After a successful arrival of all volunteers and more importantly the equipment we were met at the airport by Botswanas Mr Fix It 'Ravi' who then transported the team to the Botswana Cricket associations HQ. A wonderful ground, floodlit with a warm welcoming feeling. A fabulous curry was provided along with entertainment in the form of a local T20 bash! Needless to say the team were in heaven. As Gabs 4 sneaked a unlikely victory after loosing early wickets chasing a low score.
On our first day in Bots the Team and No.1 Dad Tim Ward would like to send their love and best wishes to Henry back in Oslo. HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY HENRY!
Day one of coaching started at 07:45 (after a protein heavy yet delicious breakfast of Chicken Livers, eggs and beans) we boarded the bus to Molopolele (Approx an hours drive from Gabs) on arrival we were greeted by an eager group of teachers keen to learn more about CWB and HIV AIDs. In our own CWB way we started the day with a intro from Project Lead Mark followed by a warm up from Carl (who is easily the most enthusiastic man I've ever met, as long as long as he has slept and not seen any snakes) Carl as all CWB vols do made sure the teachers A. Have Fun ! and B. got to grips with the HIV AIDS message and felt comfortable speaking about it.
2 hours later the group had fully bonded, certificates were handed out and a song and dance ensued! Thank you Phutadikobbo Primary. And also thank to Elvis "Thank you very much uh huh huh and Cecilia "your breaking my heart" for organising the teachers and the venue.
Our afternoon went from teaching teachers to teaching pupils.. In all honesty it is just wonderful to see so many young people coming towards you high fiving, fist bumping (with explosions) and jumping with excitement. We went through batting and bowling drills with approx 100 children, ensuring they understood the ABC message.
An exhausted team arrived back at the Stay Easy Inn (which now has improved WIFI and is far superior than certain travel sites suggest) at 6pm where we headed for dinner and debriefed on our day.
Tennis ball up date – I have have bitten off more than I can chew here as I struggled to find the happy balls. I did see 'Tim' first thing this AM during a bowling drill, but quite frankly the experiment is prooving tricky as there are too many bat, people and balls to follow! I will keep trying.
Hope people are enjoying reading this and thanks for the comments so far.
Hi to all our friends, family and the CWB family at home.
Cracking start everyone – usual chaos of fun, rogue dancing, odd food combos not to mention funny place names, excellent coaching with the HIV messages and team bonding. It's shaping up to be a great project apart from the sad loss of Tim, Mike & Chris so early on 😉 x
well done team, a really good start! The ball experiment…..thought it may be optimistic Tom but if you dont try….! Keep up the good work and enjoy!