Uganda Tour Report 28th June – 16th July 2013
What a tour! More schools, a new committee set up, new local volunteers and a hugely fun tour for everyone!
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The netball
We visited two districts and each town was different, so here’s a breakdown.
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All it takes is one PE teacher and a lot of passion
NDT has achieved so much already in Uganda, India and now Kenya. But last week, out of the blue, something special came along. We received a mail from Muhammad Muzammal Khan Wazeeri. Mr Wazeeri is a sports fanatic through and through, from playing rugby to american football and coaching in schools too. He was keen to do something for the girls in his community. He lives in Fort Abbas of Pakistan, a remote village with lot of restrictions and primitive cultural barriers on girls’ participation in sport.
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Mr Wazeeri has been involved with a few people who know netball and a few weeks ago came up with an idea to introduce netball to the one of the girls’ schools. Being a girls sport he thought this could be a way to start, but he knew that convincing the school to get on board would be the biggest challenge. However, that did not deter him. The following week he arrived at the Punjab Public School some 35 km away from Fort Abbas.

Joseph is a 25 year old student who started playing at college in 2008 when the coach asked him to come have a go at netball, given his height and athleticism. He had no idea how to play, yet within a year was playing and was the college captain. After 2 years studying at college he moved onto university and is now playing at Kenyatta university, where he studies a part time BA in English literature, and is due to finish in 2015.

He was voted, in 2010, the most valuable player in the Kenyan teachers colleges sport association netball championships.

He is a part time student and already has his teaching qualification. He has worked in a private school but was frustrated as there was no sport taught. He then moved onto another school where he is now actively coaching his and 2 other schools. He also umpires, but as yet is unqualified. He coaches groups of 50, 22 and 20 students. He has recently recruited a friend to help him coach but is doing most the work single handed.

Joseph came on NDT tour with us to Uganda this year and from day one was a wonderful addition to our family. He tells us “since I touched a ball, I cannot stop” – he loves his netball!

We have challenged him to develop more netball in his home region and consider inviting a UK tour party to Bungoma county next summer. Jules interviewed him about how it’s going 4 weeks after getting back from Uganda.