Who are you?

Dr Peter King – PWB CEO and Tour Coordinator for the one and only 2014 Sierra Leone Tour which lasted 8 weeks and which I am very proud of. https://www.pwb.ngo/tours/sierra-leone-2014/

What memory have you most revisited from a tour?

I think when we performed in a small village that we had to walk for a day to get to, it was so remote. We did a show that all the village loved, and then later that evening they did a show for us too!

What areas or aspects of the tour challenged you the most?

We were travelling in Sierra Leone and some of the roads were very bumpy and the journeys were long and uncomfortable. We also had some reliability issues with our Partner Organisations in terms of getting picked up, so we lost a day or two here and there waiting. But in general, it was amazing that the project went as well as it did really, as it’s a tough country to operate in.

On the tour what was your biggest achievement?

I think taking our whole show into the slums and performing for the people living there. It felt weird walking all our stuff through all the crowded makeshift dwellings. But the shows went really well and our biggest achievement was carrying on with the show even when a pig walked across the “stage”.

What was your kids show about?

We were working with some local performers who did dance and drumming as well as circus skills, so our show was more about cultural exchange rather than any story theme. I think the locals got a kick out of seeing the “white” performers doing African dancing with the local performers. It made everyone feel equal and valued.

What was your biggest breakthrough with teaching?

I think as the tour went along we got better at warm-up games and getting the kids excited and engaged before teaching them anything too technical or dry. Drumming and dancing were a big part of our tour compared to other tours, but that suited the participants in East Africa well.

How did you fundraise for the tour?

I was living in Sierra Leone already so didn’t have to raise much personally. However, we did organise a fundraiser in-country which I think is unique to this tour. This is so we could pay our local PWB team for lost earnings during the tour and because it is unfair to ask them to volunteer for nothing when they have so little in the first place.