It took a 5 hour car journey, 7 hours in a lovely hotel on the shores of Lake Victoria, 6 hours in the Karibuni Lounge in Entebbe Airport, 9 hours on a plane, and an hour and a half on the tube to finally reach home. Thankfully I was allowed to work from home on Tuesday!
Once again I have been bowled over by Uganda. It’s natural beauty continues to stun me, but more importantly its the local people’s enthusiasm and talent that impresses me – Sometimes I do wonder if we in the Western world have lost most of our innocence. Many of the people I met in Uganda would be what we would describe as ‘poor’, since they have very little money, however I believe they are rich in many ways we are not.
It is two years since I last visited Uganda, and Soroti is somewhere CWB hasn’t visited in a long time. It is a town with huge potential, and with Peter, Felix and the Soroti Cricket Academy I believe there is a long term plan for a cricketing legacy in the town. I hope CWB and the Ugandan Cricket Association will support them because the potential here is huge. Soroti included 2.5 hour radio shows, locals with cockney accents and hundreds and hundreds of teachers and children. What more could you want?
I visited Mbale on my last trip and it was nice to see some familiar faces and sights. Cricket is more established here, but the next challenge is to find a pathway for the thousands of enthusiastic children to secondary schools who play and then clubs sides.
I can’t speak highly enough of the local Ugandan coaches. Jackson, Emmanuel and Waka are all very talented coaches, who have a natural rapport with the children and teachers. Importantly they are also genuinely funny guys and important team members. We could simply not do what set out to achieve without them.
I have also been hugely impressed with the skeleton crew of CWB coaches who worked incredibly hard in some pretty hot and difficult conditions. They passed on the vitally important ABC-T messages with enthusiasm and coached some seriously impressive numbers the skills of cricket.
Finally, my personal thanks to Paul, Tim, Wakamara, John, Emmanuel, Jackson and Joseph. You are the people that make CWB special. I’m very grateful I could coach with you, share a beer and some stories. Make the most most of your last few days chaps, I’m sorry I can’t be there with you.
Thanks Jamie and we hope to see you next year.