Olympic Day 2017

On the 25. June 2017 was the Olympic Day at Gatagara, Nyanza.

Root Foundation was invited to participate with 20 children, so we started at 8pm in Bazinda. After a 3 hours ride we arrived at the Kids Play International field, who have organised the event. Every child got one T-Shirt in either green, blue, red, yellow or black (the Olympic colours). The event started with a walk to the field and the building of the Olympic Flags from the children in the different T-Shirts.

The opening ceremony included a performance of Rafiki a Rwandan musician, traditional dancers, a show of Taekwondo and much more. The top was the singing of the national anthem of America and Rwanda. (The anthem of America, because it was organised by Americans with the American embassy as a sponsor.)

The highlight of the whole event, was the participation of Olympic athletes from America. There have been two NFL stars, a professional soccer player, a fencing star who was ranked the third at the last Olympic Games. There also have been a ski Freestyler and a Snowboarder.

The children stayed in their groups, based on their coloured T-Shirts. There have been five stations where they can try out different sports. One sport was athletics, with the two Olympians. It was build up like a parkour with hurdles etc.

Another sport was fencing, where the children learnt some basics. On one station the children have been divided in two groups. The older group tried out American Football, with the two NFL- Stars and the smaller children have played Lacrosse. In another place they just made a small soccer game. The last station was dancing. This was together with a guy from high school musical.

It was an amazing day and we have had a lot of fun!!!