The conversation at breakfast probably left a few new members feeling slightly underprepared for the day we had ahead – Aimable said no more than 80-100 each session and boy was he wrong by give or take a few hundred (600+)
We started at Tumba Primary school, we were warned about the lack of space so set up a bowling station, a batting station and a CWB + station (to sit the kids down and ask what problems they have to deal with in Rwanda and how cricket can help them. Now this also became a slight problem as the head teacher mentioned they don’t overly teach them English and requested we spoke kiryarwandan, and I’m not sure myself and Beth knowing “agapira hassi makes us fluent) Around 70 kids came down so we started with an Introduction led by Rob. The 70 became over 200 in a blink of an eye! This quickly set the tone for how the rest of the day could possibly pan out! Total students playing cricket at school 1 was 248!
Onto Faith Preparatory Academy – Eddie parked the bus at the top of a very steep hill and pointed to the bottom and sends us on our way! (Now the hill wasn’t really a problem until the way back up). The space was even smaller than the previous, but we successfully set up 3 stations and played a game at the end! Due to the space, Aimable told us we could only have 80 and this time he was pretty correct considering, but as the break time bell rang, lots of the younger aged children came to watch and politely sat on the bank! They weren’t sitting for long that’s for sure, Led by Beth and Matt, nearly 200 children were playing head, shoulders, knees and toes. Running total 520
Only stopping for a quick but well deserved lunch break!
Time for Rango Primary. 162 kids came out to play cricket after lunch. Divided into 4 stations and 4 games, a rather large area compared to the mornings sessions quickly looked full with the amount of kids running around enjoying their sessions! Running total 682 – now here 1000 was in sight but looking unlikely however we were determined to hit that mark.
Onto EP Ikibondo – a private school right next Tumba primary. Nick mentioned the space here was the most limited we would’ve had by far, from memory there was a “courtyard” and a “flowerbed area we could catch in” He went in first to meet the head teacher came back to the bus and said “slight problem, they have built on the flowerbed so there is only one space.” So to maximise participation we agreed with the head teacher to do two 30 minute sessions of 100 kids and do cricket relays. During the first session, 140 younger children (ranging between 3-5) came to watch who again got some cricket in by playing head, shoulders, knees and toes/ball with Matt and Beth! Onto the second 30 minutes the head teacher sent the other 100 kids out, leaving 20ish behind who we just had to invite down! Both sessions included running relays, catching relays and batting relays! And if the kids weren’t participating they were on the balcony cheering and laughing at the students and the teachers attempting to balance the ball on the bat!
Out for dinner and a well earned drink after a grand total of 1042!
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