I was pretty exhausted by the time I got back home in July 2017 but most importantly I had been strong while I was away. I wanted to tell the story and thank those who had supported me. I used Facebook, email and a follow up story in the Northumberland Gazette. As promised I went and spoke to the Lion’s and Rotary Clubs. They enjoyed seeing where their money had been spent and liked the sustainability of what I was doing. I set up another GoFundMe page but wasn’t expecting the kind of support I got last year. Then in mid-October my fund raising campaign officially got started with a huge £1000 boost from The Alnwick Lion’s Club. Then a cheque arrived from The Rotary Club for £100 within five minutes of me sending a follow up email.

After the success of the day at Nachiwe Primary School playing cricket in July 2017 I decided I wanted to deliver some cricket coaching in 2018. I put together a proposal that focused on cricket. I estimated I needed about £4000 to make the trip happen. I tailored the proposal for different audiences. I knew that the Friends of Malawi (FOMA) would only fund material items, so I asked them for £500 to construct a cricket cage, adjustable netball posts and mini football goals. The decision would be made in late January. I applied again to the Lord’s Taverners who had already said they would help.

I began to research online who I might contact and potentially get support from. The English Cricket Board (ECB) said they couldn’t support my project but donated a cricket bat signed by the England team for the 2017 series versus South Africa. I managed to sell it for £150. Gray Nicolls the suppliers of equipment to the ECB said they were unable to help. I made a brilliant local contact in Vivek Ganesan. He was the founder of the Malawi Cricket Academy and sits on the board of the Malawi Cricket Union. He has a long connection in Malawi as a school boy at St Andrews in Blantyre and now in business. Having read my proposal Vivek said that he would put it in his larger proposal for support from the International Cricket Council. Vivek had previously conducted some coaching in Mzuzu but was keen to go further north and he saw me as someone who could help him do this. I also contacted ‘Cricket Without Boundaries’, an NGO who uses cricket to get across educational messages. They have been in touch with Vivek for several years now and have finally managed to arrange an exploratory visit to Malawi approved by their board of trustees. I spoke to their organiser Lee Booth. So I was becoming the third point of a cricket development triangle.

In December Vivek told me he had discussed my project with his board and they agreed to support me to the sum of over $2000. It was brilliant news. In late January I got a positive response from FOMA who agreed to give me £500 for the cricket cage and other posts. It was January 2018 and I pretty much had the financial support I needed to make the trip in July 2018 a reality. For a second year I also had my £1000 from the Alnwick Lion's Club.

The cricket community in North Northumberland was also keen to support me in terms of kit. Tom Vickers the local ECB cricket development officer gave me some kit. Alnwick CC gave me three bags of junior kit. Ben Cuthbertson from the ECB gave me softball kit. I tried to get at least one ‘kwik’ cricket set from every school I visited on supply. Only St Benet Biscop gave me one.

By the start of March I had booked my flights. I was leaving on the 18^th June and coming back by 4^th July. My tennis ball collection was going badly so I bought 110 balls for £29 from a guy online. At this point I only had four full bags of plastic kit (2 stumps, 2 bats, 10 balls and 10 cones). I needed ten more. I had lots of bats but needed stumps. I had a wish list for the Lord’s Taverners to compliment my kit. A box arrived containing 32 cricket balls, 2 sets of spring loaded stumps, wicket keeping gloves and a lot of boxes. I really was hoping for a cricket cage net but I was having no luck. I asked Ian Wardle the head of the ECB in Northumberland if he could help. He gave me a contact at Durant Sports and they said they would find me a net free of charge.

Vivek had previously told me that I would get in excess of $2000 and some equipment. Then in early March Vivek gets in touch telling me that two of his coaches will be in Chitipa next week for a basic coaching course for the fourteen primary schools that Rowland has been trying to get interested in cricket in the Kawale zone. Coaches Gift and Gershom make the 920 kilometre journey north from Blantyre to Chitipa. They are there to see how organised Rowland is and how enthusiastic the teachers are. He also told me that the ICC funding would not cover any of my costs but would go towards equipment and infrastructure. It was disappointing news but the big picture was that I had managed to get an influential Malawian cricket focused NGO to be interested enough in my project to want to get involved. It really adds to the sustainability of it. In the area of school sports development where the Malawian government has had no impact since my VSO placement seventeen years ago, the work of NGO’s like the Malawi Cricket Academy is priceless. Especially pleasing is a southern based NGO supporting a northern based project.

Rowland got in touch saying the coaches were very impressed with Chitipa. Coach Gershom was also in touch with me saying how much he had enjoyed his first time in Chitipa. They left locally made wooden stumps and bats with the fourteen schools but were lacking enough balls. A hardball kit bag was left with Rowland to be used by schools who wished to try and set up clubs. It was all very positive as I waited patiently for Vivek to be in touch with news of funding and future plans.

I still had no information from the Malawi Cricket Academy. Vivek finally told me that 1 million kwacha (£1000) had been allocated towards the development of cricket in Chitipa. I would have to wait for details and then I could plan my course and how I would best complement the work that had already been done.

We have the makings of a great Anglo Malawian venture taking shape. Durant Cricket Specialists donated a cricket net to fit perfectly over the cage that ‘Charles the Metal Worker’ from Chitipa is making. Only time will tell on the exact fit but I am hopeful. Rowland was quickly told of the changes to the size of the cage and he told the workers in Chitipa. Ian Wardle of ECB Northumberland gave me their contact and it has proved a great one. It arrived just in time the day before the freight was due to be collected.

It meant one more bag needed to be pack and the extra space was conveniently filled by a donation of tennis balls, cones and reaction balls from Grant Watson of Alnwick Tennis Club. A few months ago I set myself a challenge of collecting 100 tennis balls. I have managed 140 in total. They will soon have a new life in the Malawi dust. I cable tied the bags and taped the address details with plenty of masking tape. The sixteen bags were ready for their journey to Chitipa. The bags were collected, weighed and measured and the same day I got an invoice with £691 to pay. The total weight on the invoice was 210 kg’s. It must be a mistake and I was expecting a second email soon but it never came. I paid and it was on its way to Malawi.

I was patiently waiting for two bits of news. One weekend they came together. Rowland had managed to clear, collect and transport the kit to Chitipa. He had not been given enough money to get a vehicle so he had to use public transport. He missed the last Mzuzu bound bus from Lilongwe so had to sleep in the bus depot with the kit. He finally got back to Chitipa and sent me a picture. He said the trip had been tedious and tiring.

Vivek was also in touch with the official news of a 1,500,000 Malawi Kwacha (£1500) support package from the Malawi Cricket Union for cricket development in Chitipa. There were requirements to meet in terms of training and competitions but I think we can do it. All training sessions would have to be recorded for evidence. An under 13 girls and boys softball cricket league was a priority with a minimum of six teams to play a minimum of six matches. The same conditions applied to an Under 16 and 19 hardball league.

I could now think about the content of my courses to compliment the work already done by the Malawi Cricket Academy and help design future plans in Chitipa. My courses in the mornings would focus on softball and hardball training. This would leave afternoons free to hold an Under 13 competition.

Vivek wanted to visit us in Chitipa during my visit with the Malawi Cricket Union’s new Chief Executive Officer. Andre Botha is a South African born but Irish international cricket player. He would be tasked with developing cricket in all regions of Malawi. Interestingly Vivek’s wife is Irish.

It was only two weeks until my trip. With the news that Vivek and Andre Botha would only be able to visit us in Chitipa for a day, I was able to finalise my activities during my visit. I wanted to hold a two day softball cricket course and an Under 13 boys and girls ‘Pairs Cricket’ festival involving as many of the twelve Kawale Zone schools as possible. This would satisfy one of the Malawi Cricket Union requirements and would be a good ‘pilot project’ to be replicated in the other thirteen zones in the coming years. I decided not to deliver the second part of the Malawi Cricket Academy course. I wasn’t sure what they had really done and the resources I saw were a bit confusing. The Chitipa teachers would have to invite them back and budget for this later in the year. On our guests day in Chitipa we would hold a meeting and have the official opening of the cricket cage. Then with a week to go Vivek tells me he can’t visit Chitipa as planned because of a very busy schedule but he is sending two MCA coaches and can I accommodate them in the plan so they can hold meetings and finish the previous course. I designed a new plan and told Rowland immediately. The use of Facebook Messenger got the news to Rowland quickly as emails are proving slow with frequent loss of power and connection in Chitipa. We agreed to postpone the U11 football and netball festivals and talk about it when I arrived. This freed up a few days for the MCA coaches to do their work.