During my early days at the Stade De Port Gentil, I happened to visit the media center for the first time.
When I arrived, there were close to 100 international journalists executing their work.
I was hugged and kissed (the French way) by a beautiful lady who introduced herself as Michelle, one of the tournament volunteers.
She registered my name, allocated me the locker and handed over the keys.
In the locker, I could keep all belongings (luggage) safely for the period I was to stay on the coastal city.
She then directed me where to seat with comfort connected my Lenovo branded laptop to the so fast internet and I commenced my work tasks as she gracefully left.
Before I even settled on my desk to file the first story while in Gabon onto www.kawowo.com, she returned and showed me the direction of the catering room where I was to have all my meals (free).
The warm reception left me awed and mesmerized, I hoped for a longer stay in Gabon and Port Gentil in particular.
As we rushed out for the first official Uganda Cranes’ press conference, two journalists from UK had forgotten their pens, dollars and pounds wallets at their work stations.
The same lady was announcing to all, publicly, whether someone had lost their items (unfortunately, they remained unclaimed by the time I left).
From that act, I developed instant trust and faith for the rest of the Gabonese people.
Michelle is among the hard working 1900 volunteers tirelessly executing their respective tasks at hand during the 2017 Africa cup of Nations tournament in Gabon.
The work of volunteers in any given international sporting event or tournament has never and will not be underestimated at a given time.
At AFCON 2017, the confirmed number of volunteers serving at the tournament is 1900.
A lion’s share of them is in the capital city at Libreville (700).
400 volunteers apiece were allocated in Franceville, Port Gentil and Oyem respectively.
The volunteers are diligently serving in the eight different commissions – welcome and protocol, communication, competition, customs, accommodation and catering, immigration/airport, marketing, health, safety, Transports and logistics.
Each of the commission is under one president, one vice president and several heads of projects.
The organizing committee of Africa Cup of Nations, Gabon 2017 (COCAN GABON 2017) is a structure that is in charge to organize the 31st edition of the Total Africa Cup of Nations.
COCAN is guided by an Executive committee, which is headed by a high commissioner, Christian Kerangall.
“We have the wealth of very devoted men who are working toothlessly to see this tournament as a complete success” Kerangall notes.
Volunteers have helped many visitors in Gabon to settle in very well as the tournament goes by.
For many visitors from non-French speaking countries, the volunteers have been great as far as interpretation is concerned.
Smartly dressed in green T-shirts as they wear accreditation tags for identification, the volunteers are littered everywhere – at the airports, hotels and lodgings, stadium, VIP, media centers, media tribune and stadium general stands, mention the place.
They have smoothly ensured the tournament progresses without any encumbrances given the challenging work environment that some times comes along with journalism.
From the numerous volunteers I have worked with in Gabon, I have an empire of friends I have built in the Central African country.
From Michelle, Vincent, Boue, Henri, Micheal, Hellen, Julliet to Richardson, my network of friends is surely multiplying.
Well done to all the volunteers at AFCON 2017.
Samba Mbolo.
