1,378 reasons you should do this!

After warming up with half a day of coaching yesterday, it was into top gear on the second morning. We expected it to be busy but what a manic yet extremely rewarding day it turned out to be.

With six sessions in three different schools, all on the regular schedule of CWB’s local ambassador Mathias, the team set about coaching what turned out to be a mammoth 1,378 children by the end of the day.

Lucy was the star of our show, with her long hair proving irresistible to hundreds of little hands, and she discovered what it feels like to be mobbed like a popstar with chants of ‘Lucy, Lucy, Lucy’ as the bus departed from the first school!

At our second stop, Huhoini Primary, the playing area was mainly deep red earth, which left a lasting impression on us – mainly attached to socks, shoes, legs…!

We had a quick pit stop in a local village while we refuelled on chapatis and sugary drinks, and watched in disbelief as a sofa approached us down the road, on the back of a motor bike – not something you encounter much on the M25!

Our final stop was most notable for great ingenuity in handling rules. The children were told to stay behind a line of cones, but one little boy wanted to be further forward. His solution? Just pick up the red cone and carry it in front of you  – hard to argue with the logic!

A testing, trying but very uplifting first day in action overall. The sheer volume of kids – at times unexpected as other groups joined – saw us come through some pretty challenging scenarios, not least trying to coach 80 kids at a station within eight minutes until they had to move on.

Back to base tired and dirty, but knowing that we had been part of something very special, for today’s fun (and fantastic) fact…

Fun Fact #3: Between 11 of us, we coached 1,378 children, reinforced their knowledge of how to prevent HIV, and left them all with very big smiles on their faces. Not a bad day’s work.

Ali