• Home
  • About us
    • Our mission
    • Our people
    • In the news
  • Our Projects
    • Experiential Learning Initiative
    • The Mangrove Project
    • ELI STEM
    • ELI WOOFF
    • Endemic Roots
    • Reefs
    • ELI Africa Foundation
  • Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Join our family
  • Dogs Stories
  • Blog
  • Contact us
  • Donate

“Monsieur Ouugal! Kan nu pu alle zouer badminton?” (Mr. Ouugal! When will we play badminton?)

September 23, 2015 by Yugal in Uncategorized

I have heard that question a hundred times and on the moment I always viewed it as a question aimed at distracting the class. But with time I realized it was indeed a great question! When will we close our books and go play outside?

These kids are simply extraordinary. Loic is one of them. He never gives up in anything he undertakes. That is a great quality! He seems to have an unlimited amount of energy and is always restless; you will see him running around with a shoe in his hand chased by another kid running barefoot, climbing on trees to pick guavas and mangoes or calling Mrs. Anita, our neighbor, to get his ball back from her corridor. These behaviors led me to ruminate about the fact that these children need a medium to channel their energy. They just want to break free from the four walls of their classroom where they spend almost five hours of their day in.

There is nothing better than sports to get our students active. I, on the other hand, always wanted to share my passion for badminton and football with people. That is basically how the idea to start a sports program for our ELI students popped up. I also had the chance to be surrounded by inspiring people who still believe that a simple action today can make a big difference in the lives of people tomorrow.

My first class was on basic football drills and on that day I met Christopher Caserne, goalkeeper of the Mauritian national football team, who does an amazing job of training young children in his football youth academy. We briefly exchanged ideas about what we each envision for these children and we concluded that we were on the same wavelength.

When I first entered the school, I saw a bunch of rowdy kids. Today, one year since, I see a bunch of rowdy kids who are each special in their own way and have a potential for a great future if they are well surrounded. This is my role as a coach; to give these kids back the confidence which the Mauritian education system is failing to give them.

Yugal Nathoo

 

11013101_10207505104483443_1342908511029247945_o 11935140_10207505105203461_6080592281293173053_o 11935158_10207505105523469_670136401326590890_o 11935158_10207505105763475_7971149234050248003_o 11951587_10207505105723474_1888086335307871140_o 11958172_10207505104963455_3231326529382435752_o 12001102_10207505105843477_123431370743728957_o 12002370_10207505105003456_4818462849279958163_o

Tweet
Share
Pin it
Previous StoryELI Code-Opening Opportunities Next StoryELI Foundation

Leave A Reply: Cancel Reply

(this will not be shared)

(optional field)

No comments yet.

The sidebar you added has no widgets. Please add some from theWidgets Page

About us

Our mission
Our people
In the news

Our projects

Experiential Learning Initiative
Eli STEM
Endemic Roots
ELI WOOFF
The Mangrove Project
Reefs

Get involved

Donate
Join our family

Get in touch

ELI Africa
Meldrum Street, Curepipe
Tel: +(230) 6983610
Email: contact@eli-africa.org

© 2018 ELI Africa