Tuesday 12th July - Coaching Day 2

Our second day of coaching and everybody was full of confidence. Our morning session at Zoks was far less chaotic as the whole school wasn't outside waiting for us.

Everything was much more structured and the Welling Team really shone in their coaching roles. This was evident when the Zambian children demonstrated how much they had learnt from the previous session.

The young children who were unable to take part in the sessions were taught the 'Hokey Kokey' by Mrs Killington, who was obviously affected by the rise in temperature.

For the afternoon sessions, both Teams walked cross country to Mount Makubu School, overcoming many obstacles along the way.

Like yesterday, the afternoon sessions were extremely enjoyable, productive and of a high standard.

As you can see from the pictures below, village life continues even when the Welling Team are around.



Today has been another inspiring and fulfilling experience which, in one way or another, is having an affect on us all.

Please click on the link below to see all the photos from Tuesday 12th July.

Tuesday 12th July

Link for Monday 11th July photos

Click on or copy and paste the link below into your browser to see all the photos from Monday 11th July.

https://picasaweb.google.com/110212511025330888145/Monday10thJuly?authkey=Gv1sRgCMv9vNfJx8az6gE

Monday 11th July - First coaching sessions

Today was the first day of why we came here. Coaching Tag Rugby to our schools. The Welling Team split into two with the idea of going into two different schools in the morning and then two different schools for the afternoon. George, Hannah, James, Joe and Peter were Team 1 while Abbi, Harry, Rebeca, Charlie and Grant were Team 2. Team 1 were to be dropped off at a school called Grand IQ but when we arrived they were not keen on disturbing their normal morning lessons so it was decided that both Teams would go to Zoc's School for the morning session before they split and revert to their planned schools for the afternoon. We all thought that the morning session would be easy. Two Teams, lots of coaches and equipment for a small amount of children. We were in for a shock!

We were met with what seemed like hundreds of excited children of all ages. The idea was to coach Grade 5 but we could not tell who was who and had no way of organising such a huge amount of people. The children were would not leave the sides of the Welling Team but eventually they managed to regain some order and begin their sessions.

We soon realised that the whole school had left their classes to come out and watch. How the Welling pupils managed any constructive coaching was beyond our expectations, but they did it, and they did it brilliantly. There were so many people around some of the Welling Pupils that they could not lift up their arms through lack of space. There was lots of interaction and conversation; an absolutely amazing start to the week.

For the afternoon sessions, Team 1 jumped onto the minibus to St Patricks while Team 2 started their trek through the countryside to Mount Makubu. There seemed to be more order to these schools and the Welling Pupils thrived and delivered two fantastic sessions to a large group of extremely appreciative children. We were told by one of the Teachers that attendance would be 100% for the rest of the week once the pupils realised we would be returning. It would probably surpass 100% once the word spread to the greater community.

In one of the groups there was a very young girl of around 9/10 years old who participated with a baby strapped to her back.



At the end of the day, back at Base, the Welling Teams planned for tomorrows sessions. They will all sleep well tonight........i hope!

Sunday 10th July - Market and visit to our schools

After a good nights sleep we were up and ready for our first real day in Zambia. After breakfast we went to a local market which sold a variety of goods ranging from bracelets and necklaces to hand made dining tables. The Welling Team had to use their skills at 'haggling' and 'bartering' and many came away with some real bargains while a number of them, including Mr Shears, lost their socks as part of the agreement.

After a quick lunch on the go, we visited the schools that we will be coaching in over the next 5 days. Some of the schools were well maintained Government schools while others were run by volunteers for the local community and extremely poor and run down. Some of the sights we were faced with today brought home how important our trip will be to the children out here. Even though the schools were closed today, many of the local community came out to greet us. Many of the children were from extremely deprived homes but were so happy to see the Welling students. It was an amazing day and everybody is so looking forward to the week ahead.

During a visit to one of the schools, we were invited into a church service held in the Main Hall. It was a fantastic experience and the people were so welcoming towards us. So much so that three of our team, George, Abbi and Grant, completely embraced the situation. We will try to get the video onto the blog soon.

Tomorrow we begin our coaching. We have hundreds of photographs to show and are trying to find a way for you to access them.

Saturday July 8th - Rugby Match

The Team went to watch a Rugby game between two local teams. Entertainment was provided by the sole 'Red Arrows' supporter who attempted to cartwheel every time his team scored a try.

Friday 8th July - Departure

Today was a very long day! We had our tearful farewells at Welling School.

We seemed to be stuck on the M25 for an eternity. Thank you to Mr Allen and Mr Jeffries for their patient driving.

We managed to get onto our flight to Lusaka even with our silly hats!

After a long 10 hour flight (with very little sleep!) we were met with the most amazing sunrise when landing in Lusaka, Zambia. Unfortunately, it was also extremely cold!

We were met at the airport by buses from Baobab School were we will be staying whilst in Lusaka. John, the Deputy Head, and his staff were there to greet us and load our mountain of luggage onto the buses.
We had a fantastic Brunch at Baobab and spent the rest of the morning getting use to our new environment and catching up on sleep. This afternoon we will go into Lusaka to watch a local Rugby game. The Welling Team have been brilliant and are coping well without having slept for over 24 hours (the Staff are just about hanging on in there!). Definitely an early night tonight.

Departed from Welling on time. Everyone looking forward to our exciting adventure....once get out of this traffic on the M25!