The day started brighter, and earlier, than usual for the boys as our self-confessed mathematician Dan showed his impeccable time keeping by getting ready for breakfast a whole two hours before the arranged meet time. The eventful morning didn’t end there for Dan as at breakfast, with the help of our trusty mentor Lee and extra help from Grace, he learned the difference between semi-skimmed milk and 1% milk, it was something of a revelation. Other than that it was a normal morning for the rest of the group who began travelling towards GS Munyinya School to start the day of coaching.
When we arrived at GS Munyinya we started the session with relays which involved throwing, catching, batting and dancing before there was a twenty minute school break. During the break the volunteers, to deal with the big increase of pupils, put most of the equipment away except a few bats and balls and played a good old game of catch with in advance of 250 pupils.
After the break, normality resumed and four Rapid Fire cricket stations were set up in time for 150 secondary school pupils to take part. Pupils on the batting team who were waiting for the rest of their teammates to finish were given whiteboards which had a range of different questions from “How do we protect ourselves from HIV?” to “What can boys and girls play together?” This will help push the message of how to stay safe against HIV and also help push the Stigma message across in the ABCTS.
For lunch in the words of Eddie our bus driver “Buffet”.
Before travelling to Mbare Primary school for two afternoon sessions, the group needed a pick me up after the buffet so we had a ‘chill out’ session back at the hotel. When we arrived at Mbare we were greeted with a sea of smiles from around 100 pupils. Of all the schools so far the English of the pupils wasn’t the greatest, but after just four days in Rwanda most of the volunteers have picked up basic kinyarwandan words which have become effective in sessions.
Some phrases learned are “agapeara hassi” which means Ball down and “inuma” which means move back. But, we still need help from Veronica and Joseph, as well as the teachers at Mbare, who are very good at helping translate to pupils and also taking part in the sessions.
At the end of day four we are looking forward to the festival tomorrow morning and spending the last of our time in Gitarama before moving onto schools in Kayonza.
Leighton
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