After a long hiatus (due to vacation and exams) the Gracious sports teams were back in action Saturday. It was definitely another "Very African" Saturday. We left MCV for Mangochi Boma (the town) in the big truck at 1:30 (an hour late), stopped once along the way to repair the truck, and arrived at the agreed upon ground at 2:00 (the agreed upon time).
Before I could say or do anything all of our students took one look around, decided that no one from Palmland (the other school) was there yet, and took off in twos and threes to walk around town. After a few minutes I met the headmaster of Palmland, and he told me that their sports master and students should be there shortly. Having lived in Africa for 9 months, I knew what he meant by shortly, and I decided to walk to a little grocery store with a couple students to buy some bread.
When we returned to the ground, we found it deserted. We found out from others nearby that the venue had been changed, and that Gracious and Palmland would play at another ground in Mangochi. We walked over to the new ground, and after waiting for another 1/2 hour or so the games eventually got underway. As usual our 2pm game started around 4:15.
The netball game ended at halftime when the referee decided the girls were arguing too much, and she was afraid the teams would start fighting. We lost the shortened game 6 to 4.
Thankfully, the football game lasted the full 90 minutes with no major fights or arguments. Our boys were back to their winning ways with a 2-1 victory. Khenge (Mussa James) our star scored both goals.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Conor, enjoyed your last postings. Bessie and I are playing Bridge with your parents Saturday, so I was thinking of you. Fallen into the lap of luxury, I see.
Wonderful work you are doing. Total lack of organization and inability to teach it because the teachers and administrates lack self-discipline is one of the curses of the 3rd world - but I don't have to tell you that. Was impressed by your comment that your kids kept their heads at the contest while things were falling apart. Good for you.
Post a Comment