Abi: Eric Ndanga, you have been our advisor, organiser, and local connection as the CWB ambassador and RCA coach in the Eastern Region. You’ve just finished about 10 days and 2 regions, Kayonza and Nyagatare with the CWB volunteer team. Can you share what it was like working with us?
Eric: Working with CWB involved a lot of things: planning, organising, teamwork, good body language, offering positive cues, time management, resilience, effort, and adaptation to conditions. It was important to reflect after our coaching sessions, during and at the end of the day, to see how everyone is doing and how we could adapt or improve. We have been able to boost the game in Kayonza, and introduce cricket to a new area in Nyagatare. A special moment was planting a mango tree at the Teacher Training College in Nyagatare, to mark CWB introducing cricket to the area for the first time.
Abi: Did you have/achieve any goals?
Eric: In Kayonza, the goal is to engage 70% of girls in Eastern Province, so boosting the number of active female players up from 40%. The other goal is to help people know the game, and get local leaders on board. CWB have helped with this by funding 50% of the cost of running an ICC Foundation course to educate more local cricket coaches which took place during this trip.
Abi: What was the most tricky part of the tour for you?
Eric: Good question! Probably it was communicating with the schools we visited- I would reach out and follow up, but because of it being exam season, the teachers have switched off from cricket as they’re focussing on exams. This made it hard to get permissions to come in and coach cricket. Also what was challenging for the volunteers was the language barrier, especially at primary and at government schools where the level of English was not very strong among the students.
Abi: What was your favourite moment? Eric: Seeing the crowd of school teams in Nyagatare playing a cricket festival, having fun and becoming winners. And also CWB planting a tree to mark the arrival of cricket in Nyagatare.
Abi: Any thoughts on the future of Rwanda’s cricket?
Eric: We should keep collaborating with CWB, to source more equipment, to increase the number of schools, coaches and players playing cricket. Even if we dont have a lot of resources, we are able to make it stretch.
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