrived for all, with the exception of Joseph (our driver and Mr Fix it) who had something resembling chocolate semolina!

After a break for lunch the team headed off to Muni Secondary school with a group of 40 newly arrived Sudanese girls, who resembled NBA basketballers when they turned up and we introduced them to our beautiful game. Loads of ABC’s were incorporated, something which pleasing to see the girls had a good understanding of.

Next stop for the team was the Orphanage, where chaos ensued. Despite yesterday’s introductory visit there seemed little or no knowledge of our arrival and our purpose for being there. Lizzie saved the day, starting them off with some simple singing before some cricket broke out. Some creative human chain retrieved a rogue ball that Colin edged through the slips from a peach of a delivery from one of the children that disappeared into the crevice. The children thoroughly enjoyed the donations we left for them and we left some games with the staff to play with the kids at a later time.

4. Festivals, Sandwiches and Travel

The team come down for breakfast in drips and drabs, but by some miracle everyone was on the team bus on time for the 9.15am departure to Arua Hill primary school, where today’s festival was being held. Having dropped everyone at the ground, Uganda cricket legend Grace and Project Leader Grant went to collect two more schools for the morning’s event. On return the bus looked like a tin of sardines, somehow managing to cram 52 kids on it. With the cricket finally underway featuring two groups of three teams, and the CWB team assisting teachers with umpiring and scoring, the field became a sea of colour, noise and enthusiasm. Some of the talent on show was unbelievable.

After a close round robin stage, we had our finalists who were Anyafio primary and Onzivu primary. With some big hitting, brilliant bowling and fantastic fielding Anyafio ended up as well deserved winners, but a great time was had by all!

A presentation then followed, with each team receiving CWB shirts and wristbands along with some tennis balls for the school. The winners Anyafio primary, led by teacher Mr Godi, received a kit bag full of Kwik Cricket kit, while teachers were given a new cricket shirt each.

With a takeaway lunch of sandwiches ordered back at the hotel, it was a quick dash back to collect suitcases, before we hit the road (again) for the 375km drive down to Lira. Let’s just say the sandwiches were “standard” and some of the group not impressed about having the bread toasted.

CWB has three main goals:

 To spread cricket through coaching children and teaching adults how to coach; and  To link the sport to HIV/AIDS awareness and incorporate these messages into coaching sessions.  To bring together and empower local communities through cricket.

Working in partnership with the Cricket Associations in each country, the relevant British High Commissions and the ICC, we follow a simple, 3 stage sports development structure to try to ensure some form of sustained development of the game: 1) Coach education; 2) Schools coaching, and 3) Tournament.

Our coach education takes the form of teaching the adults the basics of cricket through the ICC’s Introduction to Cricket course (which includes coaching, umpiring and scoring) as well as for more developed coaches delivering the ICC’s level 1 and 2 awards. We try to link our coaching in with each National Cricket Association’s existing development plans.

The ABC GUIDE

A ABSTAIN FROM SEX / UNPROTECTED SEX

B BE FAITHFUL TO YOUR PARTNER

C USE A CONDOM