Day 9 Gaborone Schools (Extension 8)

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Tuesday October 27th

Today was a bit like a “normal day at the office”. Departure was slightly delayed as Mike and Tony decided to have breakfast at the exact moment we were supposed to leave. So, we all patiently waited outside while the newly married couple (they make cups of tea for each other first thing in the morning. Awwww!!!) finished their second cup. After our daily pit stop for water (the married couple turned it into a military operation to prove that we don’t need to leave that early), we headed off to Notwane Primary School.

It was a very busy and mind expanding morning for the teachers as we had to introduce 3 skills: front foot drive, pull shot and wicket keeping. At the end of the morning, one of them was assessed and passed.

Throughout the teachers’ training program, Veronika and I have been demonstrating how to link Aids awareness with cricket coaching. Our drills are based on the ABC message used by the government (Abstain, Be faithful, Condom). Week 2 and we’ve got it down to an art. And may I point out that unlike everybody else, the two Vs always get applause after each demonstration. Some people just have it!!!

This morning, we introduced 2 drills. With the first one, we explained that the wicket is our life. We demonstrated protecting it with and without a bat. The teachers immediately realized that it was the protection issue. With the second one, we were batting as a partnership and ran a single successfully. With the second shot, we both started running and Veronika suddenly changed her mind and got back to her crease. I was run out. The teachers recognized that you can lose your wicket without it being your fault. We hope that it will help to remove the stigma attached to people with HIV/Aids as some people still believe that it’s God’s punishment for wrong doing. After all, we saw the orphans at SOS village who were born with the virus!!!

After a quick lunch at Nandos (BBS Mall), we went to Phillip Moshotle Primary School where we were expecting about 80 children. Only 52 turned up. However, that brought up the numbers to 767 children in 8 days, not including the orphanage.
If you thought that this was a holiday, you can forget that!!!!

And now, as always, we are back at the Cricket Club watching Sri Lanka Vs Zimbabwe. You don’t get more cricket than this!!!

Veronique

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Photos

Front foot drive
Thuto nails a front foot drive

Wicket Keeping Drills
Tony behind the timbers

Protect yourself!
V&V add HIV/AIDS awareness themes to some of today's drills.

Low catch !
The Extension 8 kids are some of the more talented we have seen.

Awareness Writ large....
Gaborone has many large billboards portraying multilingual HIV/Aids awareness messages

......& writ small.......
Also some slightly odd combinations of message....

.......smallest
Also on the walls of many schools