{"id":143,"date":"2014-10-06T15:02:39","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T14:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/?p=143"},"modified":"2014-10-08T12:58:26","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T11:58:26","slug":"day-14-expect-the-unexpected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/2014\/10\/06\/day-14-expect-the-unexpected\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 14 – Expect the Unexpected"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday is the 9th October. Independence Day in Uganda (1962). When we arrived at nine o’clock on this our last day of coaching, the recreation ground was awash with the military – marching, saluting, practising ceremonials and all carrying weapons that we feared they might turn on us if we encroached on their patch to play cricket. Actually, on closer inspection, the rifles turned out to be mostly sticks but the large groups of school-uniformed children whom we assumed were “ours” also had sticks and started their own marching manoeuvres under the direction of soldiers. There was going to be an Independence Day parade and this was the rehearsal.<\/p>\n

Negotiations of United Nations Observer proportions then got underway and, establishing that the military would be in possession of most of the rec. until 11.00am we were afforded a patch of ground at the periphery to get the final day festival underway. As usual you don’t get all the information: yes, that group did finish at eleven only to be replaced by another until lunch. We managed to squeeze in twelve pitches for some excellent, if a little cramped, games. In the afternoon, with the military gone we were able to stage an exciting last finals day with St Edwards just taking the honours from the Family Spirit orphanage.<\/p>\n

And that is it.

\"Kit<\/a>

Kit for Schools at Festval<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

I’m pleased to announce that the Bard has completed his Uganda Stanza and despite the fact that Paul stole my room key – innocently protesting at breakfast the next morning that he accidentally picked up this key attached to a bulkily heavy piece of wood with a large, white number “16” painted distinctively on it – I commend it to you now as I personally sign off from this blog. (Project Leader Sally will pen the final one tomorrow). I hope you have enjoyed the blog: it’s been fun.<\/p>\n

Peter Yates.
\n15\/6.10.14<\/p>\n

CWB<\/strong> Blitz<\/strong> Uganda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Flying to Entebbe were a gang of eight
\nArriving at midnight, they could not wait
\nTo find a quiet spot nearby
\nAnd watch the stars in the African sky<\/p>\n

After the wonderfully luscious drive
\nInto Kamuli they did arrive
\nPutting students through their paces
\nFinishing off with smiling faces<\/p>\n

Three hundred kids all having fun
\nLearning to hit the ball and run
\nTrying to win by all their means
\nFuelled at lunch with rice and beans<\/p>\n

Onto Lugazi the bus did groan
\nThere the seeds of cricket were sown
\nA whole new set of players to teach
\nAnother town the sport did reach<\/p>\n

A promising day brought on by dawn
\nThough soon the heavy clouds did form
\nThe tropical storm poured all day
\nEven in Uganda, rain stops play<\/p>\n

Soon the coaches’ limbs were aching
\nMuscles hurting, not quite breaking
\nBut just before you start to scoff
\nAt last, Masindi, a rare day off<\/p>\n

Elephants, giraffes and hippos too
\nSo much better than an English zoo
\nBuffalo, crocodile beautiful cob
\nOur guide had done an excellent job<\/p>\n

Back to work but very humbling
\nOrphans through our arms were tumbling
\nSmiling faces and singing children
\nMade me feel a lonely pilgrim<\/p>\n

Sadly came the time to go
\nSun-tanned skin all aglow
\nReflecting on what we managed to learn
\nPromising faithfully to return<\/p>\n

Paul Rallings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday is the 9th October. Independence Day in Uganda (1962). When we arrived at nine o’clock on this our last day of coaching, the recreation ground was awash with the military – marching, saluting, practising ceremonials and all carrying weapons that we feared they might turn on us if we encroached on their patch to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions\/148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/uganda2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}