October 30th 2010
When ants attacked the Meerkat
Thursday saw us waking up to another beautiful day. After a very sociable breakfast we suddenly heard the sound of an engine. One look at the watch almost knocked us out – the combi was on time. Not used to this, we were not ready. Some members of the team who were in various stages of getting dressed rushed to get into the vehicle while it was available. In the last few days we’d learned that combis are a precious commodity and if it’s there, take it.
School for deaf children
We coached at a teacher training college. As soon as we arrived, the security guard jogged to lock the gate to the sports ground. That mean that we were stranded with all our kit wondering what was there to be stolen. To add to our good morning mood (some of us are not great in the morning), we were standing in what appeared to be one giant ant colony (the colony was big, the ants were tiny). We would learn in the next two days how to move constantly in order to keep the crawlies off our feet without looking like members of the Riverdance troupe.
When we were finally admitted to the sports ground, we realised that the guard was worried about leaving us alone with yet more ants and tonnes of dust. Fine. We could see his point.
Around 30 future teachers appeared in red and white track suits (must have been incredibly hot!!) ushered by one very enthusiastic lady with a very loud whistle. According to one of the Mikes ‘they looked like a Polish flag’. We swiftly got on with our coaching, but not before Veronique and then Veronika in turn had to sing their respective anthems and teachers guessed where they were from. Apparently Australia lies directly between Poland and Austria….
Blog was brought to you by Mike R
In the afternoon we coached more children at one of the Francistown schools and between us we developed the new bowling teaching style. Children and teachers bought into it and soon the whole school knew that when you bowl, you start with ‘snake bite’, carry on with ‘kung-fu master’ and finish the whole bowling action with ‘windmill’. Oh yes, and don’t forget to ‘take the bottom with you’. Those of our readers who know about cricket will see the relevance in this. Maybe.
After the coaching we stopped off in a school for deaf children. Mike S had some football shirts and shorts to give away, so there were endless photo opportunities. The children are naturally very quiet there, but boy, do they like to see themselves on the screen!
Evening meant back to our woodland home and Will with Chris and Mike G cooked. The braai (BBQ) was delicious and company great. This was our last evening as the Reeves duo were not going back to Gaborone with the team the following day.
Friday – leaving day. Despite the assurance of our driver (who didn’t drive at all because he didn’t own any of the combis that we used during our stay in Botswana) that his combi was on its way to Francistown, we started seriously thinking of Plan B. How will the team get back to Gaborone where some people were catching flights on Saturday and some on Sunday? Should we try the plane from Francistown? Or the coach that some of us took on Sunday? Maybe we can hitch hike? Some of us suggested the option of carts pulled by donkeys (they are extremely cute animals) but Will was not amused.
Yet another vehicle arrived at the Woodlands in the morning. We vaguely remembered travelling in this one before but didn’t know for sure. There had been so many… We were asked to unload all our kit at the ‘Ant ground’ again, as somebody else was going to pick us up. And our driver’s combi was obviously on its way.
While watching the future teachers coach their class mates, Veronique was bitten by an aunt. We never found out whose aunt it was as she was adamant that she meant an ant.
Water Goddess signing off...
The original departure time from Francistown to Gaborone moved from 1pm to 3pm as the transport didn’t work out and Will had to organise something else. By 2.30pm we were on our way to Woodlands to pick up the luggage. The bus would be waiting at the turn off to the bush as the driver didn’t want to drive 10 km on the dirt road. We said our goodbyes and with promises of seeing each other soon and some unpublishable (and frankly clearly jealous) remarks about the Reeves’ finally sharing a room, the team departed in another slightly familiar combi.
At 5pm a message from the team leader to the abandoned Reeves’ read: ‘Just got on the bus. Office was closing and I had to grovel’. The team finally arrived at Gaborone around 11pm on Friday.
To sum it up, we had a great time coaching the adults and children, some fab relationships have been established and we delivered as we promised to all our sponsors, family and friends. We coached in all about 64 teachers in Francistown together with around 320 children. And thanks to Will, who made sure that we had where to sleep, what to eat and how to travel).
That’s it from the two who stayed behind.
Veronika Reeves