Last day in Uganda...

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March 13th - Last day in Uganda
Almost everyone was ready for the 7am leave from Fort Portal to Kampala. Scott was his usual ten minutes late, but John did even better finally getting onto the bus at 7.20. We had two extra passengers - Pastor Bosco who was going to visit some of ‘his’ children in a township in Kampala, and the manager of the Rwenzori Travellers Inn. A journey that we expected to be four hours took an hour and a half longer due to the road being repaired and more speed bumps being installed.
Having arrived at the Lugogo cricket stadium in time for lunch, our start time for the ‘big match’ had to be delayed. CWB and guests - John, Charles, Fred and Mackenzie (Uganda ladies player) took the field against a Chairman’s XI. The CWB team were well supported by Jo, Veronika and Clare who decided that they were too pretty to play with a hard ball and there was too much testosterone flying about. Clare was elected as chief drinks carrier because she needed an official title on her birthday. The CWB XI, captained by former England school boys captain Richard Davies, won the toss and elected to field first in the 25 over a side match. The umpires wanted to introduce power plays but it was decided that normal limited over fielding restrictions would suffice. Charles - getting in some practice before his summer move to play in Essex, and Mackenzie opened the bowling. The Chairman’s XI finished on 159 in their 25 overs. In reply, Mark got us off to a flying start and colours (see photo) with John ‘Boycott’ Mayeku. Once Mark was out, the scoring rate slowed until Richard, after a watchful start, hit two sixes in a useful partnership with Tom ‘banana trousers’ Rich. It was left to Tom and Mike to finish off the game with a high class partnership of 3 in the 23rd over!
The Uganda Cricket Association did not harbour any grudges and provided drinks and a feast of chicken, boiled goat and rice. Following speeches from both sides, missed by the girls who were showering in the pitch dark changing rooms washing their hair with body lotion under dribbles of cold water, the teams retired to the bar. As it was Clare’s birthday, she was treated to a double Vodka much to her dismay. It was then the turn of anyone who had a birthday in the past few months to down the same drink in one.
It was then time to go accompanied by our friends from the UCA including John’s fiancée Gloria whom we had heard so much about.
Scott is still trying to work out exactly how many children we coached - he has gone through two calculators - but with numbers approaching 300 on most days, we could be up for a record. Cricket development is in good hands with the UCA.
We were very fortunate to spend two weeks in a beautiful country full of friendly people who smiled and waved to us as we passed through towns and villages. We will all take back some wonderful memories from our time in Uganda.

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