Uganda-Rwanda Trip: Day 11

We were at the offices for the District of Kicukiro by 9:30am, in anticipation of our 10:00am. Louis picked us up in a cab and quickly de-briefed us on who we were going to meet – The Director of Schools and the Mayor.

Unfortunately for OA, the Mayor had something come up and was unable to meet us, but the Executive Secretary of Kicukiro, Emmanuel Ruziga, overheard this and invited us into his office.

So, Emmanuel, Basil, Louis, Dunc, and I (Gavin) discussed the current situation of the football infrastructure (equipment, fields, programming, etc.) within the district and, more specifically, within the schools.

In short, there really isn’t much. Their resources are extremely limited, and they have many other items that are higher on the priority list.However, they are very willing to work with us and are excited for the potential for improved after-school programming for the kids.

After the meeting, we all piled into Emmanuel’s SUV and went out to visit some of the potential sites in the district.

One thing that we can be for sure on is there is no shortage of places that can use major work and improvement: Every field that we visited was in a condition not at all suitable for any sort of sustained usage.

The hard and compacted dust surfaces are eroding away with each heavy rain, leaving numerous rocks and a completely uneven surface.

However, even though the fields were in disrepair, there were still some locals using parts of the surface for pick-up games.

We also looked at the type of grass that is was used here for fields and at the water collecting systems that Louis had told us about. The grass is one that is very resilient and drought resistant and it grows quickly. The water collecting system is absolute fantastic and very cost-efficient.

After a long day visiting sites, we were lucky enough to be invited for dinner by a couple that we were put in contact with by a friend in Vancouver. It was great to have some home-cooked food and to also listen to some more Canadian perspectives on how things work here.

Continuing in the week of Memorial, tomorrow, we try to visit more field sites; and, unfortunately, something awful and disgraceful happens.