Back from Kitgum!!!

Aruu Falls was incredible!!! So refreshing and so much fun to swim in and play in!!! Natural beauty is the best kind of beauty this world has to offer. There were lots of rocks to climb up on and lay in the sun. It was great!!

We literally had to hike down the side of the mountain/hill to actually reach the water, and the hike back up was also brutal. It was so worth it though!

After Aruu Falls we went to train with the Gulu Elephants. We played some touch rugby, which turned into hold/wrap which then quickly turned into full contact tackle. It was fun to play with/against the guys we have been coaching the high school teams with. 

Thursday nights are trivia nights at one of the local bars here. We participated and came third!! We won two bottles of Ugandan gin. It is not really good at all. 

It was fun to have a couple of drinks with the coaches and the Elephants. It was a very nice social setting and a fun night. 

Friday morning was our second prison visit. The inmates are definitely catching on!! After doing some ball handling drills, we had them play some one on one and some two on one/three on two drills. They had SOOOO much fun it was incredible!!! They gave us a very nice thank you/farewell. Totally worth spending the time in the hot heat and hot sun!

Mandala House shares the same compound as Gainline. Mandala House uses yoga to help people recover from traumatic experiences. George, the yoga instructor, lead a class for us. The yoga class was done during a rain storm. It was cool to have the sound of the rain on the roof while holding the poses. 

Saturdays are rugby days back home in Canada. It was no different here in Gulu this past Saturday!!

The Gulu Elephants did a wonderful job organizing a rugby tournament for the local high school teams in Gulu, as well as some teams from Kampala, Lira and Kitgum! About 7-10 teams traveled from these places to Gulu to play. 

It was a hot and sticky day, but everyone had a blast!!! Huge smiles all around! A lot of children from nearby houses came out to the pitch to watch the sport. It was nice to see the Negri Boys play well!! The drills we worked on in practice definitely made a difference. They played against the U19 team and although they lost, Negri played wicked defence and managed to be the only team to put points up against them all day!! Still a big accomplishment.  

It was very fun to ref a few games at the tournament!! I was nervous, but then realized rugby in Canada has the same rules and everything as rugby in Uganda. (Go figure). That's the beauty of an organized sport. Some of my fellow coaches refereed for the first time at the tournament! We all had a great time!!

It was nice to see all of the people who came out to watch the last few games of the day. We had a huge spectator section and everyone was cheering. I think everyone involved had a BLAST!! Players, coaches, Gainline coaches, the Elephants, supporters, the DJ, sponsors and the kids who came to check out the excitement. 

The trophies were presented to the first place boys and girls teams, as well as the runner up teams. 

It was an awesome day :)

We traveled about two hours north of Gulu to Kitgum Sunday morning to train with some of the high schools. Ronald, a former student from Layibi (a high school in Gulu), started the rugby program here. It is so awesome to see someone bring rugby back to his home town. He first was introduced to rugby through the efforts of Gainline Africa. Epic empowerment happening!!! 

Ronald took us to the village where his mother lives. There is about 13 people living in thus village. Santa, his mother, provided us with tea, roasted peanuts, millet, and chicken. Ronald and Sam (another coach in Kitgum...also a former Layibi student) shared some stories with us about the war. It is hard to believe everything we heard. Ronald is the same age as I am. When he was 9-10 years old, he, along with his family would have to walk into the bush or fields at night to sleep as it was too dangerous to sleep in the villages. The LRA would raid villages and abduct children around the age of 10 to become child soldiers. When I was 10, my biggest worry was having the correct brand of clothes to wear to school, not being abducted by LRA and living through a war. It was an intense talk. I will definitely do more research on the war that was happening here when I get back to Canada.