Episode 5 Queen's Baton Relay

Carrying a message from Her Majesty,

the Queen's Baton Relay is on a global journey.

The baton is travelling to every nation

and territory of the Commonwealth,

for the Games in Glasgow, this July.

Much gold for Nigeria!

Adventurer Mark Beaumont is following the baton.

This guy is seriously fast!

As it travels through Africa, he meets the young people

looking ahead to the Games with huge ambition.

I will do my best for Seychelles, you know.

I will try to get a medal for my country.

Young people who are using sport to transform their lives...

It helps our young generation to be inspired.

..from an incredible mix of backgrounds and cultures,

but all connected by the Queen's Baton Relay.

This leg of the relay takes the baton

through the great continent of Africa.

There are epic landscapes...

..and nature at some of its most magnificent.

It is also home to more than one billion people,

from a vast array of cultures.

One thing that connects communities across the continent is youth.

CHEERING AND SHOUTING

70% of the population of Africa is under 30.

En route, the baton encounters young people who are using sport

and competition as a way of changing their lives.

CHANTING AND SINGING

Nigeria is known as the giant of Africa,

and has sporting achievements to match.

It is in the top 10 medal-winning countries of the Commonwealth Games.

And with success at table tennis, weight lifting, athletics

and para events, it has taken home over 170 medals.

TRUMPETS PLAY ROUSING MUSIC

Behind every great athlete are loyal fans,

and in Nigeria, the fans are definitely hard to miss.

And they are out in force to welcome the baton.

Anywhere we have sport, all over the world, you will see them

drumming, singing, dancing at the stadium.

So, they give their heart for our team,

the national team, you know, it gets them more achievement on the field.

That is what they are meant for.

-So, you have a team on the pitch and a team off the pitch.

-Of course.

What are you looking forward to at the Commonwealth Games?

Well, much gold for Nigeria!

TRUMPETS AND PERCUSSION PLAY

In Cameroon, para sports are developing.

And for Patrick Bakounga, who is partially sighted,

competing is about more than just winning medals.

What do you get out of sport?

HE SPEAKS IN FRENCH

In my neighbourhood, they respect who I am, because I practise sport.

What is your record for the 100m?

THEY SPEAK IN FRENCH

-11.3.

-That's impressive. Incredible.

Patrick took up running 10 years ago after he lost his sight to illness.

He trains with a guide runner.

It's a complex partnership that requires the runners

to work in sync.

I am guiding with my arm, or by verbal?

No, by verbal and by the hands.

You can speak to him, when you are out of the curve, then you

go in a straight line, let's go faster, let's go highness, OK?

If you just try to contact him... with speaking.

Perfect, let's give it a go.

C'est pret?

OK, go!

Left. Left.

OK, straight, straight.

That's good.

Hey, well done.

Well done!

This guy is seriously fast! I could feel he was just floating along.

But the technique to try and stick in your lane,

it's so much more than just trying to think of running fast.

I'm impressed.

Ready? Step!

Sports can be that leverage tool,

that maybe is likely to enable them to...to make a living.

We need to be able, to be capable of harnessing all this potential,

this natural potential, and bring it to the Paralympic sports,

and that will be a successful achievement.

If we don't, so, we would have failed.

In Cameroon, the people with disability account for about...

it will be more than 20% of the population,

more than two million people.

And most of these guys, about 60 or 70%, our youngsters,

I mean below 25.

So, it means that if you get all these guys, most of them,

involved in sport, you can imagine the pool.

So, we have to have them involved in the para sport, this for me

is the biggest challenge.

And what's the reason you've got such a big pool of potential athletes?

The reason is the living conditions.

Most of the people with disabilities, it is not due

to road accidents or something, it is because of diseases.

Almost 2.5 million people live here, in the capital city.

This street is called Mini Ferme, and it is in Yaounde, Cameroon.

It's already bustling, and I believe this happens 24 hours a day.

I'm with Raphael, who can tell me a bit about it. Is it always this busy?

Yes, busy like this, especially from 2pm in the afternoon.

And there's amazing smells coming from these street vendors.

What foods are famous in Cameroon?

The foods that are famous, we have mostly roasted meat.

It is very spicy and sweet in your mouth, when you eat.

One of the most popular street foods is made of fried pork and plantain.

It is only found here.

I can see there the trotter, the foot. And the...the nose.

Yes, there is nose there.

I don't think I'm brave enough to eat the nose!

-You can eat it, it is no problem.

-Yeah? OK.

Right, you choose some good bits, and let's see how to cook it.

That looks good.

Hey, it's fast.

I'm not sure which part of the pig this is, but... Bon appetit!

Ooh!

That's good, but very, very fiery.

C'est bon! Merci.

After a brief stop in Kenya, the baton moves on to Uganda.

Uganda has the highest proportion of young people in the whole of Africa.

Nearly 80% of its population is under 30.

And here, sport is seen as offering opportunity.

-ALL:

-Glasgow!

Gives us exposure, it helps our younger generation to be inspired,

with the big stars across the world.

This year, over 60 athletes will go to the Games in Glasgow,

including Dorcus Inzikuru, who won the first-ever steeplechase gold

when the women's event was introduced to the competition

in 2006.

What was it like, the reaction,

when you came back to Uganda with a gold medal?

Wow, it was great, you know.

It was really amazing. So the whole crowd, the whole city, and

they were so welcoming, as the hero, you know, so it's very, very lovely.

To me, it's really a great achievement for my country.

And I would like to go back again for Glasgow.

Victory at the Games has transformed Dorcus's life.

And for another young woman,

competition of a different kind has presented opportunity.

17-year-old Phiona Mutesi is from one of the country's poorest

neighbourhoods but is now among the Uganda's best ever chess players

and is a potential world-beater.

How did you first learn to play chess?

I came to chess, like, searching for something to eat

because at home we used to have nothing to eat.

At the chess programme, they could sub them something,

that's why I went there.

So, how old were you?

-By then I was nine years old.

-Nine years old.

-Yeah.

Like these youngsters, Phiona first came to the chess club

because it provided hot food.

But her talent for the game was her ticket to a better life.

With prize-money won at national and international chess tournaments,

she moved her family to a better neighbourhood

and went back to school.

What do you dream of in the future?

In chess, I dream of becoming a grandmaster

-and in education I want to become a paediatrician.

-Wow.

-Yeah.

Phiona might well end up being the first Ugandan grandmaster

and her story has become an inspiration.

Today, the chess club has

over 100 children from the neighbourhood playing the game.

I come here basically to play chess because I enjoy the game.

First I came here to eat food

but I realised that chess is more than food.

You know you must get a job to use what you have

so I knew how to play chess and it so happened that I had a chess board

so the idea struck me, I said, "Maybe I can use this game."

But having gone through the slums, personally,

you know what it takes.

It's not so easy to break that cycle.

So, has chess always been a big game in Uganda?

I would say it has not been a big game at all

but I think it is, within this generation,

maybe some three or four years back, that it has become very popular,

especially because of Phiona's achievements in the game.

It is such a good inspiration

because there are so many people staying in the slum areas and many

people are living below the poverty line

and they have no hope whatsoever so it is such a great encouragement

and I think it restores hope in them that maybe we can also make it.

From Uganda, the baton passes on to Rwanda before arriving in Tanzania,

where competition is helping to change the lives of young women.

CHEERING

A cricket club set up over a decade ago has been helping

women from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue a career in sport.

But the support they received goes far beyond the cricket pitch.

Basically, when a girl comes in,

she's ensured of a long term

partnership between

the association and the player.

A girl is in education, she wants to continue for scholarship,

we ensure that she does get that.

We come to the situation for housing, when they struggle in life,

we ensure that they do get that. Employment, we do assist in that.

We come to a situation when a girl is sick

or has got maternity problem,

we ensure that she is properly taken care of health-wise.

And this partnership has many success stories.

Mwanaidi Ibrahim was among the first few to join the club

13 years ago and now is the star player of the national cricket team.

Mwanaidi, what has being involved in sports

done in terms of your family life and your community?

SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

Family life is a concern.

She doesn't have a father. She lives with her mother

and grandmother. Both of them are unemployed.

Through cricket, which has opened the door and the employment,

basically, she is running the family.

Can you explain to me what it is about the situation,

the game that makes you emotional?

SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

She says that without the game,

she cannot imagine without the game because without the game

she would more probably be somewhere in the streets

trying to earn a livelihood.

Whatever recognition and whatever few happiness she has got

in this life is to the game and that basically is getting her through.

SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

Cricket has helped to travel around the world and in that process

I have met different people and that interaction has helped me

to broaden my mind and that has helped me in my day-to-day.

Cricket has to be played by the maximum.

The game should not be played by a privileged few.

This game is, we can do it, we send it to every household in Tanzania.

It is the third generation or the second generation which will

come later. They will reap the efforts which we do now.

This doesn't feel like the safest place to stand.

Those balls are coming pretty fast.

I played cricket literally once or twice in my life

and that was maybe 15 years ago.

I'm quite keen to have a go.

See if I can actually hit one of them.

I'm scared.

Wow.

Whoa!

Lovely. Well done.

Being an absolute beginner at cricket,

I never imagined it to be an adrenaline sport but, trust me, when

you're standing there and they're being fired at you, that is exciting.

# Welcome

# Welcome

# Welcome to the Seychelles

# Welcome

# Welcome

# Welcome to the Seychelles!

# Welcome to the Seychelles

# It's a paradise. #

Appropriately for a small island nation,

Seychelles has a unique welcome for the baton.

CHEERING

CHEERING

14-year-old swimmer Felicity Passon will be

one of the youngest competitors in Glasgow.

Six months until Glasgow 2014. What are you hoping for?

I'm just going to keep working hard and do my best

so that I'm able to do good times.

Maybe my dream is to qualify for, like, the finals, but

it's just a dream but I have to work hard if I really want it to happen.

From the tropical islands in the Indian Ocean,

to landlocked Malawi.

Over 30% of Malawi's land is covered by forests

and is home to hundreds of species of birds and animals.

But, in recent years, there has been increased

pressure on the forests, placing the animals that inhabit them at risk.

At Lilongwe Wildlife Centre,

they rescue and look after animals

which have been displaced from the forests.

So, what is threatening the forests?

The involvement of people in cutting down the trees,

that is for charcoal and firewood.

The reason behind this is because

7% of the population of Malawi have an access to electricity.

-7%?

-Yes. Meaning to say that the majority do not have this access.

So, that is putting pressure on the natural resources.

That's why they are going into the forests and cut down the trees

so that they can get charcoal and firewood for cooking and other use.

Even selling them to the people.

The centre has been tackling deforestation

by working with local women.

This is one of the communities working with the Lilongwe Centre.

And they are involved in briquette making,

which is an alternative source of energy.

Instead of using charcoal and firewood,

they are using that to cook.

-Hello, I'm Mark.

-I'm Doris.

-Hi, Doris.

Briquettes are made by mixing sawdust and waste paper with water.

Once compressed, the blocks are dried.

They use less wood and burn more efficiently.

That means fewer trees need to be felled.

The fuel might be new,

but the maize porridge lunch is very much a traditional affair.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

-Amen.

-Thank you.

It's such a beautiful country that you live in,

there's got to be great value in using offcuts from wood,

rather than cutting down new trees to use in your fire.

-Do you see a big value for the environment as well?

-Very much.

When we cut down the trees, the rains become very erratic.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

-What happens?

So, sometimes the rain comes only for one month.

Our crops, to be able to ripe,

especially the maize, it takes up to three months.

If the rains go after one month,

then there is no reaping of our maize.

Wow, so what you're burning on the fires affects your staple food,

-your main food?

-Yes, it does.

What do you hope will happen in the future in Malawi?

We are hoping that if everybody gets to know how to use the new

technology of cooking, then there will be no hunger in the country.

After the baton left Malawi,

it travelled to Zambia.

So far, it has been a 10,000 mile journey through Africa.

And its next stop is to Namibia.

THEY SING

In Namibia, Fiffy Kashululu and JoJoe Hamunyela

are warming up for a training session.

Making it onto the national road cycling team has

radically changed their lives.

Cycling gave me a lot of advantages in life.

Took me out of the streets.

Got me to see places where I never thought I would see.

Representing myself,

having made it into the national team,

then my community are glad and then the whole country.

It's a special feeling to know you are chosen to go

and represent a nation.

They first took up cycling at an after-school club, which was

started to help disadvantaged young people stay in education.

Hunger is the greatest concern

for Namibian learners.

The second greatest concern and cause for dropout is transport.

So, inability to access schools.

So, we got 100 bicycles that learners started

to use to come to school.

And the spin-off of all of that was that then kids had these

bikes that they could use not just to go to school, but to socialise.

Then they'd start participating in fun rides on the weekends.

And, beyond the fun rides,

they started to participate in major cycling events.

And Fiffy and JoJoe are ready to make their debut

at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later this year.

When I ride, I know I'm not just riding for myself.

There's people behind me -

my country...

..Namibians.

They're trailblazers.

They're competing internationally, that's exciting.

But they've got their lives in order, that's even more exciting.

They're making a legit income.

And they're showing that you can still turn your life around.

And if you're committed and disciplined to something,

you can achieve it and you make your country proud.

You guys are definitely warmed up.

-Are you up for going for a ride, as well?

-Yeah.

Where's your home, JoJoe?

Inside, you have to make a few turns again to go to my house.

-So this is your community?

-Yeah. I grew up here.

-And do you still ride from here?

-Yeah.

I ride from here, go back to the centre

and go meet up with the guys to go for training.

Olympic and Commonwealth road cyclist Dan Craven

is the team captain

and he's been working to develop the sport in Namibia.

The problem with it, of course,

is the fact that cycling is not a cheap sport.

It's not like football where you buy one ball

and everyone can play and they can share the ball.

Generally, everyone has their own bike.

You can't be changing the setting every day.

So, per guy, here,

just the bike alone would be something like £1,000.

That makes it really difficult.

So, it's going to struggle to come to the masses.

But it's definitely growing in numbers.

It's quite unusual to have a group in Namibia on the road.

Until now, it's always been very small groups,

twos and threes, but things are starting to change,

as, I suppose, the new era is moving in.

People are starting to realise for the first time that cycling

is actually a team sport, road cycling.

Riding in a bigger group, you learn so much more, so much quicker

and also you can pass on a lot of knowledge.

You don't pass the knowledge on individually, you can

pass it on to a whole group.

With these guys now sort of stepping up

and being part of the national team, they can come back

and they can teach the younger guys themselves,

so it's spreading the knowledge so much wider.

And that experience, as it is passed on by Fiffy and JoJoe,

will mean more lives changed

by participation in sport and competition.

Join Mark next time as the baton

continues its journey through Africa,

where athletes are pushing themselves to the limit...

I train six days a week, about four hours a day.

..and sport is an important part of young people's lives.

All of them brought together by the journey of the Queen's Baton Relay.