The Boys' Big Adventure

It was saturday afternoon at the end of a hard week painting at the Childrens home and remand centre. We had been treated to a display of African dancing and drumming by the Amani kids. We had been beseiged by the local paparazzi and it was time for some R&R. It was time for Premiership football.

An intrepid party set forth from the hostel in search of satellite TV. We tried all manner of reputable and not so reputable establishments- all to no avail. Babycham and Captain Darling were so fatigued they had to stop for supplies. Things were not looking good and the boys were on the verge of turning back. Then we were greeted by a young Tanzanian gentleman with the customary greeting of 'Jambo'. "We're looking for Premiership football, can you help?" was our desperate plea. "Follow me", he replied and so we did. We followed down many back streets getting further and further from the main road. Just as we began to think that we were completely lost with neither football or any way of returning to civilisation our luck changed. Ahead of us was loomed a bar with a beef carcass hanging in the doorway. We were ushered through the bar. At the far end of the courtyard were some imposing cast iron gates. Dare we peer into the void beyond? We were intrepid explorers far from home and on a desperate win or bust mission, so we did. And the sight that met us was like Cloumbus discovering the new world- it was pure joy my friends. Ahead, on a tiny TV was Chelsea V Southampton in full swing with local Tanzanian crowd roaring. We were found seats. We were given cool drinks to refresh our aching limbs. It was a little slice of heaven. Things got even better for Ginger Spice as Chelsea went 2-1 ahead. He celebrated with aplomb. He was the only one, until he was joined by a solitary Tanzanian who felt a pang of sympathy. Then, suddenly disaster stuck: A power cut. Tanzania's hamster wheels incorporated ceased its supply. What a cruel blow. The boys had journeyed. They had toiled. They had striven and thought they had reached the promised land. But it only lasted seven minutes.

But it was character building...

Tanzanians Hail Celebrity Navs

The team have reached celebrity status here in Moshi as their exploits have been spread along the airwaves the length and breadth of Moshi. In fact interest in the lads is snowballing out of control. "Things have been pretty hectic" claimed Simon, aka Barbie, "But its been great." Other Navs were less positive. "Yeah, fame is great for about a week", moaned Chris James, aka Moneypenny, "but then it just gets too much and by then you are stuck with it." Team coach Chloe is trying to get the team to keep their feet on the ground despite all the attention. "My job is to keep the media away from the team and keep them focussed on their task: Painting the Childrens home and winning sundays crucial match against the International School of Moshi. All the rest is just garnish."

The boys have one day left of painting and a football tournament to organise before the crucial encounter on Sunday. Things have been going well at Amani and the Remand centre but the lads know they must finish well. Many friends have been made and lessons learned, but the boys hope that one lesson that will be learned is how to finish off those chances in front of goal. Old man of the team Galls said, "I would love to score on sunday both personally and for the team. The old legs aren't what they used to be when I was a lad. This could be my last tour. I will sit down with the family after the game and we will discuss the future. But it is important that we finish on a high note going into the all important domestic season."

The lads are expecting a welcome when they get home commensurate with their new found status...

Its A Game Of 2 Halves

Soweto Stars 3 Navs 1

Well the first half was 35 minutes and the second was 50. In the confusion Navs conceded 2 goals. It all started out so brightly, as early on Navs were bossing midfield and playing some sweet passing moves. A nifty through ball released Das Puffin who raced onto it and unleashed a furious thunderbolt into the top of the net. For the first time on the tour Navs were in front. The boys went delirious. The girls at the side of the pitch went delirious. The Africans looked on bemused. Everything was going well until a lofted ball caught Navs out at the back.

In the second half the boys gave everything, in the vain but logical thought that the second half would be the same length as the first!!! Tiredness was really beginning to show as the seven games in 8 days took their toll. Conceding 2 in the last few minutes was scant reward for the boys who performed like gladiators and really showed their character, "Im so proud of them" choked a tearful Galls "they were like young lions out there, but sometimes in life the Zebra has his day." The return match is on Thursday, hopefully Cloe, Sambuca and Captain Darling will be back to full fitness as we attempt to defeat Soweto for the first time in our history.

"We will win on this tour" said Navs starlet Rabi Salifu "otherwise I will never wear clothes again." The incentive is clear for all the boys.

Off Field Antics
Amani kids home is in excellent shape compared to last years visit, it is really encouraging to see the progress that has been made. Each child now looks after a vegetable plot in what was once just a dusty piece of earth.
We set to work straight away painting the bedrooms and tomorrow we will begin work building an outdoor classroom. As usual the kids mucked in and joined in the fun much to the amusement of Pips who was constantly wanting her paintbrush back.

Painting also continues apace at the Remand Centre although there was a near mutiny from the boys as Galls disappeared with the teams pies! Naughty Galls. In fact you wont recognise him hes put on 3 stone.

Referees and Injuries cost Navs dear...

OK. The boys are still with out a win, but their exceptional circumstances my friends. A mounting injury crisis has ripped the heart out of the team (or more accurately the bowels of the team) and some of the refereeing has been dubious to say the least. This may sound like sour grapes but I feel I must get this off my chest by summarising some of the decisions:

-Galls fouled in penalty area. Ref awards free kick then only makes defensive wall retreat 2 yards. Galls not amused.

-Onloan striker Brown fouled in penalty area with match in balance. Ref waves play on. Navs lose 8-1. No one amused.

-Martin (aka Rascal) has perfectly good goal disallowed for offside. Martin not amused.

And there have been many more such examples. But we fight on friends. We are down but not destroyed. Hard pressed on every side but not crushed, Perplexed but not in despair. Bruised but not broken. We will sweat blood for the cause and we will win a game before we return to our native shores. In fact, we will not leave Tanzania until we have a victory under our ever loosening belts...We will make Britain proud.

Footballing aside, we have arrived in Moshi and begin work at Amani Childrens home and Moshi Remand Centre tomorrow morning. We are looking forward to getting stuck in to some serious painting and building work. We will keep you posted!

Hello Guys

Well we are all here safely. It took 24 hours to get here but it is well worth it. We got a guided tour round Dar on Saturday. Dar is quite busy but there are so many people standing around chatting, they take life so much slower and relaxed then us!!! We went to a fish market which was the busiest place in the whole of the city, adn the smelliest.

On sunday we went to a traditional Gospel church. There were atleast 500 people in the congregation. It started off well, with typical gospel singing, very energetic, cheerful and loud, even a few verses in English. Then it began to drag after an hour and a half. They like to make a whole day of it, it also takes longer because the sermons are delivered in English then translated into Swahili. We left after 3 hours becuase we had football training, in preparation for our first match tonight!!!

Where we are playing football is amazing, it is a focal point for the whole district, its where people come to socialise in the evening. Everytime we missed a shot, we had a bunch of litte kids go runign to get the ball, abviously they were doing this a lot.

We had a bbq at the Foresters in the evening and learned a bit more about rural Tanzania. Dar is really quite modern, with its cars and tap water and as i have been told how hectic it is. I think its going to be very different when we go to Moshi next week.

I had better go we have got some haggling to do,
Si & the rest of the guys

Hello again,

It's been a busy few days for us (James, Ryan, Rhona and Rozzy) - we managed to escape from the internet cafe of our last jounal entry by the back door and then fled from our pursuiants successfully.

The next day was our safari - we had an 8 seater jeep all to ourselves and it was amazing. We saw elephants, giraffes, zebra, baboons, monkeys, mongeese, wildebeast, warthogs and much more. It was an amaizng day.

We then went to Zanzibar and spent some time there, maingly on the beach. It was fantastic - we satyed in tradition huts right on the beach - white sand, palm trees, blue water. We went snorkelling from a dhow and saw some cool fish. A great few days off.

The other 15 guys got here on Friday night and we met them on Saturday - I think Simon's going to take the journal-writing baton from now onwards so I'll leave it to him to tell all of you about it. It's kind of strange going from 4 people to 20. But nice too - great to catch up with everyone.

Rhona, Rozzy and Pippa all went off to Morogoro this morning - they're teaching some children there for a week before re-joining the guys.

As for me, I'm off home early on Thursday (3 days away!) for my sister's wedding, so I'll leave you in Simon's capable hands from now on. See you in 4 days!

J

NEWSFLASH....... the next secondment of Navs to Tanzania has been undertaken.......Looking forward to hearing how they get on........!!
Karenxx

We're now all in an internet cafe and we're under seige. I made the cardinal error of buying something from a tourist shop and the vultures descended, smelling blood. We are now surrounded on all sides by people hoping we'll buy something who have followed us without leaving for quite a while. We've ducked in here for refuge and have been here 10 minutes and they're still waiting for us. We even tried pretending to be French to shift them. No luck.

What a difference from the quiet of Uroki where we were stared at by people cos we're white, but no-one tried to sell us anything and everyone was very polite. We completed our last lesson yesterday and made our way to Arusha today. We were really sad to say goodbye to everyone. If you'd said I'd spend my last night there sitting in a circle singing Edelweiss with 2 teachers, the school matron, the captain of the football team, and several other students, I wouldn't have believed you. So much of what has happened in the last 2 weeks beggars belief. In a good way.

Anyways, everyone's well, Ryan's beard has progressed, and we're off on a day's safari tomorrow! Exciting stuff.

Rhona's busy seeing if there's a back door to this place so we can escape, so I'd best go and help her. Hope you're all OK.

J

OK, so there was this rooster/cockrel which seemed to live outside our house and he didn't just crow, he SCREAMED. Every morning, noon and night, starting early (around 4am). We were joking one day about how we'd like to kill him because he was the mosty irritating thing I've ever known.

I say was cos the funny thing is he's now dead. We ate him for tea 2 nights ago. And he tasted lovely. And our sleep has improved immensely.

We're still in Uroki, teaching away. It's funny how you getr used to things very quickly. Seems like we've been here ages and have taught classes for years.

We're well, been enjoying some walks around the village, and have mastered (finally) the Tanzanian art of greeting people. A tricky business at the best of times.

On Saturday we went to some Waterfalls which were AMAZING and on Sunday we went to a Jubilee at a convent which was amazingly long - almost 5 hours, all in Swahili. Think graduation ceremony but without people you know, in a differenmt language and 3 times as long. However, we got to try Blackcurrant Fanta afterwards for the first time so every cloud has a silver lining.

Off to Arusha on Saturday for a day Safari on Sunday and then to Zanzibar on Monday before we meet the 15 or so others flying out on Monday.

Hope you're all well, see some of you soon!