Our first day in Rwanda has been more than successful – although fair to say that we were all tired this morning: we arrived at the hotel about 1:30am last night, having left Heathrow on a 6:30am flight… But the local team have taken pity on us and broken us in gently, with a perfect mix of a relaxed few hours followed by a full-on 90-minute session with about 120 kids of all ages from the local community.
We started out with a somewhat abortive effort to get local SIM cards and cash – failing on both counts – but it was more than worth it for the walk through the cricket ground just around the corner from the hotel: the IPRC ground, which is one of two national stadiums.
And then we were bussed a few miles to what is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful cricket grounds any of us have ever seen: the Gahanga ground. It sits near the top of one of Kigali’s many hills, with a panoramic view. This view is greatly enhanced by the presence of a truly splendid, undulating pavilion (see photo at the top), its roof in three waves, each covered in rocks and open underneath to the elements, with raptors circling overhead. We sat for hours watching an excellent men’s game between the Challengers and Kigali CC, with players including several from the Ugandan national team, who are often over here . Indeed, we are told that cricket largely made its way to Rwanda as those who fled after the atrocities in 1994 returned home, bringing the game with them from Uganda and Kenya (former British colonies). The captain of the team we saw bat made a fine 50, coming in at number 9 – but the less said about the catching of the fielding team the better (we didn’t quite run out of fingers for the dropped catches, but it was close).
The game was being live-streamed and commentated on (happy to see that at least one of the commentators was a woman) – and there was a slightly precarious-looking camera gantry with its flooring at a jaunty angle (photo). Some of us were schooled in the importance of the direction in which to walk around the ground: ‘Right for runs’, apparently – and we didn’t all walk the right way to support the batting team, so we’ve already let our glorious leader (Lee) down… Walking around the outfield took us past the scoreboard, where a walkie talkie confirmed what was going on each ball for the team of people in charge.
And then in the afternoon, we set off for what we are really here for: our first coaching session. This was on a large and dusty playing field – again with a good view and with the sunshine gradually turning to looming black clouds: it rained just enough to grant us a brief rainbow. The local coaches and ambassadors are fantastic – knowledgeable, fun and energetic with, crucially, the local language (a big barrier for us with the smaller children).
But rather than write about the session – which, as the debrief afterwards confirmed, we all thoroughly enjoyed and which, judging by their enthusiasm, the kids did too – we all took photos and videos. These give a much better feel for the place, for the colours, for the activities and, most importantly, for the number and excitement of the children. Safe to say that all of us – newbies and returners – are looking forward enormously to the next two weeks: a couple more days in Kigali, followed by Nyamata and then Kayonza. If we have half as much fun as the children, this is going to be fabulous.
Katy Cooper – Sussex Cricket Foundation trustee; earliest cricket memory – watching Headingley ‘81 on telly
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It’s great to see what can be done to help others.
Well done to you all.