Scottish football coaches in their pants…
Batsinda ex-streets kids
The best way to sum up Batsinda is probably to describe a scene in November ’22 following our visit.
After several fun hours helping the kids to move a yard full of mud bricks, we said our goodbyes. I was a few minutes behind the others, but when I eventually got onto our bus I was met by the not-so-lovely sight of a bus full of middle aged Scottish men sitting in their pants.
To a man they’d literally given the shirts off their backs, along with shorts, trainers, socks, and caps. The journey back to the guest house was unusually silent – silent tears mostly.
Thing is, the exact same thing had happened in 2020.
What is it about Batsinda that has this impact on our coaches? We have a week full of emotional, hard-hitting experiences without this reaction. It’s probably a combination of several factors…
First, Batsinda is located in the poorest area we see during the week. The bus can’t take us the whole way, so we walk a few narrow, busy lanes to get there and see first-hand and up close the level of poverty. And yet we get nothing but smiles, laughs and unthreatening attention from the locals as us “Mzungus’ wander past.
Then there’s the back story – when we say ex-street kids, we really should say ex-rubbish dump. The capital’s main, sprawling municipal dump is right next to this neighbourhood. For homeless kids, mostly primary age, the streets are dangerous. The best place to try and avoid adult predators is in the dump – so they live, sleep and eat there.
For just one minute, try and picture what that means. Rwanda is poor, even by African standards. For the vast majority it’s a subsistence living. The “leftovers” that eventually reach the dump won’t be like ours here in Scotland.
Batsinda brings these kids in and has to deal with the huge trauma of their situation, maybe also the substance abuse and petty crime that they’ve turned to to survive. Somehow the staff have to get these young children to trust adults and get back to being children again.
How do we know all of this? Well, the kids tell us.
That’s the third thing, and it hits you hard. The centre leader David Gasana was one of these kids once, he’s been through it…and he’s a true inspiration. After our fun lugging bricks, David got the kids to gather around with our coaches, and asked two of them to tell us their story. In English. To complete strangers.
These kids are amazing. What they’ve been through, are still going through, and you feel you couldn’t admire anyone more.
That’s Batsinda.
They help the kids recover, feed, shelter and clothe them, send them to school and give them a safe place.
Several of the coaches now sponsor one of the kids. The Nov 22 group also donated £2,000 to give them an unforgettable Christmas, including a trip to Lake Kivu, a party and some new clothes. We also spent an afternoon of football with them…of course.
We often hear in Rwanda that the biggest impact we can have is simply by going back to see them again. Proving to them that they’re not just a stop on our trip, but that we genuinely care. I can’t wait to see them again in Feb ’24….
To get involved or simpy make a donation, find more information on www.rwandafootball.org
Note: Batsinda is run by Comfort International, a Scottish charity that has 3 other centres in Kigali as well as neighbouring countries of DR Congo, Burundi, South Sudan and Uganda. www.comfortinternational.org
