More kids come to school on basketball days than a regular school day. That’s Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. That’s one of the reasons that Coach Joan Akasingura wanted to get real basketball equipment for the Kashojwa Primary School players.
You see Joan is not just one of the basketball coaches. She’s also a teacher at Kashojwa. So, when she thought about what kind of play and sports opportunities she wanted for her students the answer was simple. Basketball equipment would give them an opportunity to improve their skills, but it would mean more kids in school.
“It will help with school dropouts,” Joan told us. “Having opportunities to really play basketball with the appropriate equipment will engage our students and break the boredom they may be feeling.” So Joan, her fellow coaches, and teachers ran in the World Refugee Day 5k in support of their idea. And on Day 192, we were able to make it happen.
We brought all the supplies to outfit the Kashojwa girls basketball team – 14 pairs of shoes for the girls to share, jerseys and shorts, basketballs and a pump. The girls were so proud in their new gear.
But the job wasn’t done yet. The court at Kashojwa was too simple to really play. Fortunately we had enough left in the budget to do some upgrades. We purchased nets for the hoops. And then had the court surface smoothed out and the free throw, three point arc and all the other lines painted on the court. We were even able to get a couple of uniforms for the coaches.
Joan and her fellow coaches are confident this will make a difference – that having a better court will get more students playing basketball. That they’ll be proud of what they’re doing and have more reason to come to school each day.
Joan and the team send their thanks to Sandy B, John T, SweatShop Health Club, Clif Bar, Julianna Belelieu and Little Blind Spot for helping make their idea happen.
