Lost Bags and Big Wins: Day 1 in Biratnagar!

A short update from Nepal (well, certainly shorter than our journey!)

With the team convening onto Kathmandu for the Sunday morning – some via trekking the Annapurnas, some via Glasgow – it was perhaps too much to ask for all our journeys to go perfectly smoothly and so it transpired when 6 bags didn’t make the connection from Delhi to Kathmandu – mostly cricket kit although a few folks’ essentials, requiring a stop off at the Bhatbhateni supermarket for toothpaste (and snacks) when we finally landed in Biratnagar. 

Luckily a fantastic dinner at the Swagatam hotel set us up for a good nights sleep and we hit day 1 running with an action packed day visiting 5 of Nepal Cricket Foundation’s existing project schools and one new school. Splitting the team in two, the highlight session for Group Sara had to be the session at all-girl school Ardash Balika. The front courtyard was out of action so 60 girls of all ages and sizes – including some superstars from the school team – ran through catching, batting and bowling in modified relays. Cricket Changemaker Sima Rai summarised the session with a mini quiz using our co-created gender equality flashcards, before we “bowled out” gender inequality by smashing over the stumps with cards representing gender stereotypes and discrimination.

Passing over to Saq for the highlights for the group he took the lead on, the highlight was the new school Susikxya Nikunj School, which was full of keen students, helpful teachers, an even split of boys and girls and a fairly flat playing area (aside from a few movable bricks!). We used table tennis tables to help facilitate discussions about gender discrimination and challenged the players to come up with solutions how to help address inequalities, while we saw “equality in action” with boys and girls helping each other to develop their skills.

Finishing with momos and draft Barasinghe beer at “Epic BBQ” after an Epic day – 629 boys and girls coached, 48% of them girls!

Sara