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Hi everyone; Mike here providing a change of blogger for this weekend's update.
Where does the time go?! It's been much easier this week to re-connect with the digital world following the return of broadband to the mission HQ after a 7 week absence, but in doing so we've realised how close we are to a quick pit-stop back in the UK!
The World Cup has been and gone, mostly noteworthy for the level of abuse we received on behalf of England's poor showing. It was somewhat challenging providing sufficiently insightful reasons for the ineffective performances of Rooney and co, having only managed to watch a grand total of 3 games in total during the tournament. Many, many thanks to Mr & Mrs Quaife for recording and sending matches to us; I'm almost at a point where I can review the individual performances of various teams and contribute to the essential 'man chats' about the World Cup - all essential for my work in the Sports & Recreation department you understand...!!
Becky's had a noteworthy couple of weeks; receiving her physio registration after so long (understandably a big boost & relief), completing the disability training manual and then testing it out on disability representatives from each of the 17 regional units. She's also been dipping her toes into the world of networking - meeting doctors about potential partnership working - and will soon be delving even further into my world with fundraising applications to support future health projects.
I'm also starting the long road towards fundraising. A major target for the sports department is to facilitate leagues and tournaments for a range of sports, taking place in each of the 17 local units. We'll then be bringing those 17 units together for central tournaments, finding the best teams and players from Western Kenya. A slight barrier to all of this is a massive shortage of equipment, clothing and facilities, but we don't want to let a small issue like that get in our way.....so....
Abracadabra!
Hmm, didn't work. We'll have to acquire the resources the hard way; working with the regional units to quantify the number of players, equipment, facilities and coaches in each area, and then using that information to apply for funding. It might take a while but we're laying the foundations at the moment and have already received information back from several units which I'll be using in the coming weeks.
There's lot of other work going on, such as a training event that the Sports & Recreation department is running this Friday to train football coaches from each regional unit. We've been preparing a coach development resource pack - roughly FA level 1 standard - which has also been translated into Swahili for use in the local areas. I did think about doing sports development as a career when younger, so it's enjoyable to be able to give it a whirl for a few months!
In other news we've been enjoying hosting visitors to the house. Typically they have been work colleagues, but we've also found a solitary locust (hardly the stereotypical plague!), several mammoth moths and our own live-in chameleon which is enjoying life on a large plant in the garden. We're anticipating some good food over the next month with bananas ripening on the trees, and a batch of lettuces, tomatoes, leeks, cauliflowers, cucumbers and sweet potatoes all growing very well. We won't be starving, but we're acutely aware that a lot of people are finding times hard and so we are trying to do our bit to support people where possible.
Right, I've just downloaded the recipe for onion bhajis and want to test it out. It's not all bad eh?!
Lots of love from us; tune in soon for another rambling account of life in W. Kenya!
- comments
Joy & Olly we are loving the news - sounds like everything is going wel. miss you lots xxx Joy & Olly
sally Hi Mike & Becky, pleased to hear things are going well & you've managed a bit of broadband (and cadburys) just reading through your most recent blog, re fundiraising, i'm not sure how much yo'uve done so far, but comic relief offer grants for international (and UK)projects, i had a quick look and if you are struggling for internet time/ download capacity i can read through the strategy in more detail for you. let me know. Sally.x
Rich Great stuff Mike. It looks like you guy's are doing some really fantastic work. I had quite a day that Sunday in the UK, when you enlightened so kindly, and in so much detail about what you've been getting upto. I hope you can spread awareness at an ever increasing rate, and that things really start to accelerate with the fund raising efforts! Rich x