Dreams and Teams

Schools: Burleigh Community College, Loughborough/Government College, Lagos.

Staff: John Heathcote (SSCO), Mark Beeby (Community Coach)

Students: Chris Starkey, Christian Berry, Stuart Brown, Chris Day.

 

Robert Prettie: Plumbing, Heating and Mechanical Services

Leicestershire County FA

Loughborough Dynamo FC

PTS plumbing supplies

Charnwood Inclusive Football Partnership

All Seasons Cleaning Company

Hawes Plant Hire

Motoability Loughborough

Trawlers Catch Fish n Chip shop

Wesley Mee Electrician

Tesco Stores Loughborough

Carl Price Plumbing

 

Senior Leaders. 11 student ‘veterans’ from the Community Action Through Sport Project (CATS), who currently form the management group of the leadership activities in the project.

Young Leaders. Students from the local Secondary schools following the Dreams and Teams Leadership programme.

Little Leaders. Children in local primary schools who have been identified as suitable for training in the leadership programme.

 

2008 was the fifth visit by Burleigh students to Nigeria on the Dreams and Teams Leadership programme. The focus for this trip was:

¨ To develop Inclusive activities for children with disabilities.

¨ To support the development of Little Leaders training in primary schools.

¨ To consolidate the leadership structure in the Link schools introduced in 2007.

¨ To develop the leadership skills of the Young Leaders.

Day 1, Sun 10th Feb (African Cup of Nations Final)

On leaving Lagos airport under armed guard Chris Starkey wrote in his diary, " the next 20 minutes were to be, thruthfully, the most eye-opening, breathtaking, and extremely exciting bus journeys of our life."

"For the sights and emotions that could not be written down, the rest are memories that I will remember for the rest of my life."

New activities introduced this year to help forge relationships and allow old friends to be reacquainted, saw Christian and Mark leading Basketball in the hall, with John, Chris, Chris and Stuart playing a range of Kwik Cricket games in the baking afternoon sun on an unpredictable wicket! We were accompanied by many students in running a lap of the National Stadium to complete our fund raising activity of running a mile for every Cup of Nations game in the tournament.

Following our overnight flight from Heathrow, exhausted from our first days experiences, we all returned to our rooms and I don’t think anyone saw the end of the Cup Final! Egypt beat Cameroon 1-0 apparently!

" I met so many amazing people in these few hours, all joined in one common goal, of our love of sport, in one of the greatest settings you could ever dream of." Starkey.

 

Shaun Phillips

All Seasons Cleaning Company

The complete cleaning specialist

      · Carpets and Suites

Tel: 01509 217493

Mob: 07754 798894

 

Carl J Price

Plumbing & Heating Engineer

      · Central heating 

     · Bathrooms

     · General Plumbing 

     · Service and repairs

      · Landlords certificates

Tel: 01509 560620

Email: carl.price@ntlworld.com

 

 

 

Mark led the morning session on Inclusive Football activities with the Senior Leaders. A wide range of Inclusive football equipment had been donated by the County FA to assist with the training and was subsequently left at the school.

This session was followed by a planning exercise involving the Burleigh students and the Senior leaders in preparation for their reciprocal teaching of the Young Leaders tomorrow. (This planning was disrupted with the Burleigh party being invited to an impromptu meeting in the Hall of the school staff and Young Leaders.)

"As soon as we ventured outside, we were swarmed with kids wanting to say hello and shake our hands. Children were stroking and rubbing my skin." Starkey

"As a form of punishment and a means of controlling the boys’ enthusiasm at seeing us, they would be hit with a cane." Day

In the afternoon we visited the head office of Women’s Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON), to meet with Executive Director, Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi. On the journey to Lagos Island, Starkey wrote,

" you witness as many new sights and experiences in 5 minutes as you do in a whole year in the UK. These are mind blowing experiences I will remember for the rest of my life."

Bisi gave us a fascinating insight into Child Trafficking in Nigeria and provided material for the development of resources for the Citizenship topic of ‘Slavery’.

Starkey wrote, " I have had the best two days of my life. Words cannot describe how surreal and unbelievable this experience has been so far."

 

Charnwood Inclusive Football Partnership

A consortium of local football clubs, schools and other sporting agencies, providing football opportunities for youngsters with disabilities in the Charnwood area.

Contact: John Heathcote at Burleigh Community College,

01509 554456

 

SSCO logo

 

Day 3, Tues 12th Feb (supported by PTS plumbing)

PTS Sheffield

supporting leadership links with Nigeria.

Tel: 01142 766552

 

The day began at 8.00am attending morning assembly at the Rockcliffe Montessori School (pre-school to 8yr olds), followed by a 15 minute Multi skills activity with the 25 pre-school children. The bemused children provided us with one of our most memorable moments of the trip. All the school composed a piece of creative writing for us to distribute to the Burleigh Playgroup and a primary school to be chosen in Loughborough.

The morning session saw two parallel activities taking place. Mark witnessed an amazing session delivered by the Senior Leaders and Burleigh students for the Dreams and Teams leaders. How quickly they learn and put ideas into practice.

John led a workshop on HIV/AIDS with a group of boys from both the Junior and Senior secondary school. He shared material produced by a PSHE class at Burleigh. The Government College students created their own responses which were brought back to Burleigh to stimulate discussion and cross cultural awareness.

The Loughborough party then delivered an action packed Multi skills session for an hour for the Dreams and Teamers’ to provide them with material when working with the Little leaders.

John led the twilight session running a practical workshop on raising HIV/AIDS awareness through football activities.

Chris Day noted that, "the streets were cluttered with stalls all set up in front of houses, as people tried to make money selling anything, from fake designer clothing to empty glass bottles."

 Every little helps

 

Day 4, Wed 13th Feb. (supported by Robert Prettie)

 

Head Office: Colwick Quays Business Park, Private Road No.2, Colwick, Nottingham. NG4 2JR

 

The Little Leaders were the focus for day 4’s activities. The Burleigh students took responsibility for modelling some of the activities in this practical workshop, which focussed on picking teams, communication skills and organising equipment.

Notification that the primary schools were closed on Thursday meant we couldn’t consolidate the learning from this workshop as planned. A quick reappraisal of the situation proved the effectiveness and efficiency of the leadership model in place. Leaders were despatched to their allotted primary schools to gather the Little Leaders and meet at the Akin Jacobs Memorial Baptist Primary school. Only one of the 6 primary schools were unable to release their Little Leaders.

Starkey wrote, "the excitement on their little faces was infectious, and we were all flying."

"Children were hanging out of windows for a look at what was going on."

The Senior Leaders, Young Leaders and Burleigh students delivered four activities for the Little Leaders, reflecting the content and processes from the various workshops of the week.

Reflecting on the planning, stories and conversations we had as a group in the evenings back at the Guest House, Starkey wrote,

"It is hard to explain what we cover in these talks at night, however it has changed my views on life, and how to lead it. Tonight we learnt Savage’s story."

 

 For the Education and Leisure Sectors

 

Filming of the ‘My School’ documentary with the Government College Dreams and Teams leaders, followed by a traditional Nigerian lunch as guests of Principal, Mrs Adeboju. Chris Day tried Chemotiva; cows intestines, bulls testicles and cows rectum. (more like "I’m a celebrity, get me out of here")

"I managed to try the intestines (bit chewy). I also tried the testicles (tasted like a bit of liver, only chewier), but I didn’t know what it was until I had eaten one. What about the rectum . . . not a chance!!!"

 

Evening social on Kuramouh Beach. "Everyone was having the time of their lives, I’ve never been happier."

The traditional farewell singing of the CATS song, without fail elicits an emotional response;

"I cried for the first time in 10 years, but it was happiness about being in that situation."

 

Hawes Plant Hire

All types of plant and tool hire.

  · Mini excavators  

    Small tool hire 

· Tower scaffold

Navigation Way, Loughborough.

Tel: 01509 212024

 

The Trawlers Catch

Fish n Chips: A Great British Meal.

Props: Barry and Maria

Ashby Road, Loughborough.

 

Wesley Mee Electrician

Domestic & commercial Installations

Elecsa Registered

TEL- 01509 828229

TEL- 07880790391

 

Bromakin Wheelchairs

Specialists in mobility. 

· Scooters and walking aids

· Sports chairs

· Exercise and Fitness

Prince William Rd, Loughborough.

Tel: 01509 217569

Web: www.bromakin.co.uk

 

Evaluation of ground arrangements

Not so much an evaluation but issues to consider for future trips.

¨ Out of our subsistence we paid for lunch daily for the driver, evening meals for our two Fixers, and a contribution towards the two Fixers petrol.

¨ Water for the Young Leaders during the day time activities. (20 bags in a packet for N80 or 35p).

¨ Barbeque on beach on last night for 11 leaders and 2 Fixers, plus the 6 of us.

¨ Accommodation should be within walking distance of a supermarket to buy provisions.

¨ Guest House should have air conditioning and a generator (ours did).

¨ Food allowance only sufficient for fast food chains, ie Nando’s a good quality outlet (chicken/rice/soft drink for N1000 or £4.30), Mr Bigs not so good, (chicken/rice/soft drink for N840 or £3.60)

¨ Petrol N70 per litre or 30p.

¨ Choose Guest House within walking distance of School, reduces transport costs. Book transport for occasions when needed only.

¨ Good quality taxi journey Surulere to Ikoyi N2000 or £8.60 single journey, more cost effective than mini bus. However, still security issues if taxi breaks down. How does this differ from a private hire mini bus breaking down?

¨ School day typically 8.00am to 2.00pm. Dark at 7pm. 1 til 3 can be too hot for outdoor activity.

 

John Heathcote

2008