Day 8 – Roll Up, Roll Up, Cricket comes to a New Community!

With this CWB trip to Botswana coinciding with the school’s month long Easter holidays, I think it is fair to say, that putting the schedule together was no easy task. It was particularly difficult to ensure our time was filled when we travelled North to Francistown as, unbeknown to many of us, the region has suffered heavy flooding in the last few months which at one point put into doubt any chance of us travelling this far North at all. However, when speaking with Clem, our BCA rep and CWB stalwart, our selfish concerns about the TBC in the schedule for Monday seemed somewhat insignificant when he described the personal effects the floods had had on him. With the recent floods in England, it would be easy to try and draw parallels with our own experiences, but here in Botswana, when Clem says he ‘lost everything’ that’s exactly what he means: everything! Aviva and Legal & General don’t seem to be quite so prevalent in this part of the world it would seem… Clem being Clem though, he is not downbeat over his misfortune and was only deeply apologetic about his inability to respond to emails about the schedule in a timely manner due to his house being washed away…

On Saturday evening though, we still had a blank day for Monday. Then; enter Stan. Stan or ‘Stanbo’, as we’ve affectionately christened him due to his previous life as a Paratrooper and all-round adventurous nature, is the leader of a youth activity and fellow HIV/AIDS awareness charity here in Francistown called Top Banana. CWB first came into contact with Top banana on a previous trip and upon our arrival on Saturday, Stan was only too keen to advise us of the progress being made in the fight against AIDS in the region since our last visit and straight away came up with a suggestion for what we could do on Monday. He told us that there was a football tournament being played just outside of Francistown and that he thought it might be a good opportunity for us to go along to meet the local community and to see if we could get any of them interested in a game that was likely to be totally alien to them. With that, like the A-Team stuck in a shed with nothing but an old truck, some ladders and a blow torch, our plan began to take shape. Hannibal (or in this case Adam!) suggested that instead of the standard CWB session, we should set up a fairground type activity at the football ground, involving batting and bowling, where, after successfully completing a ‘Test’, each participant would get to delve into the lucky dip kit bag to dig out their reward! A stroke of genius for sure as it would undoubtably drum up some interest as well as start to eat into the enormous amount of kit we had brought with us to give away. However, this being CWB it was agreed that the simple act of hitting a ball through some cones would not be enough and that each and every ‘winner’ would need to answer some questions on the ABCs in order to claim their prize…

Upon arrival at the ground we were instantly drawn into the football being played where we marvelled at how anyone could possibly control the ball on such an uneven and undulating surface. It was certainly competitive though and at first the 4000 Pula on offer to the winning team was far more important to the players and supporters than a silly game involving a bat and ball… However, word soon got around the ground that if you came over to our section of the field you could win stuff! How cunning. Therefore, within half an hour or so our ‘stall’ was fully occupied with over 60 children winning kit left, right and centre and chanting ABCs over and over. The cricket kit soon ran out so we resorted to lollipops and as the skill level increased so did the queue to the bus for the prizes until eventually we had run out of everything. The morning concluded with members from across the community organising and playing their own games of cricket as the CWB coaches stood back and admired at how quickly interest and skill levels had grown. It was also hilarious to see that some kids were now kitted out in almost full team wear whilst chomping down on several lollipops at one time…
A brilliant, impromptu morning that saw huge amounts of participation and garnered plenty of interest from a new community who wanted to know more about the game with many asking what they could do to get on a future CWB coaching course. On the back of this it has also been agreed that Top Banana, after sending 5 of their staff to our training course which begins on Tuesday, will start to use cricket as one of their activities in the future and will work closely with CWB on the scheduling for the next project in Francistown whilst also identifying people from the community that want to attend courses when we do return.

The afternoon then took on a slightly different pace, when after a futile attempt to find some suitable African ‘tat’ to take home (it was all way too classy for us!), we visited the Francistown School for the Deaf. This is a very special place where CWB have visited several times before. Now, ever since we landed in Africa we have all tried where possible to cure ourselves of the English coach’s disease of talking too much and over demonstrating. However, for most of us on this trip it was the first time we had coached a class of entirely deaf children and here our new found communication skills would surely be put to the test. We had nothing to fear though as within minutes – perhaps even quicker than most the schools we’ve encountered so far – the children here were naturally hitting the the balls brilliantly with the same familiar smiles and laughter, that we have encountered all trip, emanating across the school yard. A truly magical, humbling afternoon which culminated in some great games of Rapid Fire, the handout of sweets (we restocked when looking for ‘tat’) and the presentation of some bats and balls for the children to use in the future. I have no doubt they will be put to plenty of good use.

So, an amazing day! New contacts made, an entire community introduced to the game, partnerships developed and as always 100’s and 100’s of smiles!

Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together!

NB – Photos to follow later

4 comments to “Day 8 – Roll Up, Roll Up, Cricket comes to a New Community!”
  1. Well done guys, gutted I'm not there with you for week 2. If Adam is Hanibal, I make Tim BA, Carl Face man and definatley Simon as Murdoch! 

  2. What a fantastic idea! It's great to see the imagination going into spreading cricket, and of course the important HIV messages! Keep it going guys!

  3. you guys are doing an amazing job… Keep it up, one more day, make it as good as all the others. make sure ken treats himself to another pina colada when you get back to Gabs.

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