Thursday

Our day got off to a bad start; Lawsy woke up this morning ill with sickness and diarrhoea and was unable to join the rest of the team before leaving for Mitumba. We arrived at Mitumba at about 9:40am and began by a couple of chess games that were played by Dan, James, John and Sean. As for myself I was having fun with the kids in the school yard. After morning tea break, we went into the workshop. When lunchtime came around, we had beef and rice much to Dan’s pleasure. After lunch we were in the school yard and had fun with the frisbee and tennis ball with the kids. Later in the afternoon we went back to the workshop and played a game to learn everyone’s name. Then at around 4pm, we went over to the football pitch for our two football matches against Mitumba Girls and Boys respectively. We won 1-0 against Mitumba Girls with Sean scoring the winner. As for Mitumba Boys, we lost 4-0 with the opposition having 13 players instead of 11. The day ended with going to Mama Judy’s for the fourth night in a row and we had burgers, chicken, spaghetti bolognaise and chips. Overall we enjoyed today.

As for Lawsy, get well soon mate from the rest of the team.

David (AKA ‘Hey Cox’)

Wednesday

Jambo! My daily challenge set by Chris to improve my Swahili has been completed. I even managed a “habari yako” and tomorrow I will move on to “asante sana”. For the record these are “hello”, “how are you?” and “thank you very much”. All in all, it was another blinding day, and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself again! Today was again spent at the CHAMRECC school with the morning consisting of numerous workshops. The much needed break enabled us to go outside and enjoy ourselves in the sun with the kids. The frisbee was out today much to the amusement of all. Coaching in the afternoon was manic. Note for tomorrow – less footballs are better, kids are hard to manage! Coxie led the warm up and introduced Kenya to the hokey cokey. (Please see video link to be posted later). My station was set up with Chris. We concentrated on shooting and dribbling with numerous small skill games going down well with the kids! We strive to meet the level of el dream team aka Coxie and John. Tonight we are talking tactics as we prepare for our first two matches tomorrow!

The days are going too fast.

Sean

Tuesday

Today the weather was much hotter, and the sun was shining brightly! We were up very early in order to get ready and be out to pick Maureen up at 8. However, given heavy traffic we didn’t get there till 8.30. We went straight to Mitumba, unloading all the kit, as Joe wasn’t staying with us today. In the morning, we again took part in the business workshops with the local parents, and also had a small tour of the CHAMRECC school, learning something of its history, finances and importance to the community. In the afternoon, while the workshops continued, Dan and Mumbi sat the class 7 English composition exam with the junior-school children. They hope to get their results tomorrow.

From about 3.45, we made our way back to the field to continue the coaching. It was a longer session than yesterday, and worked out very successfully, despite a short pitch invasion by a herd of cows. Some of the young people said that they had enjoyed today more than yesterday. Again we had 3 stations with the groups rotating between each. There has been good response regarding the outcomes of the coaching sessions.

Coaching at Mitumba

The whole team collecting our 100 footballs from Alive and Kickin

Good to see some of the Premier League big boys following our lead and supporting Alive and Kicking.

Balls to make a difference

We were up early Monday morning to visit the Alive and Kicking football production site. We were shown around by the manager Joel Kinuthia who explained how this not for profit business was started by a teacher from England who was inspired by seeing someone repairing a football at the side of a road. Alive and Kicking have produced around 300000 footballs since starting 6 years ago. The balls are hand stitched by local people using local materials and distribute the balls to local groups working in the community and across the African continent. We saw the whole process of making the balls from cutting the 32 panels to screen printing the logos to stitching the panels together and adding the bladder. The stitching looked really hard work!

We picked up our order of 100 balls which have the logos of both Sunderland Samba FC and Sunderland Methodist Circuit FC as well as health messages regarding HIV/AIDS. We immediately used 20 of the balls to do our first coaching session in Mitumba with 45 enthusiastic children. We also met parents of some of the children and took part in our first community workshop on the theme of business. It was great to see some of the same people we met 2 years ago and we were made to feel very welcome. Mitumba is a slum (or informal settlement) which we have been visiting and supporting since 2004. We will be there every day this week and it will be great to get to know more of the children over this time. The footballs are a real encouragement to them and can really make a difference to their lives giving the opportunity to play and also learn at the same time.

Sunday

Today we arose at half 8 and after breakfast headed to the Our Lady of Guadaloupe Church. A fun filled service lasted until 1pm. We then walked to the slum settlement of Kibera. We met Maureen’s (Kenya project Co-ordinator) family and were warmly welcomed to a great meal of Ugali (maize-based rice dish) beef stew, liver and vegetables. The hospitality we received was second to none. Kibera is Africa’s largest slum and on first looks you can be guilty of judging the community as a scary and uninviting place. In essence, the truth is the opposite. The roof of the buildings may be rusty and old but the people below are intelligent, welcoming and have great community pride and spirit. The slum has an energy of its own and thrives in its own commerce and style. Conditions were cramped but looking through this we all had a thoroughly intense and humbling day. We have already built great relationships with Maureen, her daughter Angel, brother Mickey and sister Emily. In the afternoon we took a walk around the vast expanse of the local area, meeting and greeting locals, all attempting to speak the local lingo. At 6 we reconvened with Joe (Our driver) at the bus and returned to our hotel. Tomorrow we visit the Alive and Kicking football factory along with holding our first coaching session in the Mitumba slum. All in all we had a fantastic day, well maybe apart from David who stupidly tried a chilli, only for his face to scrunch like a prune.

Lawsy.

Airplanes in the night sky (part 2)

Immediately after, I found a comfy seat, where I could lie down. From the early morning start, I thought I could get some rest before the 7 hour flight, where I would be really un comfortable in an aeroplane seat. Being tall has some disadvantages...Anyway, to my horror, the seat was broken, the middle part of the wood had been snapped. This turned out to be really difficult to get cosy on it, but I persevered, and managed to get about 10 minutes sleep.

So after my attempts to sleep, John called a meeting just before we were due to board. The queue for boarding was gigantic, so we just waited in our seats. When we finally joined the queue, the plane was due to leave in about 10 minutes...which only meant one thing - that the plane was delayed. So after waiting patiently in the queue, I was the first person through. I slowly walked on, expecting someone to join me in about 20 seconds, no one did. So I carry on slowly, and still no one, and carry on, until I got to the entrance to the plane where I am by myself. I thought, well they all have tickets, I will just meet them on the plane. So I walk on the plane, and wait to be seated. I turn around and can see Coxie and Sean in the crowd of people waiting to be seated. I knew we had different seats to everyone, but I thought only John was away from the group.

I get to my seat to find out I had the window seat. Great I thought, but then I realised I would be in the same seat for nearly 7 hours! I sit down, with a pillow on my seat, blanket and headphones, to minimise the disruption to the people in the same row, I just toss all of my gear to the side and sit down quickly. I sort myself out and move all the gear to where I want it, then I look for my pillow. I look on the floor, not there, I look to the sides, not there. I was on the plane for 5 minutes and I managed to lose something, where there was only one exit! Damn, this journey was going to be tough...

Sean and Coxie then arrive to my seats, with some news. John and Lawsy have been upgraded to business class. My heart deflated. I would be stuck in this seat and they would be waited on with a 3 course meal and a chair where they could lie down and get some proper rest. I then think, ah well, at least it’s two people from our group, I’m pleased it was them, just extremely jealous.

The plane then took off after being an hour late! I asked one of the flight attendants for a pillow, they had none left, oh dear. The lady two seats to my left, offered me her pillow, I felt awful taking it, but I did after she insisted. When it finally took off, I stuck my headphones in the seat to see what entertainment was on offer, I thought it was poor, and the guy to my left headphones, weren’t working. I had my iPod, so since the woman gave me her pillow, I gave him my headphones.

I try and sleep for a little, but then the food came, I wondered what culinary delights were going to be on offer. Fish or vegetarian, great. Being fussy with food, I went for the fish. I have no idea what the fish was, but I scrapped the sauce off and ate the fish and the bread. I gave my side portion and desert away to the father and daughter next to me. After the meal, me and the guy got talking. His name is Erik Schmidt who is a scout leader from Denmark, who has been coming to Kenya for the past 10 years, building schools . Whilst he was talking, he accidently spilt a FULL glass of wine over my leg, the floor which then covered my blanket and pillow. Fantastic.

After the plates were collected, I try and sleep. I had very little. I then get woken up to have breakfast. That got collected and then we were about an hour away from Nairobi. This is when the nerves and excitement started kicking in. I was itching to get off the plane (not only to stretch my legs) and experience Kenya.

We get off the plane, and arrive at the visa bay, before we can enter the luggage collection. That was a quite a long wait, but after I got through, I started getting really excited. The other lads went ahead of me and collected the majority of the bags apart from my two. I see my case and grabbed it off the conveyor belt, and then waited patiently for the sports bag. I waited, I waited more, I waited even more before looking on different conveyor belts. No bag.

James was due to arrive about this time, so we waited for him, before doing anything the missing bag, in case it came on his conveyor belt. He came down, and waited for his bag. The first bag that came, was the sports bag with all the gear to give away in it. No sign of his bag either. Disaster.

After waiting for about an hour for my missing bag, me and John started waiting at the missing luggage desk. After starting to fill out the form to report it missing, Coxie came over with my missing bag!!!

Now, we had to find James’ missing bag. We waited ages, checked every conveyor belt, checked every nook and cranny of the airport. No bag. Disaster. Unfortunately the bag never turned up, and he had to fill in the form, and then we had to leave the airport. The only clothes James had, was one pair of jeans, one t-shirt, and pair of underwear. Poor lad.

We meet our welcoming party of Joe – the driver, and Mumbi – John’s daughter. We arrive at his car, and realised we wouldn’t all fit in with all the bags, as much as Joe tried to shuffle the seats around, there was no chance of us fitting in his car, so we had to get a taxi.

I was impressed with what I saw of Kenya, I thought it was going to be a very poor country, but they had decent roads and decent buildings. The only bad thing so far, was the transport. No one gives way on the roads, no one looks at the traffic lights, it’s just a free for all! I felt very lucky to arrive safely at the hotel.

We arrive in our rooms, and the first thing I done was showered after being on the road (or sky) for over 24 hours.

John allowed us some time to rest, so me James and Lawsy all had a snooze before we went to Mary’s (John’s wife’s sister) house where we would get our first Kenyan meal of the trip. This is where we met Maureen, her daughter Angel, her sister Emily, Vicky – John’s wife, Mary and her family. The house was very nice and the food was fantastic. After the food, we had a git long meeting with John, (not as long as this blog...) and then relaxed in the main room with the tele on. Myself, Coxie, James and Sean all fell asleep whilst watching the tele, but were woken up to the smell of mandazis being cooked. The best way to describe this snack is they are a doughnut without it being round, without any toppings or any filling, but they tasted fantastic.

Afterwards Mumbi took me and Lawsy for a quick walk around the area, to give us a little taster of the area. After a long day of travelling and eating, we headed back to our hotel. We dropped our gear off in our rooms and headed to the bar, to reflect on the day as a group, to have a drink, play chess and cards and discuss the plans for the next day. First two days completed, I am so excited for the first ‘proper’ day of being in Kenya tomorrow.

Dan

Airplanes in the night sky

Hello and welcome to the first blog posted from Kenya. I will write this post from when the journey started.

9am Friday morning, myself, Coxie, John, Lawsy and Sean are meeting at the church to gather all of the football kit to give away. James had already started his journey to Kenya, via Teesside airport, via Amsterdam, via Dubai. When the two vehicles are filled, my father pulls away with Sean in the back. After less than a minute, I get a phone call off Lawsy – I suddenly think, ‘oh god, what’s happened now?’, he then informs me, John has forgotten something and had to go home. I start thinking, is this a sign of things to come?

Me and Sean arrive at the airport with no problems, took the bags out of the boot, and start heading towards the airport. Sean turns to me and says ‘oh no’ and points to the bag, which has a massive rip in it! So me and Sean bundle the bag into the airport and find some seats until the others arrive, late.

We were reunited, but with a problem – a big hole in the bag. Lawsy and Sean then go on the hunt for some ‘gaffer tape’, but returns with standard selotape. He then starts to tape the bag up, round and round and round, and it looks horrendous...we weren’t bothered about how it looked aesthetically, we were more bothered if it could carry the kit all the way to Kenya, via Paris?

We then book in, and then take the luggage to the desk. As you can imagine, it wasn’t straightforward. John had two bags that were over the 23kg limit. John then stuffs all the hand luggage with football kit so the bags could get through. Then the bags go, and we walk to the boarding lounge. Nothing else could go wrong, could it...?

The flight to Paris was straightforward and smooth, but we all knew that Paris was going to be a nightmare. After we landed, we had a 7 hour wait in the boarding lounge. We never had to get the bags as it was a transfer flight, but on the way to our gate, we seen a bag on the runway from our bus, was losing a bag the next bad thing to happen to us?

After making a base, me Coxie and Lawsy went for a mooch around the departure lounge to get some food. After this, we had a look around the top of the departure lounge, and Lawsy found a kiosk to play Fifa 10 on the PS3!!! Yes, this could be our saviour from the horrendously long wait. But it wasn’t, the game had froze and we couldn’t reset it, damn.

Immediately after, I found a comfy seat, where I could lie down.

One day to go!

Welcome to our blog and we look forward to sharing our experiences with you over the next 18 days during our visit to Kenya. Our team is Daniel Anderson, John Boyd, James Cook, David Cox, Chris Laws and Sean Pickering. We will be joined in Kenya by Maureen Auma (Samba Kenya Project Co-ordinator) and Mumbi Masisi. We will try to update you every day with a photo and story but this will depend on internet access. Thanks for your support and prayers