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Other entries in Mombasa

1 more day to Shelley...

The girls are soooo excited for the trip... they actually wanted to skip practice tomorrow (wednesday) so they could pack!  Of course they will not be missing practice.. as only 12 of the Basketball girls are going to Shelley Beach.. the rest of the girls are from the soccer team.  I have a standing offer to get my hair braided by the girls (somehow there are at least 4 of them that will tackle my straw-like hair!) 

The last two days were spent doing a bit of  "public relations" work with the teachers at  Bomu Primary, the local school (90% of the M.O.Y.O girls go to this school) to ensure the teachers were ok with their students missing 2 days of classes.  However, right at the moment, the headmaster is the one who is being difficult.  Only yesterday, he agreed to let the girls go, as long as the parents agreed and came personally to the school to give consent.  The parents were happy to do so, cause then their kids would get to have this very lucky learning experience.  Still, the headmaster is still trying to interfere with practices by kicking us off the court early.  Bokey says that after we return from Shelley Beach, we will tell him that we will remove the poles and nets that were provided by M.O.Y.O, and go somewhere else.  However, the work of the last few days has proven that most of the teachers are in favour of the girls participating in the basketball team.  They have seen the positive effects the girls of the soccer team have had, and the soccer team has improved so much they play real matches with other teams.  They think that they will get a new headmaster at the end of the term.. so maybe it won't be a problem cause the likely candidate was the guy who fetched all the girls for me the day none of them showed up on time!!

Tomorrow, we do all the shopping and transporting of items for the Beach excursion.  We are buying all the food, and transporting it to where we will be staying.  (The boxing guys will be the chaperones, bodygaurds and cooks for the duration of the weekend!) We also meet with the facilitators to put together the schedule for each day. We already have an outline of what will be covered, HIV/AIDS/STD's, healthy relationships, hygiene, first aid, abuse, alternatives to violence and etc.  Seperately, I have been putting together a schedule of activities (team building, trust games, random fun games and triva quizzes) for the girls when they aren't in classes.  They will also have time to swim (most have never swam before... so those lifegaurding and instructing skills will come in handy!).  In the mornings they will run,  and really for the duration, they will  have very structured full days.  

As a result of all this planning.. this week has flown by.. tomorrow willl be full of activity.. and the next thing will be the reward.... 3 days at the beach!  Turns out, ordinarily volunteers don't stay there (or didn't the last time).  However this time, Ciaran and I will stay with the girls as long as the place is  relatively "ok". 

So.. next entry will detail.. "Shelley Beach.. the aftermath"

Stay tuned!

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