Mwambao Soccer Coaching

One of the things that became very obvious early on was that soccer was the most popular and only sport the children played.

I was only delighted to spend my evenings helping out with the Mwambao U14s... Despite the language barrier they seemed to understand what i was saying or else they just knew anyway... Probably the latter!

The team had a few friendly matches when i was there and i left them unbeaten. I have to say the standard of football from a bunch of kids playing barefoot on rough damaged ground was pretty impressive. As you can see from the above crest image i decided to get kits made and sent over to the team when i got home to commemerate the time i spent with the team and their coach Dixon.

Me & Vinny with some of the home base staff

Vinny, Tuma, Me

Me, Didas, Tuma, Vinny

Me, Didas, Vin

Fundraising for Tanzania Trip 2007

I have to say that during my fundraising I was surprised by the amount of people who wanted to help, I always felt I would reach my target but I couldn’t have imagined just how much help I would get from friends, family and members of the public!

My employers Elverys Sports helped me out so much and at the time I probably couldn’t have done it without their support. I was sponsored towards my programme fee and given loads of items to raffle and auction! There is a pair of Shay Givens boots sitting proudly in some guys bar in Thailand as we speak! I wonder if Roisin still has her Robbie Keane Ireland jersey???

With the kind sponsorship of the Milebush full size astro turf pitches for 2 consecutive Saturdays I arranged a couple of small 5 a side tournaments, the poor lads from the Elverys Fonthill store in Dublin came all the way down not to win a game! Micky Mac was too hung over to run god bless him… Stevie Gavin was a great help on the day of the mens tournament as he marked the pitches and refereed a number of games.

My girlfriend Maeve and my sister Jane were a huge support throughout and helped me in every way they could, the toughest night for them was the pub collections… It is not easy asking people for money like that or putting yourself on the spot like that but they did it anyway and it was a very successful night! My little mother headed off up town with Roisin and between them they made a small fortune charming the locals as they went. A big thanks also has to go out to Bridie; my long term neighbour at the time from Gladesville! Don’t ever be stuck for a cup of sugar B…..

The most enjoyable night was the fundraiser in Bar One Castlebar. There was great fun had by all and music to blow your socks off! Vamos started the night to get the crowd warmed up followed by Myself and Lee and a make shift band (just for the laugh) made up of Lee, myself, Vinny and the one and only Prionn… Hope I spelt that right bud! After a successful raffle and good feed courtesy of Bar One Kieran Duddy and one of his multi talented mix match bands finished off the night and left the place in jovial form… they headed off into the night with a crate of WKD and the rest is history! Thanks to all who supported on the night..



To cap it all off we set up a party at our house in Castlebar, equipped with marquees and make shift bar! It was set up to thank everyone who had supported myself and Vinny along the way but turned out to be the most successful fundraising night of all… Everybody chipped in on the night for drinks and a small raffle…. Believe it or not we raised €1000 on the night…. Crazy stuff, it’s amazing how generous drunk friends can be ;)… Thanks Fintan! The beautiful bar maid Maeve ran the bar very professionally before disappearing and passing out in bed... I had to steady the ship... The ship was steadied! Although i did have a wonderful view of Paul Walsh dancing with a chair in the kitchen! What a mover he is! I will save his dignity and not post the video!
What a mover!

Asante Sana Urafiki...

Bed time...

Good Times...

Mwambao Primary School

The kids singing for us outside school..

Mzungu...

Lone Mzungu!

1st day after school, you could say we were the centre of attention ;)

Alot of the kids eyesight was so poor they literally had to sit directly in front of the board to take down their work...

Correcting kids work in Mwambao primary Bagamoyo

Teaching in Mwambao Primary was a fantastic experience; I can’t say I had ever taught a group of kids before never mind kids that didn’t speak my language! Thankfully we were lucky to get a fantastic group of kids… the majority of whom wanted to learn!

It became apparent within the first couple of days that there was a strategic segregation plan in place. The only kids that seemed to have any English at all sat within the first 4 rows of the class room. The only kids that could count in English or comfortably act out roll plays all sat in the front 4-5 rows of the room. You could say for the want of a better term ‘The most intelligent kids’ were seated at the front of the room.

These also seemed to be the only kids that always had copy books, pencils and stationary… As you moved down the room towards the back of the class the level of English and learning ability seemed to decline. Any children who had learning difficulties were cast down to the back of the room and very little effort was made by the teachers to involve them in their every day teaching. These were also the children that had no copy books or basic utensils.

During our time in the school we supplied some basic supplies to the class to make sure all of the kids had the same chance to document and learn what we had to teach. English was our primary subject and to see the children talking away and acting out role plays at the end of our placement was one of the most rewarding and satisfying experiences of my life.

As the days passed it also seemed apparent that the children knew how to rhyme of their ABCs and count in sequence but did not have much comprehension when it came to recognising and naming individual letters and numbers that we knew would be crucial for them to be able to structure words and sentences in the future. My only regret was that we really didn’t have enough time!

It was amazing how warm and loving the children were, they had so little and some of them were clearly not well due to Malaria amongst other difficulties but they still came to school every day and did their best to learn. For kids that had so little they really gave a lot, the simplest little things made them so happy and they really appreciated everything we did for them!

When we moved over midday to teach the younger kids it was a big wake up call… A room of 77 wound up excited kids… I think that speaks for itself…

Leaving the school at the end of the programme was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life but I learnt just as much from the people there as I taught them which I hope was a lot! I strongly recommend anybody who feels they can to give it a go…

How it all began!

On a clear cool March evening in 2007 myself and my good friend Vinny 'Vamos' Wood stood outside my house in Castlebar and discussed the prospect of embarking on an Adventure together whilst making a little difference to peoples lives along the way!

I had always been intrigued by African culture and through media coverage etc i don't think any of us could have escaped the levels of poverty and devastation suffered by a percentage of the population on the continent.

Tanzania attracted me because it was a peaceful developing country with the added bonus of the Masai culture which has always fascinated me. In November 2006 myself and Vinny lost our close friend in a tragic car accident, losing my best friend seriously put my life into perspective and taught me a valuable lesson; Dunny, i did this for you and to honour the great loyal and wonderful person that you were.

After a long few months fundraising with the help of our wonderful friends and family we landed in Dar Es Salaam, Lonely Planet Swahili phrase book & malaria tablets in hand...:) It was a very surreal experience and one i will never forget, for the first time in my life i was a white man...

After a short drive through Dar Es Salaam into the early hours of the morning we arrived at our hotel for the night before we met our fellow volunteers and programe directors the next morning before we embarked on our Tanzania adventure!...