I find myself once again writing a blog, as I did on Day 2, on Day 11 of our trip to Rwanda. Now well into the tail of our trip, there’s an awful lot to write about. Once again, it’s been a brilliant day.
We left the hotel at the usual time for this week, around 9:30. The trip to the school we would be at for the whole day only took 10 minutes, and we were soon pulling into SOS Primary & Secondary School. The format of the day was explained to be four sessions: two groups of 150 primary children in the morning followed by two groups of 150 secondary in the afternoon – although this then evolved to be one group in the morning of 300 primary children.
Imagine our surprise then, when only 103 children showed up! We set up four games and ran the session for an hour. After a long lunch (and maybe a short Power Nap from some of the team, myself included…), we headed back to the school for an afternoon with the secondary children. Our two sessions again turned into one, with about 140 children. We played various games and fed in some important messaging around gender equality and HIV awareness. And the best question of the trip so far was asked: ‘ Are you here to teach us strange baseball?’
We then found ourselves with some time to spare, which allowed us to have a session with the very tiny primary kids, from the P1-P3 age groups. I think I speak for the whole team when I say this was one of our favourite sessions yet. Their enthusiasm was contagious and it’s hard not to enjoy running a session full of energy and noise. I have to admit that late in the day it was tough to keep up with them!
Whilst this session was running, we were keeping up with the score from the national men’s team, who were competing against Nigeria in the West Africa T20I Trophy. We had been following the game during the day, and whilst Rwanda had made some good progress with the ball, they were unfortunately unable to chase the Nigerian total and lost the first game. It was interesting finding out the result to such a comparatively serious game whilst in the middle of an overly hyperactive round of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Ball! I’m positive that, having had the fortune to see the team train on this trip, they’ll come back stronger for the next game!
Being ever closer to the end of the trip, it’s hard to not miss home comforts. I’m looking forward to seeing friends and family, and it would be nice to order food and know exactly what you’re getting! But although this is true, I’m so glad we still have two more days: each session is so rewarding and it’s such a treat to be able to see them having so much fun. From day one, we’ve seen what an incredible country this is, the people are so welcoming and warm, and the landscapes are beautiful and pristine. There may be no better example of this than the school today, which sat on a hill overlooking the countryside below (the header photo for today’s log) – and we had dinner by the beautiful lake we saw the other day (the photo here is of Fredy and Ally at dinner).
Finally, having become de facto photographer for the trip due to bringing my camera, I thought I’d add in a few photos from the trip as a whole. Enjoy! [Editorial note: Huge thanks to Josh for documenting the trip so wonderfully for all of us.]
Josh Smart
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