Well the dust has begun to settle on yet another incredible trip to the Land of 1000 Hills.
It has been full-on but we have achieved a huge amount and FoRR is so grateful for the willingness of our rugby volunteers to contribute to the work of our little charity.
First of all we want to thank FoRR Trustee Matt Philips who spent untold hours organising the trip. Matt’s dedication to this project from the start has been key in us achieving such positive outcomes in Karongi.
The volunteer tour began on May 26th. We gathered at Heathrow Terminal 3 and each volunteer received their two 23KG bags of donated kit. After the usual organised chaos of checking in 17 people we retired to one of the bars for some refreshment.
Big thanks to Rwandair for their help with the checking in and also for providing us with some great seats on the flight.
After a smooth, uneventful flight overnight we emerged under African skies in Kigali to be met by our Program Manager, Kamanda. After loading a bus with all the donated kit and the volunteers onto anther bus off we went to our first stop Centre St Paul….our home for the night.
The following morning we boarded the bus bound for Karongi. The scenery en route was truly breathtaking. The road to Karongi has been devastated by the recent heavy rains and the potholes and landslides slowed down our progress but eventually we arrived at Karongi and our home for the next few days…the Hotel Rebero.
This was also where were united with the full team of RDOs. We now have a team of 18 in Rwanda delivering organised sporting sessions to schools and communities across Rwanda.
Our ever expanding team of Rugby Development Officers
Here are some photos of the volunteers
The main purpose of our annual foundations tour is to harness the expertise of rugby volunteers in order to introduce rugby to an area of Rwanda that has previously had no contact with the egg shaped ball. In Karongi we worked with 4 primary schools where our RDOs and Volunteers ran coaching sessions introducing tag rugby. After just 4 days we then held a tournament where the schools competed. It never ceases to amaze me how much progress the children can make in such a short time and some of the skills on show were breathtaking.
As well as spending time at the schools the volunteers were instrumental in supporting training of the RDOs. This annual trip is our opportunity to increase the knowledge and skills of the RDOs. We introduced the RDOs to a new program called Rugby y’abana bato. This is program developed by Trustees Matt and Mary aimed at introducing rugby based activities to nursery and P1 children.
During the week we also celebrated the 17th birthday of Camron.
After the huge excitement and celebrations following the tournament we returned to Kigali…a long and tiring trip at the best of time but made worse again by the damaged roads.
Our week was coming to an end. The volunteers were free to enjoy a day of relaxation with a dip in the pool at Mille Collines. One of the volunteers, Steve Jones, who is a WRU referees assessor led a training for Rwandan referees. He was ably assisted by Trustee Tina and two other volunteers, Tom and Darren. A very successful training day indeed and all of the participants benefited greatly.
We held our end of trip celebration meal at Sole Luna and then it was off to the airport for the flight back to London.
Huge thanks to all of the volunteers. I hope we will meet again very soon and that you can spread the word regarding FoRR.
If you are interested in joining us next year for Foundations Tour 2024 then please drop us a line at info@friendsofrwandanrugby.com
