Challenge:

Football

Destination:

*Uganda

Departure Dates From:

24/05/2008

The work that Madventurers have the option of doing in Jinja can be divided into three principal areas: working with the Jinja Municipal Council Football team, morning P.E. and football coaching lessons at a local School and evening training with youth football teams Mornings are usually split between working with the semi-professional Jinja Municipal Council (JMC) Football team and Masesco Primary School.

Based at Kakindu Stadium (a short walk from the Madventurer house) the JMC is the leading team in the Jinja region and are vying to be promoted to the Ugandan equivilent of the English Premier League! Here you could be working alongside the existing coaches at the club, where you'll have the opportunity to learn from these experienced football coaches, by taking part in training sessions with the team.

However, far from being another player at JMC the coaches are very eager to hear your ideas on drills and training regimes so be prepared to be given responsibility for organizing morning coaching sessions for the whole team. While attending matches, the team and coaches are interested to get feedback on their performance so if you were to coach you may have to give a half-time team talk!!

Masese Co Primary School [founded 1927] is located in one of Jinja's poorer districts about 4km outside the town centre with beautiful views out onto Lake Victoria. The local community suffered greatly in the general decline in the 1980s. Recovery is well under way and the school has around 1700 pupils, but numbers fluctuate as children choose to remain at home to help their families or, particularly in the case of orphans, to stay on the streets in the nearby slums and try to make a quick buck or pursue other distractions.

Regular sports education has the otential to attract them back to their educations and the opportunity to play sport will greatly benefit those children already in regular attendance. During the evenings, you'll be working at one of the local football academies “ The Nile Academy, Bugembe or the Jinja Youth Academy". These academies are aimed at offering football training to children of ages to enhance the undoubted potential that many of them posses by providing structured sessions working on all aspects of football and fitness.

Working alongside the coaches at JMC will help you develop a number of drills which you can then use with the children at the various football academies. Madventurer would like to take this opportunity to reemphasise that each venturer designs his or her own programme in with the assistance of his or her crew. Your crew will seek to provide you with the opportunity for variety within your programme but ultimately it is the venturer who decides what he or she does.

Your work in Jinja will principally entail coaching, but there will be opportunities to add in educative tie-ins related to, for example, HIV, malaria and nutritional education. To further promote sport in the region there is the possibility of organizing tournaments at weekends, or even organising a local league as the structure currently in place could be strengthened significantly.

*Location* Our Madvenurer medical projects are based in Jinja, southern Uganda, located by Lake Victoria on the source of the River Nile. Jinja is a spacious, relaxed town with a market, matatu [a large minibus that acts as a shuttle] park, internet cafes, post office, bars [for cold soft drinks or beers], cafes and small shops that will provide most essentials and a little bit more.

Transport is provided by matatus and boda-bodas (bicycles or small motorcycles [pikipikis). Jinja is about one and a half hours away from Kampala, Uganda's more bustling capital, which is home to a lively nightlife. The area surrounding Jinja is very green, with thick vegetation. itself is renowned for its birdlife and is home to many wild animals, perhaps most famously the gorilla, with half of the worlds population resident within the country.

It is possible to access some beautiful scenery in the surrounding areas, and for the more adventurous there is the opportunity to test yourself against the mighty White Nile whilst white water rafting, face the Nile High Bungee jump or go quad biking in nearby Bujigali. An hour and a half away is Kampala, the vibrant capital of Uganda. There is a wealth of things to do in this attractive city, whether it's browsing around the famous Owino market; indulging in some western luxuries in the shopping centre, or relaxing around a pool in the hot sun. Kampala's bustling nightlife always promises a good night out.

Accommodation: You will live in a shared house with a madventurer crew and other venturers who will be working in teaching, healthcare, football coaching or orphanage and work in the week with weekends free to explore.

What's included: All meals, accommodation and transport is provided and our experienced crew arrange airport pick you up's , introduce the project and organise it's structure. They have responsibility to be on-hand for 24 hour support, assistance and to share their insider knowledge of Ghana!