Key Meeting with the Department of Sports

After the usual hour and a half struggling in the traffic we arrived at the NSSF Building, Floor 24, to meet Gordon Oluoch, the commissioner of sports,Stephen Karinga, his deputy and Alice Gekonde, the Director of Sports in the Nairobi Province. Imagine trying to set up such a meeting as this in the UK!

The commissioner had asked us to arrive early, by 08:30 becuase he had other engagements for the rest of the day. We first met him two years ago. He is very keen to work with SCI and will consider this when setting budgets for funding sports coaching clinics and other initiatives SCI has in mind to do.

We are delighted that he is willing to endorse the work of SCI:

I am delighted to endorse the excellent work of Sporting Chance International in equipping so many of our young people to be able to play organised sports, especially football. We continue to welcome any donation of kits and sports equipment to our needy youth.

After some final shopping at the Masai Market at the Village Market we are now awaiting the Kenyan trustees so that we can have a meeting before departing for the airport. Our flight is not until 23:55, so it will be a long day. Village Market is the equivalent of Cribb's Causeway in Bristol. It is the only time we have seen a lot of white folk. The Masai market takes up a roof area and all the items for sale are laid out on the floor. Downstairs the shops are just like any major city. Such a contrast feels strange when you know that such poverty exists close by.

Keep watching the blog for further posts which will include many more of the photos we took. Thanks for following the trip. Hopefully you now have more of an idea about us and the work that we do. Also, you may have a little more insight into the way of life here in Kenya.

Meeting up again

It’s Thursday 6:30p.m. local time. While Lesley, Rebekah, Emma and me have enjoyed the Maasai Mara to the full, Iona and Storm have been hard at work. They spent one and a half days at The Kibera Girls Soccer Academy and an afternoon with the standard 8 class at Peter Kibukusya Primary School. This is the same as our year 9. This is where the SCI Umoja Soccer Academy takes place. I say hard at work, but Iona assures me that they loved every minute of it. The pupils are full of enquiry about everything and anything to do with the UK.

Our return trip took about 8 hours. The roads are under major repair, but it looks like it will take years to complete this. In the meantime you can get your spine rearranged in a day. But it was well worth the journey. The safaris in the game reserve gave us wonderful views and we saw many animals.

Tomorrow we have a meeting with the Kenyan Sports Commissioner to talk about SCI’s future ideas. We first met him 2 years ago. However, he is a busy man and we have to meet up at 08:30. To do this we must leave the hotel by 06:15. After some shopping for souvenirs we will have a trustees meeting before flying home at midnight on Friday.

A Day in The Maasai Mara

After a long but beautiful trip we finally arrived at our lodge. Richard Branson has stayed here we noticed! Our tent is really not a tent at all. It has a bathroom as big as ours at home. The bed is huge. After a buffet lunch we headed off for an early evening game hunt. So far we have seen elephants, buffalo and lion close up as well as many other animals and birds. Emma is booking the balloon ride for 05:30 tomorrow.

Storm and Iona have decided to stay on in Nairobi and visit Peter Kibukosya Primary and Kibera again. We are having a break, my first visit to a game reserve after 10 years visiting Kenya.