Day 5

Another early rise took the children off to their designated schools for an intense day of coaching. They spent the morning sessions with their first schools and finished with their second schools in the afternoon. Once back at Baobab, the team participated in intensive coaching with the tag rugby coaches, to prepare for the next steps  in their final day of coaching tomorrow. The staff participated in their own mini touch rugby tournament with one team made up of two P.E teachers and a semi pro, verses two complete beginners and a retiree! The latter team obviously won!
Today saw real progress with each of the groups coaching - not only with the children being coached but also with our Esher High students improving as coaches. Each school being coached is very different to one another, bringing with it different experiences for our pupils. So here's a bit of an introduction to each of our host schools and how our students are making such a huge difference:

- Sosco
Sosco is the school we have been supporting for the past two years. During our visit so far, we have repainted two of their classrooms, provided them with donations and completed some tag rugby training. We are now looking toward building a project to put a bore hole on the school site.
Esher High support has been paying half the teachers wages for the past two years without which the school would have closed. It currently has 350 children on roll. This is where we have painted our rugby mural.

- Lilayi
This is the first year Lilayi has been involved on the tag rugby program. There are 1500 students on roll. During our week, there have at times been around 300 children out on the 'field' wanting to take part (and taking part) in the tag rugby games or various outdoor games (dancing/singing/throw and catch).

 

- Yanos
Located a short walking distance from Lilayi, Yanos has 3 basic classrooms with a breeze block construction - we have painted both inside and outside the school building. The school has no flooring and no plaster on the walls; it is a very basic structure. The school fees for primary education are 6kw per month (approximately 75p per month) and yet some parents can't afford it. Some of the teachers have been working on a voluntary basis for the past couple of months including the Head-teacher because donations haven't been made to pay their wages.



- Twitti
Twitti is an example of what can be done with sponsorship and donations. The building itself has been made entirely from donations by a Canadian High School. It has modern classrooms and flushable toilets rather than a hole in the ground. All children have a uniform. You would recognise Twitti as beng a primary school. This will be our tournament venue for Saturday.

- Chilanga
This is a government school drawing in government grants for the education of children there - the primary education is free (Community schools rely on donations). This is the only school in the local area that has a special needs department.

- Grand IQ
Grand IQ charges approximately 1000kw per term (equivalent to approximately £125). It has it's own school buses and the students English is very good from a very young age. Surprisingly, all children wear shoes/trainers to play rugby (unlike all the other schools we are working with who tend to play in bare feet)

- Guardian Angels
Another school we have supported since our first trip in 2009. The school currently has 400 students on roll of which 198 are single orphans, 100 are double orphans and 102 are vulnerable (which generally means their parent(s) are in the hospice next door). It's one of the schools we have always had the dance program in. Not only do our children coach the pupils but they also learn dance from the students there.

- St. Patricks
Situated close to the main road in one of the poorest compounds in the area. To get to the playing surface of red dust you have to walk through the local village where there are no proper houses, no sanitation, no water supply and no power. This will be our venue for the tournament on Friday.