Meet The Team

Isaac

I’m Isaac. I live in Bedfordshire, play cricket for Flitwick CC and currently work at Luton Sixth Form College. Flitwick CC teammate Carl Ferguson is a longstanding volunteer, so when it came to looking for a cricket related charity to volunteer for, CWB was the obvious choice. And now, after a trip to Uganda in Spring 2017, I’m hooked. Hopefully I’ll add some CWB coaching experience, a good amount of enthusiasm, and a willingness to embrace everything Kenya has to offer.

Zoe

I’m Zoe and I’ve been privileged to work in cricket for 7 years, starting at the WACA, then the Oval, and now MCC. I’ve had some amazing experiences and now it’s time for me to give something back. Volunteering with CWB is a great opportunity to combine my love of travel and love of sport to deliver important health messages to Kenyan communities. I’m a strong advocate for gender equality and I’m looking forward to meeting some amazing and inspirational women on this trip. Unlike some of my team mates on the trip, I’m not a cricket coach, but I’m energetic and love working as part of a team which should make up for my lack of coaching experience!

Jon

I’m Jon, I teach English as a foreign language in London. I’ve had a passion for cricket since the age of nine when my dad chose to work for Warwickshire CCC at Edgbaston CG rather than the family emigrating to Canada, which was my much preferred option at the time! So after initially being hugely disappointed I embraced the world of cricket.

Volunteering seemed like a really exciting and worthwhile thing to do. Being able to try and coach cricket (with no previous experience), sharing the enjoyment of the game with others whilst at the same time travelling, meeting new people, discovering a new culture and helping out by spreading important health messages seemed like a great thing to do and experience.Hoping to offer some fun and energy to the group, doing my best to support those with coaching experience and good knowledge of the health messages we are getting out there but also want to dive in and see what I can do to help make a difference for others.

Mandy

I am a returning volunteer having joined a previous trip to Kenya in 2016. I travelled for a further week after the last venture learning more about the Kenyan culture which I want to experience more of this time. I saw more of the inequality among the sexes in the last week and felt it was important to return to spread the message that everyone can play cricket regardless of their sex, age or health.

So I will be out in the field shouting ABC T to enthuse the students we are coaching & having the quiet time to sit under a tree with the girls hearing their personal stories surrounding the practise of FGM in their community

Laura

I’m Laura, ex vice-captain of England, currently work for the ECB in the participation and growth department and I am also a qualified coach…although I think a crowd control qualification will be more suitable for this gig! I am a mother of two sons, one of whom is also on the trip, and have never travelled to Africa before.

I am a passionate advocate of the power of sport, in particular cricket, and wanted to find a volunteering opportunity that had the potential to be extra special and make tangible differences, using the medium of sport, to a place or a group of people. A CWB trip ticked all of those boxes. I can’t wait to facilitate hundreds and thousands of children’s experiences of cricket whilst educating them on important social and health messages. I anticipate spending the next 2 weeks talking and shouting non-stop! #suchfun

I offer the team my hard-working ethic, some humour, and to run a 15 minute exercise class every morning!!! To those children and adults we have the pleasure in meeting, I hope that my background of playing and working in a sport dominated by males, will demonstrate that with a little encouragement, support and some bravery, anything is possible.

George

I’m George and I am a keen sportsman with passion for both cricket and football. More importantly these skills, cricket more specifically, has now given me the opportunity to visit Kenya with CWB and hopefully bring more joy into the lives of the young Kenyans we are lucky enough to meet.

I am sure that this trip will bring many fantastic memories and lifelong friendships that I will look back fondly on. Hopefully I will be able to contribute to this great team in spreading vital sexual health information to as many people as possible, whilst trying to have as much fun as possible with the children. I am very glad to be taking part in this trip and look forward to getting stuck in.

Josie

I’m Josie, I work for Durham County Cricket Club, working for their charitable arm. We work closely with Cricket Without Boundaries up the North East to deliver a gender equality programme to various community groups around the region… not too different to the work we will be doing out in Laikipia. I can’t wait to get started on the volunteering over here and bring lots of new ideas and skills back to the North East to support our programmes, as well as bringing something from those programmes over here to Kenya too. On another note, I am a keen international development enthusiast, spending the last few years studying at university and researching the FGM work that CWB deliver over in Kenya. After three long years, I finally get to see it in action!

Greg

Even though this is my umpteenth project the excitement is still as strong as that first project. As project leader for this trip I feel very lucky to have an amazing team for this fantastic project in Kenya. I’m looking forward to returning to Ilpolei and Muranga after 4 years and seeing how things have changed, particularly in Muranga thanks to the great work of Mathias.

Let’s get this show started and bring on the hundreds of children. Awooga!