We take a break from our Africa 100 Challenge - Afriyea, Uganda

Our goal is to play 100 African golf courses, but we take a break from this challenge with 68 tucked under our belt at this point.  We’ve been travelling on the road around Africa for the past 10 months and are now finally in Uganda.

One might not really associate Uganda with golf, in fact what do we really know about Uganda as a country - I'd wager, not a lot!  That’s where we come in.

But we can’t do this alone so have teamed up with the Uganda Tourist Board- to show you more about Uganda and a fantastic charity, Afriyea.

We’ve been talking to Isaiah for a few years, we’ve met in the UK and I promised we would stop by, (as you do), in Uganda and see what Afriyea is up to first hand.

So here we are sat outside in the most beautiful office, Toro Golf Club, overlooking the first tee with the sun shining behind us.

Chatting with the Afriyea team, it’s obvious each brings something special to the charity, each team member has a purpose and a responsibility, whether that is coaching or running the social media campaigns - all with the single goal of bringing golf and all that encompasses golf to the hard to reach areas in Uganda; to the children of Uganda.

Each coach is unique and special and as a whole they make up a strong team - we actually didn't get to meet all of the Afriyea team on the day, such is the nature of availability of volunteers - and that’s what this is, a programme run by volunteers with an strong common undercurrent of passion.

George is a teacher, so has natural discipline when met with large groups of demanding children all vying for his attention, he just gets on with is without batting an eyelid.

Wycklyf, a young man himself is the Junior coach, always with a quick and ready smile and energy a famous fizzy orange energy drink could tap in to.

Derek runs the social media campaign and is in many ways the person putting Afriyea in front of so many others.

Michael is another coach ready with a smile and keen to help.

And the person that holds it all together is Isaiah, the founder and driver of Afriyea.

I asked Isaiah how the charity came about, and his response was quite surprising.  It started with sustainability in mind.  Now you’ve got to understand we’ve been driving for a long time and whilst Africa is a stunning continent, there is a fair amount of rubbish lying around, plastic bottles being burnt on the roadside and generally a bit grubby in places.  So to meet a young man with sustainability at the forefront of his mind was, in honesty, refreshing.  

The golf evolved as part of the project when Isaiah saw the need to help others, in his unselfish way.  A keen golfer himself, he saw the children weren’t getting an opportunity to shine.  In life some had had a tough time, losing parents and being adopted by other family members who themselves couldn’t feed their own families but took in their kin without hesitation.  Even those babes in arms didn’t have much and didn’t have much to look forward to as they grew older with the restrictions of lack of access to what we take for granted in the Western world and with a lack of funds, things weren’t set to change soon.

We were lucky enough to meet this cross section of happy, kind and unselfish children when we joined Isaiah and his team firstly at Toro Golf Club.  

They were late, and we waited patiently, but when those bus doors opened excitement all around as one by one they neatly filed out to their ‘golfing stations’, which had been set up beforehand.  Dotted around the golf course groups of children like marching ants take their place, no pushing or shoving, no bullying or vying for the front, they just took their turn and were swiftly divided up.  All with one common objective - to have a go at golf.   That’s partly what Afriyea does, it shines the light on golf for these children.

Lessons without being ‘lessons' were given and eventually we all gathered around to make a ‘living person sign’ on the ground.  Then as all children round the world, something more exciting caught their attention; a flying drone.  That was it! in sways like the ocean turning they were off, chasing the drone up and down the field to squeals of delight jumping higher than I’ve seen children jump before - so much so Steve had to keep a watchful eye on the height of the drone itself, just low enough to keep them engaged, just high enough so they can't actually reach it - but they didn’t really want to reach it, just chase it and have some fun- so they did.  They were being children.

Lesson over, children exhausted yet full of beans and a happy teacher bundled the children back into the school bus with enthusiastic waving goodbye.

Feeling very humble, we said our goodbye that night wondering how much golf we actually helped them with, but knowing each and every child had a great time, being part of something where no social boundaries mattered.

Next up, we’re driving to a village, loaded with the Afriyea motley sets of golf clubs, Isaiah and Wycklyf scrunched up in the back of the landrover which is only for 2 people normally.  Via a shop where school exercise books were bought along with a few other things to take to the village, and we start our long journey.  Isaiah told me that they normally get a motorbike, a two wheeled taxi, to the village - with all the golf clubs and sometimes more than one person on one bike, they try to get to the village every other week, but can’t always make that schedule with the location of the village being so far and the cost to get there.  So travelling in the back of the landrover crumpled in between our Africa adventure equipment for travel and camping, they were smiling and happy, although it really can’t have been that comfortable!

We arrive and its quiet.  Expecting a lot of children, this was a bit of a shock, so we take a short walk and when we return there they are, about 100 children from toddlers up to teenagers.  A bit in awe of us, a few just stared and others; the cheeky ones, smiled and giggled as we passed by with cameras in hand.  It took a while for some to warm up, but with the odd one drifting in as time went by eventually we ended up with near 150 children all stood in a circle clapping and singing, with Wycklyf at the centre encouraging and engaging. 

With hand-me-down golf clubs, an assorted set of everything people had discarded, Isaiah turns up at the village with a package which might contain clothes, food, books but the unseen gift, the one he can’t wrap up and hand out, is that of hope- it is this hope that radiates in each of those children faces.

There is no distinction between the school children who come in as part of their curriculum to learn golf and those children with barely any clothes hanging off their skinny shoulders.

 

It’s not often you’d see a golf lesson started this way and some of the older ones even had a balancing game that would be banned in most countries as dangerous - but these kids love it, and so did we for its simplicity.  Two sticks held by one person at each end, reaching right the left in a push pull fashion - with a child riding the motion balanced on top of the stick raised off the ground.  That's one way to teach weight transfer and balance in golf!  

Even a they tumble to the ground laughing at themselves and everyone else in peels of laughter at their antics, did the health and safely society we’ve been bought up in start to click in- but not too much!  You just can’t stop enjoyment, things are different in Africa, and in some ways easier and less complicated.

Asking them to get in line, and as quick as rabbits in front of headlights, they are in a nice neat line - no pushing or shoving and my heart burst as I watched children being children without any social airs or graces embracing each and every one, whether in rags or pretty dresses.

Discipline is part of their DNA, caring and sharing is another part - a huge part.  Even with so little they care about each other.

With limited clubs, a small group of children were taken from the line and given a quick ‘how to hold the club’ and ‘hit the ball’ lesson, and they were off, bashing the balls.  Just to note here, no training balls were used - these were all the genuine hard as rock golf balls flying about, and not one child (or adult) was hit.  That group finished and ran in delight to collect the balls, and the next group were taken and the same process was repeated.

Hold the club, hit the ball, run to collect the balls.  Next group..

No one tried to hit extra shots, no child took advantage, each child just had a lot of fun and then happily passed it on to the next child for their turn.  Delighting in their friends having fun too.

The children in their monotone brown hand me down clothes which had been washed and worn so many times no colour was left in them, but plenty of holes, also had the opportunities as every other child and no one child was ostracised or picked on.  

Pure unadulterated fun, and a sheer pleasure to watch.

We branched off and made up a make shift putting area by borrowing one of the girls cloth wraps and laying it on the ground.  The purpose here is to teach the children that whacking the ball isn’t the only way to play golf and that putting a ball is just as important.  It did take a while for some to get the feel, but they relished that exercise with gusto and then happily passed it onto the next child as they joined the back of the line again to wait their turn again.

With such a large group, with so little equipment and few ‘teachers’ I don’t think every child got to hit a

ball, the younger ones didn’t care - they were just happy to belong to a fun group.  A couple of the Mum’s had a go too - and who said they shouldn’t, no-one!  The inclusivity of Afriyea is a credit to all.

The older teenagers, too cool to take part but were really itching to have a go underneath.  Eventually their inner child gave way and they too took their turn, delighting in be included, delighted at being able to hit a ball and giving way to the younger ones when they had had their turn. 

One young man asked, do we have a football?  Not something we normally carry around, so we sent a couple with Isaiah for his next visit to the village working on the principal, if foot-golf gets them interested, then it might turn into golf at a later date.  But really being so pleased that we can add another person to the growing list of happy Afriyea students.

We’d bought lots of boiled sweet lollypops to give them out one at a time as the queued up.  The line was so long I began to panic we didn’t buy enough, but we did and each child walked away with blue mouths or cheeky red grins and even the mums were delighted to have one - with their matching blue mouths and smiling blue teeth.

Afriyea is there to give children a purpose in life, a purpose taught though the fundamentals of the game of golf, the discipline of golf, the self worth and the many transferable skills golf gives us and makes up multiple aspects of life outside golf.

Afriyea doesn’t just teach these children how to play golf, chances are many won’t even consider this fun afternoon as playing golf, and even more unlikely they will continue golf into adulthood, but it does teach these children that they count, that they matter too. 

And who knows, there might be one who comes through and is the next Ugandan champion, or it might just save someones life as they approach adulthood in a uncertain environment.

And it all stemmed from the man who had the vision for sustainability - which I guess in its broader sense is doing exactly that for the children of Uganda - through golf.

Sarah with Isaiah