Day 2 – BBC’s Phil Mackie reporting from Soroti

Talk about a bus man’s holiday! Our first full day in Soroti in Eastern Uganda began with myself & Jamie Burton getting up at 05.30 in order to appear as guests live on the Breakfast show at Kyoro Veritas, the second most listened to station in the district.

Expecting a quick interview about Cricket Without Boundaries, and the HIV/aids message, we braced ourselves for 5 minutes on air, perhaps 15 at the studios. Two hours of live radio later, yes – 2 hours; we left, battle-weary and exhausted, for our first experience of coaching in Uganda.

We went far further than simply re-iterating the charity’s message. We talked about the potential to develop training to incorporate other issues, Hepatitis and FGM for instance; we discussed the future of Ugandan cricket; and, to my delight and Jamie’s despair, celebrated with the presenters when news broke of England’s victory over Scotland in the Cricket World Cup.

By 9 we had joined up with the rest of the team at the Soroti sports ground for a day’s teacher training.
Then three things happened that everyone who knows Africa would have expected, but one thing caught us by surprise. First, far more people turned up than were expected; secondly, and despite repeated messages that teachers shouldn’t bring children, they did; and despite being promised that children would be fed and watered, they weren’t. What really blindsided us was that everyone turned up on time.

After making a TV film and recording a radio programme about CWB in 2012, I was thrilled to be asked to volunteer, and thoroughly enjoyed my first “proper” day. I coached alongside John Colley, a fellow CWB virgin, and natural loudmouth. I mean that as a compliment. If you were to design an archetype for a good coach, you would come up with him. His solution to everything – a cold beer – would undoubtedly make him a popular addition to any future CWB tour.

We also spent time with Jackson Ogwang, Emmanuel Isaneez, two of our three Ugandan coaches having an exceptionally enjoyable and fulfilling afternoon.

Roll on tomorrow.