We awoke to the expected sight of yet another blue sky so we all knew there was a hot day to come. However we did not expect the events of yet another enjoyable day in unpredictable Africa filled with driving minibuses, driving tests and driving tennis balls!
Our long journey to Gitarama started at 8am and within an hour we were pushing the minibus, which had broken down in the middle of a busy Kigali junction, to the side of the road. As we were stranded we started an impromptu game of catch with some curious children who had wandered towards our marooned minibus. After a forty minute wait, the bus was fixed and we carried on our journey to the sports stadium which we would be using as a base for our coaching for the day. This trip took us to more rural parts of the country which were filled with stunning scenery and plenty of hills, Rwanda is lovingly known as the land of 1000 hills and I am pretty sure we drove over most of them today.
When we arrived at Gitarama we were greeted by a stadium full of adults who were taking their written driving test so we had to stay in the bus and keep as quiet as possible as we were getting a few stern looks from armed police. Despite the breakdown, we managed to be forty five minutes early which we have learnt by now is typical Africa.
We got use of the vast sports field so we could spread out so the kids could hit the ball as far as possible! Paul and Martin took two sessions of coach education where they gave some local teachers (12) a crash course in cricket coaching which seemed to be very successful. Once again we coached over one hundred children today so the game is spreading very quickly and hopefully this will inspire the local school to create a school team as there were children who had real potential.
Our trip home was accompanied by CWB FM which played a multitude of golden oldies from Ian’s mobile phone so the journey went very quickly and we even witnessed our first Rwandan rain storm which was torrential and quite a sight to see. Tomorrow we are going to Greenhills Academy which is a private school so once again we are hoping for some nice flat ground and maybe even some grass!
Cricket Without Boundaries