Today is our 11th day here in Cameroon and our 3rd here in Buea. Getting up in the morning watching Mt. Cameroon is real sense of inner joy, which we obviously don’t get chance to enjoy in our daily life in UK.
After having our breakfast today we headed for our first school, the ‘Princess Diana Primary school’. We were welcomed in with traditional song and dance by students in years 4/11. The dances moves from 5/6 years olds are just spell binding. After my daily stat collection, I joined the youngest group, 4/5 years old. It was the best experience on this trip so far for me. I have never tried cricket with as young as 5 yrs old. Yes, we did some cricket. But couldn’t go any further than catching. Most of the time I hear ‘uncle can I have a ball please’ from 10 little Ninjas at the same time. I can’t help but feel a little helpless when I have only 12 balls for thirty little ones. Every time I struggled with my one leg, (having injured one earlier this week), teachers stepped in. Learnt some new moves with nursery rhyme. Please don’t ask……
In one word these little girls and boys gave us new energy after non stop 10 days of hard work.
At our second school we were expecting about 300 students. Thankfully when we got there it was about 120. Bit of a relief for every one. It reminded us we are in Africa, you never know how many will turn up, until you see them. Some very good power hitting, just watch the ball hit the ball, I absolutely love it. It is my style of cricket.
I want to say few words about our Cameroon friends with us here in Buea. Chi Lavette, Geraldine, Lawrence and Divine. They are not only good coaches, they are always happy to do anything to help us. I think I will never forget Divine’s smile, he is always happy man. Even managed to get us some sugar cane stick and mango. Happy days. I think they all will be in our thoughts for a long time.
I was looking for my numbers after ten days of coaching and it is surprising to me. So far we manage to coach more than 2050 girls and boys in 18 schools. Teachers training was one of the most important part of our trip. They are very positive and energetic to learn the cricket. They are the future of Cameroon cricket. I hope they will take the game forward in Cameroon. Twenty eight teachers attended the teachers training courses.
Finally we went to an Orphanage. As we came out of our van, welcomed by girls and boys with a big hug. It is very touching to hear about the story and how the Orphanage was built. It was an absolute pleasure to spend some time with these girls and boys. A small tennis ball or a balloon could mean so much and bring so much joy, it is simply unbelievable. I haven’t seen God, to me they are the visible representative of God. I want to to finish this blog with the words I learnt there:
‘When we dream alone it is only a dream, but when many dream together it is the beginning of a new reality’.
chandra