History

Last weekend, I attended the first basketball tournament that Orkeeswa has ever been part of. In fact, as of one month ago, the girls on the team had never played the sport before, had never touched a basketball. Peter (the school’s director) and Scott transformed the group of female students into third place champions.

What you’ll see in the pictures of the tournament is a normal outdoor court. The tournament took place in Arusha at St. Constantine’s International School and there is a vast difference between Orkeeswa and St. Constantine’s. Orkeeswa students have sponsors in America who fund their education. St. Constantine’s students drive their own cars to school. St. Constantine’s students have an outdoor pool beside their outdoor basketball court. Orkeeswa students have never seen a pool. What’s also different is that Orkeeswa girls practice on a dirt court and they play in heavy black school shoes that they wear to school everyday, not in Adidas or Nike sneakers.

Our girls came in third place out of five teams. Their competition was St. Constantine’s A team, St. Constantine’s B team, Arusha Modern, and the International School of Moshi. Orkeeswa lost their first game to St. Constantine’s A team, and then went on to win their second game against Arusha Modern and their third against St. Constantine’s B team.

It was such a great game to be a spectator at because I really felt like I was witnessing history.