Blogs from South-East, Botswana, Africa - page 5

HOW MANY COACHES CAN YOU FIT IN A COMBI? At the beginning we thought that we had drawn the short straw because, by Friday, you would all be bored by the coaching points and sessions. However, we managed to secure the best day because today we assessed our ‘students’ and made them COACHES! Today, eighteen teachers (some of them never played cricket before) run their own coaching sessions and qualified as ICC coaches. We were fortunate to participate in and watch the change from not knowing anything about batting to be able to demonstrate and explain the Pull Shot! How amazing is that? Violet, aka Miss England, aka Miss Botswana, aka White Stilettos, proved to be brilliant even if a little bit more chatty than we expected… Our nomination for the star pupil goes to Kgomotso ... read more

Thursday 22nd October Will spoke too soon yesterday as doggies’ bits were back on the menu this morning but it was not from the blimming dog next door as he barked all night!!! Surprisingly, Godfrey, our combi driver, was bang on time this morning, trying to redeem himself from yesterday’s extra long detour??? No such luck. Innocent as we are, we were all hopeful we could start the day on time. Little had we anticipated that Godfrey’s priorities were his own personal errands rather than ours as he drove us to the local “Advertiser” to place an ad to sell his car. We all sat in the increasingly hot combi waiting for him. After 15 minutes, we finally were off. At Mochudi, we dropped Mike and Veronika to purchase our most needed water supply and headed ... read more

Cricket & Botswana- the perfect Combi-Nation Wednesday 21st October Following a cracking evening at our the local Portugese restaurant an earli(ish) night for most of us and a limit on the girls’ wine intake, things began much the same as usual….Mike G arose tired and a little grumpy having endured another broken nights sleep fighting against Tony’s foghorn snoring, whilst the rest of us picked at another ‘special’ Brackendene breakfast. Luckily for us a further 8 local canines hadn’t lost their cherished manhoods over night as we were served omelets rather than the unusually coloured grisly sausages. Only Mike showed true disappointment at this omission from the menu, apparently enjoying the unexpected crunch he was usually greeted by as he bit down on his 10 inch sausages! Off to Mochudi and another morning at Lady Mitchison ... read more

View from the Kitchen Those of you who read the Day One blog will know that posting it here at the Brackendene Lodge is a delicate balance of Wifi and power....For future visitors the attached picture shows 'IT' Command Centre for CWB Botswana in the optimal working location! VftK will bring brief updates on the vital statistics of the work here in Botswana as well as other useful(?) and interesting information - we may even bring some of Mike Griggs' standup routine...... As ever I'm joined here tonight by my(new) feline assistant...... So our items tonight are :- 1) The Running Totals :- Monday :- Coaches Taught= 19 Children Coached = 84 Tuesday :- Coaches Taught = 19 Children Coached = 99 Running Totals:- Coaches = 19 Children = 183 2) CWB Botswana in the Press ... read more

Monday Morning - Mochudi The work began today with the drive up to Mochudi in our hired Combi. 8 CWBers plus Innocent and Ovbet, our Botswanan development coaches crammed in together with our kit and the BCA photographer. A couple of detours, in search of water for the day (we bought the stock of the Mochoudi Spar), saw us eventually arrive at the Lady Mitchison School. Expecting a short set on introductions prior to getting down to the business of coaching, we were treated to a fabulous welcome involving being introduced to all the staff and the boys and girls who had already played some cricket. Together they them treated us to a rendition of the Botswana National Anthem followed by prayers. However they left the best to last as we were led outside to be ... read more