Day 6 – Festival & Orphanage Visit

So, a lazy morning, welcomed in terms of recovery for some but rudely awakened at 6am for many by some form of large construction machinery loading or unloading from a trailer. Such is the nature of Cameroonian life that whilst we had no idea whether it was coming or going it appeared that the locals were similarly confused. The time was spent breakfasting and catching up with home as miraculously the internet was 'in da house!'

At 11am we set off for the Roger Milla Foundation Orphanage in a session opportunistically arranged on Tuesday night with Roger Milla's personal secretary Charles, or Mr. Charles as he appears to be known locally. Closed roads and lines of taxi traffic saw us take a longer route than planned, past the national football stadium, through 'car parts alley', and down 'undertaker lane' to the Foundation's offices only to find that the Orphanage School was in the middle of exams. Never to be dissuaded, and in true CWB fashion, we negotiated a 5pm return.

Quick lunch, euro exchange and bag sorting and we headed back to St. Therese's School for the Younde Schools Festival scheduled to start at 2:30pm.

The festival was typically chaotic, with one school early, one school late and one school turning up at the end…however, there was also the typical celebrations as Mevick school were the marginal victors. The non stop cricket tournament was run by the local coaches under the eye of the CWB coaches, and it is encouraging to see their development. The children displayed some of the skills taught previously but more importantly bought into the ABC messaging. 

After the tournament we headed to the Roger Milla foundation orphanage. A small (45 children) orphanage, it was set up by a nun in 1982, and focuses on providing skills to children rejected by families in order for them to work. We met the nun, who was insistent on facing a few balls in the small cricket game we had set up. To everyone's surprise she proceeded to advance down the wicket to reverse lap the ball (we shall presume it was intentional!). The team managed to enjoy a few games with the kids and we have left a kwik cricket set so they can enjoy the game in the future.

Another enjoyable, inspiring and chaotic day brings our time in Yaounde to an end – we embark on the drive to Buea tomorrow.

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