Victory for Maranyundo!

Basketball is HUGE in Rwanda.  It is undoubtedly the most popular sport among the girls at Maranyundo. Every evening after classes end at 4:30 the students get free time until 6:00 for sport and most of them head to the basketball court.  

Ready to play!

I think it would be extremely challenging to dribble on this court, but the girls didn’t mention it

Coach

There is a three week holiday every April and the week before the break begins the students are done with exams and have little academic work left to do for the rest of the term.  Rwanda has such a young population that the government dictates staggered start and end dates for schools in each province so the all traffic is not at a gridlock as students travel to and from school.  

Because the students had few obligations, the secretary of Maranyundo (and my roommate) called up a friend from Fawe Girls School just outside the capital and arranged for a friendly basketball game between the two schools.  The school has a team but there is no formal season or schedule, with all games being coordinated through informal contact such as this. So the last Tuesday of the term, our team was excitedly heading to Fawe Girls School to play the game.

  

Victory for Maranyundo!  The final score was 13-12.  The girls from both schools knew each other and were very excited to see their friends. After the game they got about an hour to socialize and the coaches from both schools agreed the next game would be at Maranyundo.

Back at Maranyundo

 On our way back to school we stopped at a little shop for some food and the girls tumbled out to buy cookies and chocolate to their heart’s content. Sweets are a very special treat in Rwanda and they were ecstatic.

Very happy winners!