Historic First: New Sports Pad in Siaya District

This September we installed the first concrete sports pad in the rural Siaya District region of Kenya.  This new sports pad, located at St. Catherine School, was a year in the making.  It all started with a fortuitous trip to Kenya and the delivery of a basketball and some uniforms and culminated with the successful fundraising of sufficient dollars to build this first court. The staff and students at the school are thrilled to have this new addition and now the school has 4 teams, two girls' teams and two boys' teams.  The young Kenyan children are keen to learn a new sport and along the way they develop great teamwork, problem solving and other important life skills.  The team is also celebrating another historic first by hosting a competitive match at their school this Friday.  Stay tuned for the results.  Go team!

Ground breaking ceremony:  September 2017

The site!

Building materials

Staff and students watch the progress!

More materials!

Levelling the site!

Progress

Laying the concrete!

Getting there

New backboards and rims!

Athletic pride.

Happy faces eager to play.

Let's Go team!

Historic first!

Big news: Equity in Sport!

The last time I updated this blog, I was announcing that the St. Catherine School had developed a girls team.  I am happy to share that they played in their first tournament on Saturday, July 29th and they won all of their games.  Well done girls!

The girls played wearing Kingston Impact uniforms, donated by our local club team and shoes purchased in thanks to a kind donation from the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, Limestone Local.  I provided money for transportation and lunch and our joint collaboration meant that a successful and rewarding day was had by all.  Special thanks to the teachers and coaches at this rural school for making this happen.

Yes, we can play basketball!

Kingston's teams in Kenya!

Benefits of Sports For All

I am a teacher.  My wonderful students energize me and inspire me.  In the context of developing sports opportunities for students in Africa, we discussed the importance of sports generally.  All students could identify the benefits of sports and physical games and most recognized that they take these opportunities for granted.  They were surprised to hear that there are kids who do not get opportunities to play sports and use sports equipment like they do on a daily basis.  I asked them to write about the benefits of sports and they rose to the challenge.  Here are just a few of their entries and the resulting bulletin board display!

Students are inspired to develop basketball in Africa!

Parker gets it!

Thank you Erin for your thoughtful comments!

Right on Emma!

Fundraiser is a Huge Success!

Well, the results are in.  Chloe Charron and her Impact Basketball team raised $577 for basketball development in Kenya.  Well done Chloe.  You are a Changemaker.  Your hard work will benefit boys and girls at the S. Catherine's School in the Siaya district of Kenya!  Due to your help, and the help of other caring individuals, the students at St. Catherine's can say, "Yes, we can do basketball!"

Student leader supports peers in Africa!

Basketball Updates!

I haven't updated this blog in awhile but that is not to suggest that things are static on the basketball front.  On the contrary, I have continued to make some valuable connections and interest in this story continues to grow.  Here are a few things I can share:

1.  In February I was invited to the Kingston Lakers Basketball League banquet to share the basketball story.  More than 100 young players and their parents were in attendance and interest in the story was evident.
http://lakersbasketballassociation.siplay.com/site/ClientSite/article/2810909

2.  Early in March a grade 7 student at L'Acadie ran a fundraiser at her Impact Basketball tournament.  Money raised ($570 and growing) will be used to help build the first court at St. Catherine's school.  Chloe Charron is making change in the world by taking an interest in the basketball story and by deciding to help make it happen.  Thank you Chloe and thank you to all of the parents and community members who visited her booth and purchased hand-crafted jewelry made by Ugandan women.

Chloe and her friend raise money for basketball support in Kenya.

3.  On the eve of International Women's Day I was delighted to receive photos celebrating St. Catherine's first girls basketball team.  Below are some photos which illustrate that girls can and DO play basketball too!  Thank you to the teachers and coaches at St. Catherine's School for working hard to make this happen.  Your sacrifice will benefit these girls in many, many ways.

St. Catherine's School First Ever Girls Basketball Team

Coach Pamela with the boys' team captain, Steven, and the girls' team captain, Millicent

Yes, we can!

Millicent is a leader in her community!

Steven is a leader too!

Under 8 Girls's team captain, Diana Sherry, is all smiles!

Little Faith will play!

Together We are Stronger!

Back on Television

As promised, the CKWS morning show has invited me back to share the "Disney" ending to the Basketball Story.  I will be appearing with Bill Welychka tomorrow morning at 7:50 am.  I am thrilled to share the magical ending to this inspirational story.  In fact, it is not really the ending.  It is just the beginning of developing basketball in the Siaya District.  Remember, "anything is possible"!

CanAssist Collaboration!

Thank you to all of my donors. I am pleased to announce that I have joined forces with a local charity which does infrastructure support in East Africa. CanAssist African Relief Trust has successfully helped many African communities by funding the construction of schools, water wells, latrines, water catchment facilities, etc. Now, they have agreed to assist me with my plan to construct sports pads/basketball courts, another important infrastructure component. I will drive the fundraising and my donors, who donate to CanAssist, can now qualify for a tax receipt. You can follow the work of CanAssist at: www.canassistafrica.ca

CanAssist Provides Infrastructure Support

Classroom Lessons

After watching the short video clip located in my last blog post the students in my class were asked to write and submit a short summary.  Here are a few summaries.  Students are learning to read, write and demonstrate media awareness!

         Erin writes:

Basketball Story Video

I think that the basketball story was about the St. Catherine’s School learning to play basketball and then playing against other schools.

A girl from the St. Catherine’s school named Catherine gives Truedell their thanks. Truedell played a part in the bball story by raising money to bring a bball to Africa.

The team won all 5 games and they played by working together, being positive, and believing that anything is possible!

Hayden Writes:

My Africa Journal!

The basketball team at St.Catherine`s school in Africa was sponsored by our school Truedell. We raised enough money for the team to get a dirt packed court and hoops and wooden backboards  and a few basketballs. They made it to the finals with many hard fought victories. Catherine, their announcer, was helping her team by cheering them on with little updates. She mentioned our school and Kingston Impact. St.Catherine`s school won the finals in first place and had lots of fun playing basketball. They are going to have a cement court. They will also have a girls team soon so the girls can join in on the fun!

Quinn writes:

The basketball story is about St. Catherine’s School going for gold and having fun when they play basketball.  Truedell Public School got them started playing basketball and now they are really, really, really, happy. Yay, for Truedell Public School and St. Catherine’s School but it’s getting BIGGER.  Soon the team will have a paved basketball court and then they will have a bunch of trophies and have lots and lots of fun too!  Yay for basketball!  WOOHOO!!

Basketball Tournament Recap

Thank you to John Geddes for creating and sharing this great compilation of photos, videos and special moments from the big day.  Watch and enjoy!https://youtu.be/LYFKlY1ZTig

Success in More Ways Than One!

We won!  Incredibly, a team who was largely unfamiliar with the game a short time ago, rallied and worked together to win all of their games.
The day was hot and sunny, a day for dreams to come true.  The boys looked so serious when I spoke to them before the last game.  I told them how proud I was of them, that they had overcome challenges to get to this point, how they had already achieved great success. I told them that no matter the outcome of this, the final game, I was proud of them.
We were playing the Manyatta Arabs Dragons in the final.  This was the only team to truly challenge us in round robin play.  The last time we played them the game had gone into double overtime but we had come out victorious.  I was concerned that the boys were tired, that they might be nervous with their muzungu sponsor watching on the sidelines.  But I had no reason to worry.  The boys came out strong and never looked back.  They dominated the entire game and were the clear victors.  We got the "Disney" ending after all.
When the trophy presentations were made, I was asked to present the Championship trophy.  This was a true honour!  I had travelled so far to witness this great event, but in that moment, I felt like I was just down the road from home.  I felt that if I turned my head I might see my own son, standing in pride, waiting to play a little one-on-one with any boy who still had energy to spare.  Perhaps, what I was seeing was a future event.  For I will be back.
We have momentum now and have demonstrated success.  Our action plan is developing and there is no turning back.  There is a lot more work to do but there is joy in this work.  Joy!

So, where was the success?  It was everywhere and in everything.  There was success, for sure, in the outcome.  There was success in the level of play of all of the teams.  These was success in the observed discipline, strength and sportsmanship exhibited by the players.  There was success in the presence of a girls' teams in the tournament.  There was success in having the ability to witness the fruits of our labours.  Thank you LDSB.  You helped to make it possible for my dreams to come true. There was success in the support received from many.  This support made this moment possible.  Thank you Truedell Public School.  Thank you Kingston Impact.  Thank you Lakers Basketball.  Thank you ETFO Limestone Local.  Thank you John Geddes for the encouragement to pursue this dream and for all of your help along the way.  Thank you to Dan Otieno, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to coordinate my time there as well as to purchase poles, backboards, shoes, etc.  Thank you Donald Mark for coaching this team, for choosing to overcome adversity, for sticking with the plan and helping to make this happen. Thank you to John Oloo, from Yala, who helped to coach the team and to Patrick, from Kisumu, the tournament convenor.  Thank you to my husband and my son, who always support me in these adventures.  And, thank you to all of the individual donors, too numerous to mention individually, who gave generously to support these great boys, this great team.

My students understood the success, even before I did, it seems.  When asked the value of this basketball story earlier this fall, their response bears repeating.  "Well, that's easy Mrs. Grew.  This story has taught us that "Anything is Possible".  SUCCESS!

Anything is Possible

Three, two, one... basket!

Look at the two boys in the foreground.

Beautiful outdoor setting for a tournament.

Playing the girls' team,

Water is life!

Time to play.  Communicate!

Made a few new friends!

Enjoyed eating lunch with these powerful girls.

Patrick, John Geddes, John Oloo and Donald Mark!  Team!

Basketball Success Story Part One: Getting there!

Today was the day of the tournament.  The big day was here!  A day to witness the fruits of "our" labours.  This was a true team effort and it was immediately evident how the coaches and the boys worked hard to achieve success. Many of these boys were relatively inexperienced with the game of basketball.  They had been working together since last February and they worked diligently to learn the many aspects of the game.  They went five for five, winning all of their matches, including the Championship final game.  "Kingston's Team in Kenya" came away with victory but the success was not all basketball.  My Truedell students say that the "big idea"of this basketball story is that "anything is possible".  Today's outcome is direct evidence of that!

Anything is Possible!

Once again I awoke to the crow of the rooster.  It is never surprising to hear and see farm animals on city properties and streets in Kenya.  On this, my fourth visit, the appearance of a cow on the road is not even newsworthy.  We set out around 8:55 am to travel to the school grounds where Kingston's Team would be joining 5 other teams in a tournament.  Getting there was an adventure in itself.  After  all, this is Africa!

Dan was firm in his statements and reminders that we should be ready to leave by 8:30 am.  John and I, therefore, were outside and ready to go close to that time.  We waited and waited for Dan, who arrived 20 minutes later, saying, "there is time".  This is Africa.  Into the car and off we went.  After driving for 20 minutes to a destination that was supposed to be 10 minutes away, even Dan had to admit that we were lost.  How could this happen, you may ask?  Well the answer is not one, but many.  First the location given was not clear.  Second, the school listed was one of several in the region with the same name, and third, there are no street names or signs to direct you.  Finally, Dan got directions by cell phone and two minutes later we were there.  But where the heck were we?  This was not the school listed on the tournament schedule.  We pulled in and the staff member present had no idea about a tournament and there were no children evident.  Just when my stress level was about to peak, (I had travelled some 15000 km to attend a game and we were now about 30 minutes late) I turned my head and there was Donald, the coach.  He told us that the boys were just "over there", indicating the direction with a casual wave of his hand which could have meant just about anywhere. In reality it meant an entirely different school a few more minutes down the road.

"Ok, well let's go".  "No, not yet, you need to be received by the Chairman", said Donald.  My stress level continued to increase.  "Received?  Why are we being received here when the tournament is somewhere else. The answer was not immediately clear but nonetheless we were escorted through the school grounds, into the building where the Chairman welcomed two very confused muzungus into his office.  (Muzungu is the African word for white person).  After introductions we were given a bottle of water and then we went back out the car and followed the Chairman to the school where the tournament was being held.  Later, it was explained to us that the Chairman was the convenor of the tournament and it had been his request that we come to his school to be received.  The fact that we had gotten lost and were now late was never considered.  There was no reason to modify plans, to adapt the schedule to account for our time lost in travel.  There was a planned program and they were sticking to it.  This is Africa!

Needless to say, we arrived, now more than an hour late.  It didn't matter though as nothing had started and not all of the teams had even arrived.  The stress it seems was all John's and mine.  Everyone else was not concerned.  This was a normal day for them.  Time has its own schedule here and despite the fact that we were an hour late, in the end we were, in fact, early!  In my next entry I will tell you more about the tournament but I will leave you now with this photo of the winning team, Kingston's Team in Kenya.

The boys relax after achieving victory!  Go boys!  Go Team!

Song, Dance and Strategic Planning

I awoke from an African dream to the crowing of a rooster, only to discover that it wasn't a dream. I am here! 

Another beautiful and productive day in Africa. Had two successful strategic planning sessions related to plans to develop basketball in the Siaya District of Kenya. Plans are in place in two schools, proving that, in fact, some dreams can come true.   #AnythingisPossible

John Geddes and I arrive to the gifts of song and dance.

My first African Selfie with girls from Ramula Secondary

John performs the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Looking out on my world.

Donald Mark appreciates gifts from Kingston Impact and Lakers Basketball Organizations and the Vreeken family.
Go Team!  Kingston's Team in Kenya!!!

Meeting the team for the first time.

Let the Games Begin.

Looking to the Stars

She was there!

Ramula Secondary wants to Play!!!