Highlanders women’s rugby development manager Warren Kearney is as far away as you can get from chilly Dunedin. He is in Africa as part of the Bhubesi Pride Charitable Foundation project and is taking part in camps in Africa to support rugby and aid development in schools. He outlines his travels so far.
I have now been in Africa for six weeks (halfway point) and been through three countries. I started in Malawi and now find myself sitting around a camp fire out in the middle of the Botswana desert camping with 12 other volunteers.
We come from all corners of the globe: Scotland, England, the United States, Portugal, Belgium, Malawi and New Zealand. Others have come and gone, and still more will be arriving over the next few weeks, as we head towards Namibia and South Africa.
We have had three coaching weeks since my arrival — Lilongwe, in Malawi, Mabwe, in Zambia and Gaborone, in Botswana.
During the coaching week we are assigned a school for the week. Our job is to introduce the game of touch rugby, teach them all the skills needed and be ready for tournament on the Friday, where all schools come together to compete.
Between two coaches we usually have 50 kids, and spend around three hours at the school per day. For most of these kids it’s the first time playing rugby. We coach kids from 9-16.
Also, where there are rugby clubs, like Zambia and Botswana, we head along to their club games or trainings.
This is an area where I have enjoyed working with senior players, too. They are mostly big, athletic, fit men but just lack ball skills and game understanding, which can be expected, considering they don’t start playing at 5 like New Zealanders. They are keen to learn and develop, and some of them are already in their national teams.
We go to public schools that are usually the least fortunate in town, with a lot of orphans and kids pulled off the street and put into boarding so they can eat and go to school.
No words here can explain the feelings you get going into these schools. These kids are full of laughter, loving kids with big smiles. They enjoy the simple things in life and just want to play. They love to come and cuddle you, hold your hand or simply stroke your arm or legs to feel the hair on them (clearly this is more for us males in the group!).
I’d highly recommend any school or family that wanted a holiday or school trip to visit these areas, as this is one piece of learning your children would never forget and they may just be grateful for a little less in life after experiencing what kids of Africa enjoy and live like.
My school in Malawi has 150 kids per classroom and three teachers in each room. They don’t have the space or facilities so make do: a simple brick classroom, windows with bars and no glass, so natural air con. If you’re lucky, you have a pair of shoes.
Between the coaching week we spend most of our time in "Nala", our Toyota van. We fold 14 of us into the van and spend usually between 7 and 10 hours per day on the road heading to the next destination (it usually takes three days of driving with stops).
It is tough driving, as it is on some average roads where we can only drive 50kmh, plus police checkpoints every 20 minutes.
It is a beautiful way to see the countryside. We stop at camps on roadsides and pitch tents. We are out with nature, with nothing between us and some sharp teeth.
We stayed in South Luangwa National Park. Our tent was 20m from the Zambezi River and was home to hundreds of hippos and crocs.It was mind-blowing to be in your tent listening to the noises of the night. One hippo came through our campsite. We could hear the elephants, wild dogs and many other creatures of the night.
Another campsite in Botswana called Elephant Sands had a watering hole, so half a dozen elephants would walk by the tents at dusk and into the night for a drink. Again, we were only 20m-30m from them.
Thankfully our tents were not in their walking line, as we wouldn’t be here to tell the story. They are amazing animals that look so peaceful. I have been fortunate to see the big five already in their own natural habitat. It’s amazing to see these animals and it’s a tough decision to rate the best to date.
Seeing three of the last 14 white rhinos in Zambia, or seeing two cheetahs in the night stalking their prey or seeing a pride of lions sleeping under some bushes during the day after a likely big night chasing prey?
One other awesome adventure we passed through was Victoria Falls, an amazing waterfall that spreads 1.7km wide and dumps 1 million litres per second.It’s high season, so impressive to view, even though we got soaked. I decided to live in the moment and did a bridge swing off the Victoria Falls Bridge — a 110m high bridge, then you dropped 70m before swinging across the river. Definitely challenged my somewhat fear of heights.
I’m looking forward to my next stop in Namibia.
We are crossing the Botswana desert now, very straight flat roads, just needing to slow down for elephants, donkeys and goats which regularly cross the road in front of us. For those who helped with my fundraising: it is a truly surreal experience I’m grateful for.