I leave on vacation soon for Tanzania and Zanzibar. This is the cooler time of the year there and it is hot here so I am definitely looking forward to that. I will also miss the last half of Ramadan. I am going on a safari all through Tanzania and then relaxation on the beautiful beaches in Zanzibar. Unfortunately, due to limited connections it is taking me 3 days to get there and 3 days to get back.
I did buy a new camera yesterday. I just could not see photographing the animals with an Iphone or Ipad. I paid too much for it, but it is not like I had time to order one from the US. The manual that came with the camera was bogus, but luckily there was a much better one online that I downloaded. So lions and wildebeasts I am ready for you.
Stay tuned for the adventures of Rindi in East Africa.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Basketball in The Gambia -- What??
As most of you probably know, I am not a big sports fan. However one of the volunteers from my group, Justin, is a huge basketball fan who loves coaching basketball. He actually was able to form a national Gambian team and had a tournament with The Gambia, Mauitania and Senegal. The Gambian team had only been in existence for 4 days but held their own their own with Mauritania. Senegal apparently is a perennial powerhouse and cleaned the other two teams clocks. Justin's nominal title with the team is Technical Director but he is the coach for all intents and purposes.
Justin's main Peace Corps project this year has been a basketball clinic and tournament for senior secondary students in the Banjul area. This was held at the stadium complex that houses a big football (soccer for you American types) stadium with a small basketball walled in basketball court and another one enclosed by a chain link fence. The national team's games were played in the walled in (but not roofed) court. It has a concrete floor and watching them fall to the ground looked painful. The football stadium is pretty large -- I would estimate about 35000, but I really don't know. The picture below was taken on the first morning when one team showed up but the others had not come yet. This was the basketball arena in which the national team played. I think it gives a view of the importance of basketball in The Gambia.
I helped Justin with registration on the days that the teams played and it was interesting watching the challenges involved. Americans are used to things starting on time so it can be frustrating to deal with people who don't have that expectation. The first day the teams were supposed to arrive by 8:30 am. One school was there and ready to play on time but most of the kids arrived at around 10:00. Justin had a few words about his expecations going forward which helped a lot but things will never start right on time here. The money to finance the tournament was grant money from the Aides and Teen Pregnancy Prevention programs. So part of each day for the kids was going through training on those subjects. All of the kids took a pre-test so that their improvement could be measured. Justin also arranged for free HIV testing to be done at the stadium and at the American Corner, a site sponsored by the American Embassy that has a lot or learning resources,computers and free internet for the kids there. The Gambia's HIV/AIDS rate is low compared to many countries in Africa but is climbing and is much higher than the US. Unfortunately we just found out last week that the United Nations is closing the UNAIDS office here. I went on a trek with the UNAIDS country officer last week and it was sad.
Back to the tournament.-- part of Justin's motivation has been to light a fire for basketball in The Gambia, and in addition to boys, he had a girl's bracket for his tournament. He managed to get girl's teams for all of the schools except one. The level of play for both boys and girls was enthusiastic. They made some good moves on the court but the shooting left a lot to be desired. But these are not schools with high school gyms so there are not a lot of places to practice. Justin's goal is to field a junior national team, but I think he will find that a little more difficult than forming the national team. Speaking of the national team, they acted as instructors and they were the highlight for Justin. They were always on time and worked really well with the kids. They even had a group of cheerleaders for the finals. The pictures below are of a cheerleader practice. I got a kick out of the practice because the boys had come up with the routines and were teaching them to the girls. In the background you can get a little better view of the football stadium. As you can tell football is a little more important here.
However, the big finals fell a little flat. One of the girl's teams just failed to show up. We waited an hour and a half for them and finally gave up since the boys' game was scheduled to start. Naturally the girls team that had showed up wanted the trophy. I think it broke Justin's heart to give it to them for just showing up but he caved. Then, just as the game was ready to start, it started raining. Luckily it was just a short shower and the pavement was so hot that it only took 5 minutes to dry so the game did get started and a championship was won. I haven't begun to detail all of the other issues that came up but I will say Justin was very happy to see it over and done with. He had many lessons learned (or learnt as they say in Great Britain) and will do it again next year.
The pictures I have here are my only pictures of the whole event because I managed to lose my camera last week on my trek. I can't even go back to the places where I might have left it. I had not downloaded the remaining bball pix from my camera so let your imaginations create the rest. I might start using my Iphone as a camera or buy a new one, but pictures will continue.
I am about to go to an Indenpendence Day celebration at the Ambassadors residence. He is throwing the party for both Embassy and Peace Corps staff. I guess it is too late to wish you all a happy 4th but I imagine it was more exciting in the US than it was in The Gambia.
Justin's main Peace Corps project this year has been a basketball clinic and tournament for senior secondary students in the Banjul area. This was held at the stadium complex that houses a big football (soccer for you American types) stadium with a small basketball walled in basketball court and another one enclosed by a chain link fence. The national team's games were played in the walled in (but not roofed) court. It has a concrete floor and watching them fall to the ground looked painful. The football stadium is pretty large -- I would estimate about 35000, but I really don't know. The picture below was taken on the first morning when one team showed up but the others had not come yet. This was the basketball arena in which the national team played. I think it gives a view of the importance of basketball in The Gambia.
I helped Justin with registration on the days that the teams played and it was interesting watching the challenges involved. Americans are used to things starting on time so it can be frustrating to deal with people who don't have that expectation. The first day the teams were supposed to arrive by 8:30 am. One school was there and ready to play on time but most of the kids arrived at around 10:00. Justin had a few words about his expecations going forward which helped a lot but things will never start right on time here. The money to finance the tournament was grant money from the Aides and Teen Pregnancy Prevention programs. So part of each day for the kids was going through training on those subjects. All of the kids took a pre-test so that their improvement could be measured. Justin also arranged for free HIV testing to be done at the stadium and at the American Corner, a site sponsored by the American Embassy that has a lot or learning resources,computers and free internet for the kids there. The Gambia's HIV/AIDS rate is low compared to many countries in Africa but is climbing and is much higher than the US. Unfortunately we just found out last week that the United Nations is closing the UNAIDS office here. I went on a trek with the UNAIDS country officer last week and it was sad.
Back to the tournament.-- part of Justin's motivation has been to light a fire for basketball in The Gambia, and in addition to boys, he had a girl's bracket for his tournament. He managed to get girl's teams for all of the schools except one. The level of play for both boys and girls was enthusiastic. They made some good moves on the court but the shooting left a lot to be desired. But these are not schools with high school gyms so there are not a lot of places to practice. Justin's goal is to field a junior national team, but I think he will find that a little more difficult than forming the national team. Speaking of the national team, they acted as instructors and they were the highlight for Justin. They were always on time and worked really well with the kids. They even had a group of cheerleaders for the finals. The pictures below are of a cheerleader practice. I got a kick out of the practice because the boys had come up with the routines and were teaching them to the girls. In the background you can get a little better view of the football stadium. As you can tell football is a little more important here.
However, the big finals fell a little flat. One of the girl's teams just failed to show up. We waited an hour and a half for them and finally gave up since the boys' game was scheduled to start. Naturally the girls team that had showed up wanted the trophy. I think it broke Justin's heart to give it to them for just showing up but he caved. Then, just as the game was ready to start, it started raining. Luckily it was just a short shower and the pavement was so hot that it only took 5 minutes to dry so the game did get started and a championship was won. I haven't begun to detail all of the other issues that came up but I will say Justin was very happy to see it over and done with. He had many lessons learned (or learnt as they say in Great Britain) and will do it again next year.
The pictures I have here are my only pictures of the whole event because I managed to lose my camera last week on my trek. I can't even go back to the places where I might have left it. I had not downloaded the remaining bball pix from my camera so let your imaginations create the rest. I might start using my Iphone as a camera or buy a new one, but pictures will continue.
I am about to go to an Indenpendence Day celebration at the Ambassadors residence. He is throwing the party for both Embassy and Peace Corps staff. I guess it is too late to wish you all a happy 4th but I imagine it was more exciting in the US than it was in The Gambia.
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