Hey guys, I wrote this last night and the internet wet out so I couldn't get it posted so instead here it is now.

Sorry!

Hello from Gisenyi. Our first day in Africa was a success, lots on our schedule and ofcourse it all was finished on time. My day started with the noise from my alarm clock at 6:30am, giving me time to get up, get dressed, suntan lotion on, pack my little bag I'd carry with me all day and still get to have breakfast before we had to leave for a meeting at the Right to Play office at 8:30am.

                                                                    First Rwandan morning outside our first hotel in Kigali, Rwanda

Our day we all knew would be packed full of things to start our trip, but exactly how much toll it would take on us was a whole other story.

The day began at the Right to Play office in Kigali, Rwanda, there the whole team sat and we all introduced ourselves and what we do to be apart of Right to Play; Helen Upperton - Olympic gold medalist, Roz G - World champion extreme skiier, Stephanie Buryk - representative from Right to Play Toronto, Ontario and myself introduced as Ariel Grange - Sponsor and owner/groom to horses and specifically an olympic horse who won silver in the Bejing olympics.

Once we meet the Right to Play team of Kigali the presentation started where they took us through most of they're goals, mainly to get the Ministry of Education's help to put the Right to Play organized sport and learning together into all the school programs in Rwanda, as well as to teach the children about they're rights and protection as well as protect the children and give them places to go after school, holidays and weekends that will be safe for they're needs.

After some delicious Samboosa's (a meat pastry) and some cold bottled water and tea, we took a quick photo and packed up our things. The people at the Right to Play office in Kigali were so welcoming, and I do wish them much luck and thanks so very much for treating us like they're own.

After our amazing trip through the goals of the organization we packed up and headed off the a school 15 minutes up town where we were welcomed by smiling faces and waves. We were there to see the Right to Play programs in the schools so the 4 of us broke into 2 teams and with a translator each (even though the kids spoke some english the coaches spoke the native language) we joined 2 classes in they're activities on the school yard. Helen and Roz joined a P2 class (grade 2) in a singing and dancing game, while Stephanie and I joined a P6 class (grade 6), it was amazing how welcoming everyone was, the children and they're coach who was amazingly talented with the kids.

We began by watching the kids interact with the coaches, each coach for these children are employed by the school but are taught by Right to Play teachers on how to communicate, how to take the games you play with the kids and turn them into life lessons. We played a game called "chimpanze race" we were told to bend over and grab the back of our ankles and you had to run about 30 feet and then turn a cone and run back in this akward position, the kids were great at it and listened so well to split them into 6 groups (Stephanie in group 5 and me in group 6) and we raced eachother in this strange position 2 times until my kids won!

We had such a great time with those kids and they taughtus alot about what the kids are like here, they were great listeners and such good kids and fun and appreciative of us showing up and playing games with them which were oh so much fun.

Once we were done playing games, a man came out of a classroom and started to beat on a large drum, I asked the coach and our translater what that was for and they told me it was to tell the younger kids (primary) that they're finished for the day then they tried to shoo us to the main building where we were going to meet with the head master/principal, we couldn't understand why we had to go so quickly, until the kids saw us.... I've never seen that many kids rush that fast to see us, they were all very young and wanted to touch our skin, hand shakes, high fives, they would hold your hand, we couldn't go anywhere without them jumping all over us and fighting to get a photo taken or touch our skin or wave or shake our hands, it is by far only something you can understand after you have been there and experienced it first hand.

Our meeting with the principal/head master went very well, he was very nice and interested in finding out how much we liked all his kids and was very proud to hear that we thought they were some of the best listeners we've ever seen, which was not an exaggeration.

We stayed for a bit but eventually packed up and headed off to a quick lunch before going to meet the minister of Education, with a quick meeting with a man that seemed more interested in getting out of his office rather then talking to us, we headed back to Right to Play head quarters, where we got to sit for 10 minutes, then got in the truck and headed for Gisenyi, a long and beautiful ride.

The hills of Kigali and the rest of our path from Kigali to Gisenyi the hils wind through the mountains and as you look over the edge to the mountain sides below, we find the crops and houses on the small lips from top to bottom, then you realize that that fog you just hit is indeed a cloud... andthats when my igrane started...

But for now, its late and I'm tired and I'm going to sleep. New one tomorrow.

Cheers,

~a.grange~