Uganda: Days 5-7

So we are coming close to the end of our super Ugandan journey. It has been a very tiring with the super warm weather here, despite it being their winter but certainly an enjoyable and rewarding one. We started off Day 5 with more training with the Lilly Orphanage; they all seem to really look forward to the training and continue to practice the skills even outside the training sessions, which you got to love as a coach. We did similar drills as before but also added a few more competitions including a one on one game where we call out a number and it’s the first to score. Great to see some of the high fives come out from the kids whenever someone on their team does well. We did end up playing games in the end which where a lot more organised than the previous sessions and more of them are using the skills in the game.  We ended with another devotional which included Churchill being robbed and then pushed to the floor, me and Paul just walked by while Dan picked him up. You guessed, it was showing the parable of the Good Samaritan while Dan explained the importance of kindness and helping others. Had a bit of fun with the group making them do random sounds and got them all striking the Bolt pose, no camera at hand though, will have to try and get them to do it again. The rest of the day was one of rest and re-collection of the events of the week. Very much enjoying time with Paul, Dan, Aimee and Churchill. Great people all with massive hearts for helping others and have fantastic personalities, been a pleasure and an honour to serve with them all. Paul has got a new nickname by the way, the kids kept saying a word which is pronounced ‘chipala’ which means bald, sorry Paul Chipala Harbinson.

 

Day 6 is where I donned the Onside Soccer gear, very much football focused today with Cross-Over basketball having the weekend off. We started off with attending a football academy for kids who live in the slum area of Kampala, one of the poorest parts in the city. We could see it was so well organised and we where able to donate a brand new kit and some Christian resources, of course it was very well received. The coaches where incredible communicators and concentrate on teaching them good values as well as football skills. We did a drill for the kids that went down well and it was a competition between four teams, any point they gained sparked a lot of shouting and jubilation. Was great to meet some of the kids, had a few quick games of thumb wars which I taught them and a lot of them wanted to give me a game but unfortunately not enough time to go round all of them. The afternoon we went to do some more coaching with the Lilly Orphanage and the Crane school in which again new kit was donated and for one of the teams it was the first proper kit they had. Saw some of the people who I was teaching Basketball to in the week and they where still practising the drills despite the lack of nets at the pitch we where at. Was able to do another devotion which involved Churchill again falling over (he likes doing that) when playing a blind man and Dan catching him (always playing the good part). This was to show how we need to put faith in God even though we can’t see him. Again it seemed to go well and Churchill shared the story of Abraham with the help of a translator. Had a bit of time playing around with the kids and chatting to them while they tried to teach me Lugandan. A cheeky little kid from the orphanage called Alex was throwing a ball at my head so I thought I scare him a little by pretending to throw in the boggy area, unfortunately I slipped a little when pretending and Alex was fine but one of my feet went into the bog, ruined trainer, whoops!!

 

Today was a day of rest and we went to a big church that some of you might heard of called Watoto church. Went with Dan, Aimee, Michael (one of the drivers from the orphanage, great guy) and two of the kids from the orphanage called Tadeo and Ritah. It was very good and the preach was all about the hope of Uganda for the future as it has been 50 years since the independence of the country. It had a very much Hillsong theme to the service but it was great to see such hope preached for the future and the Ugandan people responding to it. We then later went to the craft market to do a bit of souvenir shopping which has led to me being completely broke, can pretty much only afford two big bottles of water, have to rely on the generosity of my team now but I think I will get by. We then went to Spur, something familiar, had a steak sandwich which tasted so good and even got to watch the Man United v Liverpool game, sloppy win but it will do.

Just a final thought that came from the preach today at the church I went to, it was used in my video for my 1000 free throw challenge but thought it be worth saying again by some Basketball player called Michael Jordan:

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”

 

Let's always look to make things happen and not rely on others to act on our behalf, we all have the ability to make some positive change. Not long now till the end of our fantastic time here but keep an eye out for the last blog and thank you for all your prayers so far, keep it up......