Steve blogs about our first full day in the South.
The contrast from Kigali where there are any number of restaurants with cuisine from around the world to a small town with a couple of hotels and a few places to eat out and cheap beer could not be more striking and I now feel I'm in the Africa I expected to find when I set out. Where we eat lunch here in Huye centre loud music can be heard drifting up from the shops below. This town certainly does have a great vibe.
With the last two days of relative relaxation, first up in Kinihira with the hugely successful launch of cricket and then Sunday's enjoyable trip down south through the stunning scenery, this morning feels more like business as usual. We are however now a little lower on team members from last week with David, Tracey and Amerdeep leaving at the weekend but all the first time volunteers now know the drill and can all easily manage a station on there own, there really is a fantastic camaraderie and great team spirit within the camp which should stand us in good stead for the rest of the week.
The morning started early for Lee and Audi who had a meeting at the Kabutare Hospital with Charles, hoping to build a future relationship with regard to HIV testing stations. The outcome was very positive with the hope for a test station at this Fridays festival but if not definitely for future trips.
Our first coaching session of the day was at Ikibondo School where we spent the whole morning coaching in the limited space, the school shares a playground with the another school so at the end of the session we were able to convey the HIV message to all the other kids from next door who had been watching from the sidelines. We go back to coach to their school on Wednesday.
In the afternoon we dropped Lee and Audi of at the Kabutare TSS to do their Coach Education Training, while the rest of the team headed to Ecole Autonome de Butare. We were welcomed by the Headmaster who explained that originally the school, was built for the Belgium ex-pat children, until after the genocide where it was handed over to the local authority. Another hectic afternoon but all the kids left with smiling faces and the school seemed very pleased we'd made the visit and look forward to our return. In total we coached 232 children so a good day at the office.
After our evening meal Eric invited Mary to join us for drinks. Mary is in her first year at the university here in Huye, she also plays cricket for White Cloud a ladies team in Kigali, a four hour round trip now that's dedication for you! It just illustrates how much the love of cricket is spreading throughout Rwanda and it's another reason for me to be immensely proud to be volunteering with CWB.
Well done guys. Keep going