Week Five at IcFEM

Week 2 of cricket in the Units, and we began by finishing off with Kibinge. Kibinge coaching has taking place in Temba Temba, and on to get to this place we need to go down a very steep hill, on buda buda, it really is scary, you defiantly don’t need roller coasters, just go down this hill on a buda buda, with the rider trying to avoid the potholes and in the process nearly tipping you off the bike, its horrible. It was good that Constance sent one of the buda buda men away that was drunk, that would have been great going down there with a drunk driver.

The kids turned up at about 10ish, around an hour late, and then were taught more rules and how to bowl, but not how to field as the fielding group started to bowl, as in Kamkuywa, once again messing up the plans. We also lost one of the footballs when it popped on a barbed wire fence, and was told it could be fixed, so just allowed the man to got away and, as we thought, “try” and fix it, but we later found that it is possible and so carelessly lost a ball.

The next day was the day to pick a team, and was once again made difficult by the games stopping and players following Mathew around as he wrote down the names of the final team. In teaching the kids the proper game of cricket we once again had similar problems to the previous group, with batters wanting to bowl, fielders trying to bat, etc.

Its nice to know people’s true opinion and that is what we got during our 3 days in Kibinge, from a girl who liked to remind me that “this is boring” and “I m not enjoying this,” but still turned up each day, and even managed to get into the reserves for the tournament day.

On Wednesday we began coaching with a new group, Misikhu, and began chaotically, with the news that the children had turned up at 9am, when we had said 2 pm! So we sent off and arrived at 12:30, to find no sawdust had been delivered as had been agreed, and then when asking for help from one of the teachers, was asked how much we were paying and then refused help when we said nothing. But the man in charge of the unit, Ken, knew of cricket, and has played in the past and so turned up to give a helping hand. But his passion got the better of him, with him wanting his team to be the best and know the most, but we felt it wasn’t fair to teach this unit things we had not taught the others. After the second day, when the kids were so difficult, Ken decided that he wanted to pick his team there and then, because he felt we wouldn’t pick a decent team the next day, when he would not be present. At the end of the second day we went for lunch to a “certain mama’s” house, who had been a part of the house construction with us a few weeks earlier. So we had ugali and cuku, with the “old mama” from the house also present.

By the end of the third day the team was picked, a little more quietly than in the previous 2 groups, but we did have one lad who we had said could not play because he was too big, still trying his hardest to get into the team, and a unknown woman just turning up and looking at the team sheet, and standing in the middle of the pitch, seemingly not knowing what was going on, but she never said a word, but just stood clueless in the middle of the pitch.
We had some good help from some people who seemed to just turn up from the street, but were a real help, and great at keeping control and teaching. As with Robert, who had helped us with the other two groups, but the end of the week they had a good idea of the game and began coaching on their own.

On Saturday I did some shopping and then went to Kitale to have a look round, and also see if I could get hold of the next “Prison Break” series on DVD. I didn’t really stay for too long, because there’s not a lot to see and it’s not the prettiest place in the world. But I did go into the supermarket, I haven’t seen much like it since I was back home, and some of the prices are funny e.g. Kellogs Frosties at 500 shillings (about 4 pounds) a box. Also being a musungu has it perks, as I didn’t have to leave my bag outside, and queue to do so, as other shoppers did.

Sunday was spent at church and then in the afternoon, carrying on finishing our trophy, which some in the house may be seen as inadequate by the winners of the tournament. Tut Tut, it looks real, and as good as you can get from a water bottle, tub of margarine and roll of tin foil.