Day 5- “The Rock”

Day Five comes from first time volunteer John, known as Macca or his new nickname  Buzz?

Another day at Rock View School, an 8:30am start, unfortunately no driver for the bus, a 10 minute delay, before our driver, Tony came running up the Hotel drive.

The teachers had been asked to bring there children at a designated time for the day’s session. One school came in the morning instead of the afternoon, this is Africa! A very good day was had by the 8 schools that attended and approximately 750 children. Considering a lot of the children had not played any or very little cricket there were some very talented players. One girl called Olivia, was an exceptional away-swing bowler, Aj claimed he mentioned a few FUNdamentals, but I believe it was just natural talent.

As a first timer to Africa, I am amazed how quickly the children pick up the skills of cricket, the ABC and T messages are continually mentioned by the newly qualified coaches, which is very pleasing. We just need them to try to keep to the schedule!

Highlight for me today was being surrounded by the children of Rock View School on their morning break, it started with a little “ABC CWB” chant and then finished with the Ugandan National Anthem conducted by yours truly. Definitely a “goose bump” moment.

Lunch time was outside surrounded by the children of Rock View. Mike Brown is an exceptional filler of chapattis on a cardboard box! Everyone seemed to enjoy the local fare.

At the end of the day, Jamie organised a trip to walk up the “Tororo Rock”, due to my lack of fitness after a day’s coaching in 30 degrees and my advanced years, I only managed 5 minutes, and therefore Aj is going to end the day’s blog with hopefully a brief resume of their trip!

Aj’s Bit

Just as the energy levels seemed to be sapping under the extreme Ugandan sun, a team of newly trained coaches and CWB volunteers decided to tackle the famous ‘Tororo Rock’. The go ahead was granted by both the Tororo District Office and the East African District office in record breaking time…to the wonderment of our Ugandan friends.

There is a saying that “Tororo Rock is to Tororo what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris!” At 977 feet high and 5,000 feet above sea level the Rock provided a stunning backdrop to our coaching sessions and stiff lung bursting challenge to all….apart from our Ugandan friends, most of whom flew up like Rock Rabbits…their new moniker!

The camaraderie developed over the last three days between the coaches and the CWB team was cemented by this trek culminating in a well deserved team photo and collective marvel at the fantastic panoramic views of Uganda, stretching as far as the Kenyan border.

Those that made the climb and at times the tricky decent will cherish the sense of achievement, the banter, friendship and of course those views…special!