Blogs from Gaborone, South-East, Botswana, Africa - page 3

Not really a view from the kitchen tonight, more a view from a sofa in Thakeham. Having returned home this morning I thought I'd close out a few loose ends from CWB Botswana 2009. Final Numbers Tally After a few recounts and checking of spoilt ballot papers, as returning officer for Botswana, I declare the results as follows:- Number of child sessions conducted - 1311 Number of coaches trained - 57 Mini World Cup As reported by Ravi, in comments to previous blogs, the semi-final between Botswana and India was won after midnight by Botswana aftter rain del;ays through the evening. On Friday night with Pakistan well in control, the game against Zimbabwe was abandoned due to rain. However in the hastily arranged 15 over aside rematch on Saturday afternoon Zimbabwe were victorious and an hour ... read more

Cricket Without Brackendene Our final morning as a complete team began with team photos on the balcony of the Brackendene Lodge - our ‘Home Away from Home’ for the past couple of weeks. Tomorrow the party splits during the day as we head to different flights home or holiday extensions to the trip. Photos complete, we loaded the Combi for the last time and headed down to Ramotswa for a second journey into the unknown. Yesterday started looking like a washout and ended with vast numbers of children spread across the Magopane Hill School field playing cricket. So what could we expect today? Good news was that all the teachers who turned up on the first day returned on the second. So by applying ‘continuous assessment’ we were able to satisfy ourselves that they were up ... read more

The view from the kitchen tonight is through weary eyes propped open with match sticks. The pace out here is beginning to tell.... However the good news is that with today's mass turn out at Magopane Hill in Ramotswa, well over 900 kids have been coached by CWB in the last couple of weeks. In addition another batch of 18 coaches may complete their training tomorrow. On the Mini World Cup front - the generator was fixed by by mid afternoon. The semi final between Botswana and India duly started on time under lights. However persistent drizzle and storms all round the ground brought the players off early in the second innings. as we left the ground, there was 15 minutes to go before the match would have to be abandoned- which would have severe impact ... read more

A very brief word from the kitchen tonight. Tonight we have been royally entertained by the BCA - consequently today's Blog, courtesy of the Hydration Minister and the Minister Without Porfolio (aka Reeves & Reeves) will appear tomorrow sometime. Running Totals Children sessions run today amounted to around 78 bring our running total to around 845. We also completed assessments on a further 18 coaches. Mini World Cup. Has struck technical diffilculties. Monday's 'quarter-final' between India and South Africa was abandoned following 4 floodlight failures during the first half of the game. A replay was planned for tonight. However the repairs (flushing the Generator set radiator) )proved inadequate and the lights again failed in the second quarter-final on Tuesday evening between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. With little remedial action obvious, your editor cro... read more

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 ... read more