Kiongwani Reunion for Friends of Baseball4Africa

Reunion with Ms Sarah

  Yesterday we took a day off from teaching baseball to revisit Baseball4Africa's roots. There is a very interesting story of how this program came about and it goes a little something like this...

   For as long as I can remember my father, Jim, had talked about retiring to Africa to teach baseball. However, when the day came that he actually retired he had no real set plans to start such an endeavor. But, so many people had heard about his retirement plans that all of a sudden used baseball equipment started to show up on our doorstep. So with a renewed sense of motivation Jim set off driving across Africa on a 100 day search for the place to teach baseball. He traveled from South Africa to Mozambique, from Malawi to Tanzania, and finally reached Kenya.

 Now, little did Jim know that while he was on this epic journey there was a dinner party being held thousands of miles away in Sleepy Hollow, New York. At this party a long time friend of Jim's was making conversation with a man name Jude, who just happened to live in Kenya. So naturally the topic of Jim's drive through Africa to find a place to teach baseball was brought up to which Jude suggested that Jim come to his old high school called Kiongwani Secondary School, and use that as his base of operations for baseball in Kenya. Jim reached the school and started relationships that he still holds strong today. There was a handshake and an agreement that he would come back the next fall to begin training at Kiongwani and the surrounding schools.

Jacaranda Tree

Naturally I jumped on board with the thought of being a part of something this special. So the next fall I joined as well as my good friend Special. The three of us packed enough equipment to outfit five teams and headed back to Kenya wondering what our welcome at Kiongwani would be like. I remember I kept asking, "they know we are coming, right?", but never got more than a 'yeah, we shook on it last year' as an answer. 

Look what I got!

  When we arrived they were a little surprised, but we were then welcomed with open arms, put up in the principles house, and well taken care of. The principle was Michael, the vice principle Ben, and the games-master Joseph. These three individuals would be the cornerstone of baseball4africa over the following decade. Even after all three moved to different schools, baseball followed. So it was a shame this year that we couldn't continue to teach in their respective schools, and Kiongwani, because the teacher strike has totally shut down all schools. But no baseball4africa trip would be complete without a visit to the place and people that started it all.

2nd graders from NJ sent letters

Adorable

  So we took a trip down memory lane and showed Jack what Kiongwani is all about. We stopped in at Sarah's general store for a cold coke and mandazi, plus to catch up on all the local gossip. Then strolled through the dusty town to a preschool to hand out some pencils, tooth brushes, and letters sent over by a 2nd grade class back in New Jersey. Not much had changed in the town over the last ten years we have been coming here. Goats still wondered freely in the street, all the brightly colored building fronts are all tinged red from the dust, and a giant purple jacaranda tree sits in full bloom over one end of the village.

Easy way to Kiongwani Village

2 whole chickens

  After the village stop we slowly worked our way back down the treacherous road and over to the next town of Sultan Hamud, where the old principle Michael has a little restaurant. We arranged to meet not just Michael, but also Joseph and Ben as well. It was great having the whole gang back together. It even made the rubber chicken that was killed in the next room while we waited a little more tolerable to eat (I think I still have some stuck in my teeth a couple days later). The guys hadn't changed much, still big smiles all around. So even though we didn't teach this day, I feel like it was still a big day for baseball4africa.

Michael, Joseph, and Ben