Being a sports volunteer in Mombasa.....

Being a sports volunteer in Mombasa.....

I volunteered in Kenya teaching PE for 6 weeks. As a sports volunteer I had the opportunity to work at both Olives Rehabilitation Centre and Nyota. Teaching PE at each school was very different. At Olives the class sizes range from 30 to 40 children and there is a big field to do Sports in. At Nyota the class sizes are a lot smaller around 20 children and I took the lessons in the playground.

Sports Volunteer Alastair with Students from Nyota

 My day would involve teaching a range of standards which included a wide range of ages and abilities. I really enjoyed this because I was able to do a number of different games throughout the day. The younger children loved playing parachute games and the older children particularly liked to play Netball. 

Sports volunteer Alastair with students from Olives.

The main thing I will remember from my time in Kenya is that the children love to do PE. As soon as I walked into the classroom to take them for a PE lesson they would jump off their seats with a smile on their face ready to go to the playground. They needed no encouragement whatsoever. Even after a long day of back to back PE lessons in the heat it is hard not to want to join in on the PE lessons with the children because they are a lot of fun and there are so many characters! 

Game of cat and mouse

For three weeks during my volunteering programme both of the schools were shut for holidays. However, this did not mean there was nothing for me to do. At Nyota we took a holiday programme for three weeks. I introduced a lot of new games which I had brought with me and the children really enjoyed these especially when they had the opportunity to do it a number of times and understand the rules. My favourite game that I played with the children was Cat and Mouse. It involved a few children being the cats and the rest mice who tucked the bibs into their shorts. The mice had to run around the playground and not allow the cats to steal their bibs (tails). It was amazing how much fun the children and teachers could have with just bibs! 

 
We also took the children swimming which was great fun and rewarding . 

One to one lesson at Nyota

It wasn’t all just sports, between PE lessons I got the chance to do 1 to 1 and group reading lessons. 

Alastair with fellow volunteer Mari painting

We also painted Nyota for two weeks during the holiday programme in the afternoons. I didn’t know what to expect when I signed up to do Sports in Kenya with GVI, if anything I was apprehensive and thought how would I manage for 6 weeks. However, it was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life and I would definitely recommend the Sports programme in Kenya to anyone who is interested in teaching Sports to children.   

By Alastair Divine - Volunteer

Being a sports volunteer in Mombasa.....