{"id":74,"date":"2015-10-06T18:57:34","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T18:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/?p=74"},"modified":"2015-10-06T18:57:34","modified_gmt":"2015-10-06T18:57:34","slug":"day-3-waka-waka-selfies-stump-dancing-and-balloons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/2015\/10\/06\/day-3-waka-waka-selfies-stump-dancing-and-balloons\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 3 – Waka Waka, selfies, stump dancing and balloons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Only one word that can describe today: epic! As a first-time volunteer, yesterday was brilliant for learning and growing my confidence but today was the day I realised \u201cI can do this!\u201d – having been Leigh\u2019s lungs for a morning organising \u2018rapid fire\u2019, taught 80 this afternoon to protect their stumps and abstain from hitting it in the air during kwik cricket, led countless groups of up to 25 marching around fields chanting \u201cABC! CWB!\u201d, and learned the power of balloons in providing fun for young orphans.<\/p>\n

We started the day only nine hours ago (though it feels like 36 hours!) at Kericho Primary School, which CWB visited for the first time a year ago. After a very warm welcome from the headteacher, it was straight into the action, with 150 10-13 year-old kids rotating between six skills stations around the large field. There was no time for \u201cwatch and learn\u201d today for us newbies \u2013 Philip led catching drills, Max organised the \u2018cone strike\u2019 bowling game, and I marshalled game of \u2018rapid fire\u2019 (where batting teams of 6 hit balls off cones simultaneously and run until the fielders put all the balls back in place) while Leigh, nursing a sore throat from yesterday\u2019s exertions, kept score by counting high-fives. It was great to see one of the teachers who attended yesterday\u2019s coach education session volunteering to lead a station and he had the kids enthusiastically playing \u2018hit the stumps\u2019 with almost no input from us. After two hours, the kids were nearly as exhausted as we were, but had enough energy to join Philip in an epic selfie and to belt out an enthusiastic chorus of Shakira\u2019s \u201cWaka Waka\u201d, led by Leigh who mysteriously seemed to have rediscovered his voice by this point. I\u2019m not sure Kenyan bandwidth is going to let me upload the video, but I\u2019m going to try as it was simply awesome to be part of\u2026. and none of us is going to get \u201cWaka Waka\u201d out of our heads for months! Soundtrack for the trip video = sorted.\"12079830_10205247172674695_7142276395795345450_o\"<\/p>\n

\"photo1\"Before we headed off, we were treated to lunch of meat stew and rice and a view from the stage of the school\u2019s 900 pupils politely filing in for their share, served from the most enormous pans I\u2019ve ever seen! The head was very effusive and appreciative, and encouraged us to come back next year
\nand Nicholas to visit soon to keep up the momentum.<\/p>\n

We piled back into the minibus and were off to the second school of the day, Holy Trinity Academy. We set up in the field where the youngest kids were enjoying their lunch break and a group of \u2018Muzungu\u2019 (whites) with bats and balls were quite the attraction. Max and I made the rookie error of believing Leigh when he assured me there\u2019d be no problem at all if we set up some plastic stumps in the middle of the field\u2026 within seconds, Max was surrounded by kids grabbing stumps and waving them around. Cue some impromptu dancing with stumps as props, simply to avoid them being grabbed \u2013 and, of course, fifty kids copying his every move. Turns out he\u2019s quite the natural entertainer!<\/p>\n

\"photo2\"<\/p>\n

10 minutes and several dances later, the youngsters were ushered off to class and we were joined by 80 children who were ready for coaching. Cricket was completely new to them, and they were very shy with their ABCs, but it didn\u2019t take long to have them whacking balls, throwing and catching, chanting \u201cABC! CWB!\u201d, and yelling \u201cAbstain!\u201d, \u201cBe faithful!\u201d and \u201cProtection!\u201d (As it\u2019s a church school, we steered clear of the usual \u2018C\u2019). Turns out they know \u201cWaka Waka\u201d too, with the alternative ending of \u201cThis time for Trinity\u201d!<\/p>\n

We finished the day at Kids International orphanage, where we provided an hour of entertainment with a couple of packets of balloons. The 20 kids (mostly aged 3-7) went mad for them, chasing and bopping them around the courtyard \u2013 and I think we had just as much fun!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_4481\"<\/p>\n

A long day but a brilliant one, and the Tusker beer at the hotel felt well-earned. I’m sad to be leaving Kericho tomorrow, after one more school, but looking forward to heading to Nakuru, especially as George has promised us a tour of the nightlife in his home town! The TV news is full of horror stories about the impending arrival of El Ni\u00f1o, so please cross your fingers that rain doesn\u2019t stop play. It\u2019s been an incredible first couple of days in Kenya and I\u2019ve caught the CWB bug good and proper! Now to get \u201cWaka Waka\u201d out of my head so I can get some sleep\u2026
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Sarah
\n<\/a>
\n<\/a> \"IMG_4300\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only one word that can describe today: epic! As a first-time volunteer, yesterday was brilliant for learning and growing my confidence but today was the day I realised \u201cI can do this!\u201d – having been Leigh\u2019s lungs for a morning organising \u2018rapid fire\u2019, taught 80 this afternoon to protect their stumps and abstain from hitting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/kenya2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}