Friday 7th July

TOURNAMENT DAY!

War has continued at the backpackers camp! This morning the boys room were awoken by 8 revenge seeking girls with whistles. Yet this noise did not compete with the scream that preceded to come from Christian.

Breakfast and the bus trip to the tournament ground was dominated with arguments over which team was the best, but each of us were still excited to find out how the day would pan out. The excitement of the teams upon arrival continued to grow and was not dampened by the looming black cloud, which led to 3 hours of solid torrential rain. All of the children put in a tremendous amount of effort but the finale came between Walukuba West Deaf team (coached by Elise, Fiona and Amelia) and Kisima 1 (coached by Amy, Abbi and Michelle), who had travelled from their island in Lake Victoria, with some of the students never setting foot on the mainland before. It was a really heart-warming experience to witness the island team win and there were many tears from all Welling volunteers whether their teams won or not! There was a huge buzz across the pitch with everybody dancing together. And as if by magic the weather cleared and the sun came out for our award ceremony. The dancing continued long after the tournament ended. 

It was really hard to say goodbye to our teams. Despite only knowing them for three days, we had already developed an attachment to the children. They all wanted us to continue to visit them, which although was upsetting made us understand the the work we had put in was worthwhile. 

This afternoon's entertainment was quad biking which was "nerve wrecking at first, but was exciting when we got into it" (Sophie Cooper). 

And the celebrations from tournament will continue tonight.

Amy and Olivia