Coaching at Roots Academy

---

Normal morning routine, save for the fact that I ordered coffee and scrambled egg. I received tea but no egg! Even as the others arrived they had cooked food, but not I! Still, no matter! We were soon outside to await Davis and the 9.30 minibus. We all clambered in (including the much recovered Chip) and made our way up to the main Nairobi road and out to Roots Academy, right next door to Greensteds School. This modern looking school for 300 pupils welcomed us and Stanley and Francis spent the morning with us too. We had a pretty good field on which to operate. A group of children were rehearsing a dance and song routine about HIV/Aids for a forthcoming Parents Open Day. Once again it was marvellous how they manage the harmonies so perfectly despite having no musical accompaniment. Lines of laundry had already been hung out to dry in the very hot sunshine, barely a cloud in the sky. Matt led the session which focussed on bowling, FFD, target bowling and Lord’s games with the standard HIV/Aids talk and demos to end with. The children were fantastic - very well behaved, polite and quick to produce results. They should do well in the tournament tomorrow, especially as they retained some kit to practice with! We finished later than usual due to getting everything done and having to build in a porridge break mid-morning!

Back at RVSC we were met by Elizabeth who was in town to call at the Provincial Office and do some other business. She has bought a couple of acres of ground in the Molo quarter and she showed me the Kenyan Title Deeds. Together with their land at Mausummit and Kericho they are doing well as farmers! Lunch had been extremely late starting and we had to try and cram everything into just 50 minutes. The others kindly allowed me to take the rest of the day off and so, when they went out to Nakuru Day School, I walked around the city with Elizabeth. We went up and down lanes and alleyways that I would not have used on my own but they proved to be safe enough. Everywhere we went we saw stalls selling mobile top-ups, electrical items, hawkers and dozens of people busily moving from A to B. We went into Nakuru Coffee Shop by the market and it was very nice not to be hassled. We had a large coffee each in the interior which was decorated with the same narrow varnished wooden patterned strips that seem to be so common in this area. We talked for about an hour about Kenya and England, Education, Music, Drama, Hockey, Cricket and Women’s Rights and only had to pay 60/= at the end! Elizabeth had come down from Kericho in one of the matatus and so we walked back down the lanes to the matatu “station”. Vehicles with destinations all over Kenya and beyond marked on large signs on their rooves were littered about the area and yet more hawkers were plying their wares. We found the right matatu and she went off to buy her ticket. Safely inside the vehicle the street traders tried harder than ever to part us from our money. There were only two empty seats and so it was not long before they were filled and the matatu was on its way. Elizabeth had hoped to be home in an hour and a half but a head-on smash between two lorries meant that it took over four hours!

Meantime, the others had returned from visiting Nakuru Day School (for CWB coaching) and had fitted in a visit to SCAN (Street Children Alliance Nakuru) where they had been impressed by the facilities which included a library and six computers. Jared, one of the teachers who completed the Level 1 course works there as well as being a teacher at East More School. He had taught the boys very well and Andy was so impressed that he invited them along to the tournament!

We went to Taidy’s in the evening; the food was extremely poor, service atrocious and needs to be wiped from all lists of places to call at. Needless to say, we did not hang around there too long!

---