After a very long day of travelling, the Team were a little bit disappointed to hear that we had a 6am start on day one. However, on arrival at Gahanga stadium – the national cricket stadium for Rwanda, all sense of time was forgotten.
Gradually through the mist, children started appearing and once we had set up the batting, bowling and fielding stations we started with a warm-up relay.
Ably supported by Ambassador Tall Eric, a raft of other Erics and local volunteer coaches everybody got stuck in with the session – coaching, encouraging, timekeeping.
All the children, who had also got up early to be there were enthused by cricket and were a joy to coach. After a short break it was games time.
A mix of pairs cricket for the more experienced cricketers and rapid fire for those newer to cricket was spread out across the field. Numbers in each group inevitably increased as the session went on to a total of over 300.
After a lunch break in the pavilion – including several trips to the barista coffee station we were back on the bus to go to Ndera.
Several of the team are involved in sponsoring the teams and set up of Ndera so were especially thrilled to see it in real life.
We had a slightly less glamourous dusty field to play in for the afternoon and it was soon filled with 85 children ready to learn cricket, play games and get stuck in with some physical activity.
Translation and new ideas were provided by more local coaches, and after a long day, rain stopped play about 10 minutes early.
Eddie took us back to the hotel via banks, water stops and supermarkets before advising us on the best place for dinner where we could share our highlights, challenges and take on board ideas from the group.
Ready for the next day? Let’s go!
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