Capturing the Moment

Teams gather from all across Kenya for the National Tournament Hitting Strategy Talks at the Plate This season of baseball4africa has culminated in an amazing National Tournament held at the Machakos Teachers College here in Kenya on Saturday, Oct 10th. It has been a very productive season. For the first time ever we have had 4 coaches here volunteering with the program. We were able to get two teams from the Machakos Teachers College up and ready for the tournament. Two pretty strong teams from Nairobi showed up that have been trained by Jim in the past. A community team from Kabete hired a matatu (shared van) for the day to come play. And one of our past students, Darious, managed to bring two of our normal schools out bringing the total to seven teams to compete for the trophy.   After a few stressful minutes spent finding someone to open the gate to the fields we entered the Machakos ball fields with brand new baseballs, bats, and trophies in town. Following us...

Drills at MTTC   Being thrown off a little bit by the teachers strike this year Baseball4Africa has been able to direct its resources outside of the secondary/highschool age groups here in Kenya. One of the schools that we have been working closely with this season is on the outskirts of Machakos town called the Machakos Teachers Training College, or MTTC. What is so different about teaching baseball to these students, is that they will actually carry the game with them into different schools around Kenya once they graduate and become teachers. Coach Joe teaching the grip   They have picked up the game very quickly, and have greatly benefited from having four coaches working with them. Coach Jim has been here every year for the past 12 years teaching, it is my 3rd time helping out, Coach Jack just graduated university and flew out from NY to help, and Coach Joe recently wrapped up a baseball teaching program in Ethiopia and is now here for Baseball4Africa as well. So...

3 teams at once. Chief Kariuki brings out the entire Nakuru community with one message on Twitter Meeting the Chief George and Jim carry equipment for a new team     It has been a whirlwind first week for baseball4africa here in Kenya. At first the schools closing due to the teachers’ strike threw our baseball teaching plans into disarray. But with some quick networking with a few incredible friends here in kenya baseball4africa is looking stronger than ever.        Nice form Jack coaching the community boys We trained about 70 kids in the Nairobi village of Kabete who were brought together by the volunteer manager of a neighborhood sports program called Kabete cares and a good friend of Baseball4Africa, George Kinuthia. George then proceeded to take three days off to drive north with us to check in on the baseball program Jim started in Elburgon town four years ago. It was absolutely amazing to see the kids playing...

I always tell people who are interested in coming to Africa that South Africa is a good, easy place to start. Cape Town is a like little Europe, and the whole country has wonderful animal parks with easy roads and great infrastructure. Kenya on the other hand has pot hole filled roads, layers of fine dust that gets into everything, and corruption in the government which leads to the bad infrastructure. However, Kenya provides something that countries in Southern Africa don’t quite have, that wild Africa feeling where the animals still rule. The beauty of the wild animals, the incredible views like the endless savannas, the rift valley, and volcanic geology, and also amazingly nice people are what make Kenya so special. Over the last few days we have driven through herds of zebra and wildebeest in the savanna, we sipped a cold coke out of a glass bottle while overlooking the rift valley, but the most memorable things have been our interactions with people in different communitie...