Over spring break, the women's rugby team made history in Uganda, becoming not only the first non-African women's team to play in East Africa, but also the only team to score points against the best club in the country. During its 13-day expedition to Kampala, Uganda, the team won five out of eight matches against teams from Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. Off the pitch, the team worked to promote women's rugby in Uganda and foster international understanding.
The inspiration for the trip came from captain Jennifer Hustwitt '07, who spent time in Uganda over the past two summers, most recently through Brown's Royce Fellowship program doing research about access to secondary school education.
Last summer, she attended a game that paired a Ugandan women's rugby team against a team from Kenya, and "it was the most inspirational game I've ever seen," she wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "It was then that I decided I wanted my team from Brown to experience that."
The team started planning fundraising in October and projected it would cost over $120,000 to cover all expenses for the trip's 42 participants, with airfare alone making up approximately $50,000 of that figure, according to Kalie Gold '08, the treasurer for the trip.
To tackle this financial challenge, the team sponsored a raffle using donated prizes - including a trip to London, a laptop, an iPod Shuffle and weekends in vacation cottages. Each athlete was expected to sell 110 tickets at a price of $10 each as a personal contribution. One player, who also works at Miko Exoticwear, did not reach her goal but made up the difference by selling 40 vibrators donated by her employer. She raised approximately $1,200, though her tactic was independent of the team's effort, Gold said.
During the winter months, the team received financial packages from the Undergraduate Finance Board, Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services David Greene and the Office of the President. Families, anonymous donors and philanthropic organizations poured thousands of dollars into the team's collection. During a last-minute push in February, players sold reduced-price raffle tickets in dorms and even contributed out of their own bank accounts, raising $10,000 in less than a week and pushing the team's total to around $95,000.
This sum was enough to cover all expenses for the team's 32 current players, five alums, two coaches and two non-athletes, David Sobel '08 and Laura Green '06, who took photographs and video footage, respectively, to document the trip. A team doctor, who covered his own expenses, also accompanied the players.
At the team's first game on March 25, the bleachers at the Kyadondo Rugby Club grounds were packed with 3,000 spectators, according to Gold. Ugandan drummers and dancers performed while the squad lined up. "(It) seemed like the opening celebration in the Olympics," said Lindsay Joseph '09. "That's when it hit us that we were finally playing Uganda, the team we'd only seen pictures of and heard scary things about."
The Kyadondo A side won the first game 32-8, but Brown became the first team to ever score points against the squad. Undefeated in its three-year history, the Uganda team generally routs its competition, typified by its 99-0 victory over Rwanda earlier in the season.
In addition, Brown became the "first non-African women's team to play in East Africa," according to a Jan. 10 team press release.
Gold said the Kyadondo A side featured a wide range of professional and amateur players aged anywhere from 16 to 26.
The game was televised, and Ugandan national newspapers printed articles related to the events throughout the week, according to Gold. One such piece, on Planet-Rugby.com, ran with the headline "Ugandan women beat USA tourists" and expressed its disappointment at the small size of the players "from the land of the Kahuna-burger and the chocolate milkshake."
After the match, the teams joined for dinner, and the Ugandan women expressed their surprise at the strong playing skills of Brown's team, Joseph said.
"They couldn't believe that we had scored on them," she said. "They said they had expected to walk all over us, but they said we put up a good fight and were surprised by our aggressiveness. It was so inspiring to hear them talk about our team that way."
The teams often socialized at events hosted by the Ugandan rugby club after the games. The players discussed rugby stereotypes and gender issues, and Joseph said "it was so interesting to hear these women who live so far away but had so many similarities to us."
"They play with intensity and passion for a sport that many people there don't think they should play," Gold said.
On the days between matches and practices, the team left its hostel on small trips to nearby areas. The entire team spent a day at a resort, sponsored by the Ugandan team. Later in the week, the women went to a crafts market, rafted on the Nile River and visited a fishing village to speak with families that Hustwitt had met during a previous trip to Uganda.
Village residents reacted favorably to the squad's presence. One impoverished man praised the team members for being "not another volunteer that showed up once and disappeared and didn't leave anything sustainable," Gold said.
The team also met with representatives from the nonprofit organizations Right to Play and Kid's League, both of which work to make sports available to children in Uganda.
However, Becca Constantine '09 said the purpose of the trip was "not about changing things, but about learning from them and coming back to share the experience."
On March 29, it was back to rugby, with Brown's developmental B side facing off against Kyadondo's B side, which won 12-5.
"It was the most physically demanding game I've played in," Gold said. "It tested everyone on the B side."
Though there were no injuries during other parts of the trip, several players had collisions or falls during this game, including Joseph, who needed four stitches, Gold said.
Because most of the Ugandan women had previous athletic experience with basketball or soccer, they possessed "quickness and athleticism we hadn't seen anywhere else," Gold said. "It shell-shocked us, but we learned a lot."
Kyadondo hosted an international tournament on April 1 involving a version of the game that called for seven players on a side instead of the 15 Brown typically fields. The Bears beat Rwanda, Kenya, Kyadondo B and a local Ugandan team before falling again to Kyadondo A 19-0 in the final round.
"It was impressive that we beat those other teams having never played sevens before," Gold said.
The final game of the trip was held on April 2 against Rwanda, which Brown won.
As for the future of Brown-Kyadondo matches, "we're hoping to bring (Kyadondo) here," Gold said, "but since getting visas is so difficult, we're hoping to be invited back for 2008."
Hustwitt said the challenge for the team now is one beyond the physical sport. "The larger goal is that this one-time interaction will turn into some sort of partnership," she wrote. "That is what we face now, as well as how to share, communicate and present our experience in Uganda."
