Bill reflects on week 1

Sunrise on Day Eight of our Rwanda adventure found us drinking tea and eating breakfast on the verandah as we enjoyed the last few minutes of that breathtaking panorama; the early morning mist still clinging to the valley spread out before us (indeed, there were several valleys – Rwanda is, after all, “The land of a thousand hills). It felt rather “colonial” and somewhat at odds with the nature of our business here.

After yesterday's epic launch of cricket in the remote region of Kinihira, when around 1,250 youngsters received coaching and the all important HIV health awareness messages, we had been guests at the Sorwathe Tea Company, one of the event sponsors, And their benevolence is not limited to feeding and watering cricket missionaries.

The company is very much about sustainability, environmental integrity and supporting local communities through work opportunities and education bursaries for bright children from the poorest families. The company has built one school for 130 pupils and another is due to open this year.

With a little more than half of our volunteer “tour of duty” now completed I, in company with my travelling companions, am finding new experiences every day as we drive around this country of amazing contrasts. Today we headed South to the university town of Butare.

There we spent an hour at the Nyampinga (means beautiful and honourable) orphanage for girls. This was a first time visit for CWB solely due to the initiative of our southern ambassador Audi who had held five coaching sessions when other schools were unavailable in the holidays. 50 girls took part in a game of pairs cricket and displayed plenty of skill and enthusiasm.

We have been based in Kigali, the capital for our first week. But Kigali centre is a deception; a prosperous looking paradox of manicured lawns, dual carriageways lined with flower beds, and modern hotels to cater for the burgeoning tourist trade in what is still one of Africa's poorest countries.

No, to see the “real” Rwanda you need to get out of Kigali – or at least out of the city centre. Then take a left or a right off the tarmac road and you will probably find yourself having to negotiate something that resembles a dried-up river bed of orange clay. Curious children smile and wave at the passing Mzungu (“white man”) as they play outside ramshackle homes held together with corrugated steel, gnarled and twisted timber, plastic sheets and cardboard. Improvisation is not just a watchword for CWB volunteers!

So, reflections on our first week in Rwanda; our first week of coaching – hopefully – Rwanda’s cricketers of the future while constantly reinforcing those all important HIV messages and building on the fine work of the CWB volunteers who have preceded us here and also in Kenya, Uganda, Botswana and Cameroon.

Firstly, not withstanding the sociable evenings and such joys as the gorilla trek, it has to be said that CWB volunteering could never be mistaken for a holiday. At 67, and as the “daddy” of the group, I personally find the days of coaching to be long and hot. But you soon forget all that when you are greeted like visiting royalty by ragamuffin schoolchildren who just want to shake your hand or “high five” you and can still get excited about being handed a wristband, a tennis ball or a CWB t-shirt.

Coaching is, of necessity, often at a rudimentary level. After all, many children here will have never seen or played cricket so there is no point trying to explain the LBW rule or the complexities of Duckworth-Lewis (even if we could! Could anyone?). No, our job is to enthuse both boys and girls with the idea of playing cricket; to get them to love the game as we do, and to remind them continuously about their HIV/Aids ABCs – abstinence, being faithful to one sexual partner, and using protection when they grow up. And always, always get themselves tested. Good sport and good health must never be mutually exclusive.

Every coaching day has been the same, yet somehow very different. Planned beforehand with military precision, they can often be joyously haphazard and improvised when twice as many children as expected descend upon us. But this is Rwanda. Organisation works like “Africa time” and is only ever approximate.

Some impressive figures: at the end of the first week we reckon to have coached and given the HIV/Aids messages to around 3,300 children from eight primary and secondary schools around Kigali, boosted by the masses who turned the Kinihira launch into the region's sporting event of the year. We even had national media coverage.

Some special memories: the children, always smiling and eager to please despite the hardship and poverty which are constants in their life.

The stoicism of their parents, who are never asked to do less than make the best of a very bad job.

The collective sound of 800 children yelling “condom” at the top of their voice.

Transportation of goods. If it is something as manageable as the weekly wash or a sack of spuds it goes on the head. If it is something a little more substantial, such as a wardrobe or 50ft of 3 x 2 timber, then it should fit comfortably on the back of your bicycle.

The motorcycle taxis in Kigali – dirt cheap and great fun.

The verdant countryside and rolling hills. You are always either going uphill or downhill in Rwanda.

All great memories of the sights and sounds of Rwanda. But the winner has to be seeing fellow volunteer Armadeep being given a back-hander by a charging 300 lb gorilla, 10,000 feet up in the Virunga Mountains. Very surreal.