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The Solomon Islands representatives to the Children of the World 2010 festival in Istanbul, Turkey have arrived safely and have already adjusted well to their new environment.

"The long flight was especially hard on the children but after a good long rest, they have adapted well and are already making a lot of friends", said Lysa Wini who accompanied the children as coach.

Ms Wini also highlighted that the food is very different.  "They use a lot of olive oil, eats lots of pasta and bread.  Its strange but we are adjusting well.  Ruthie and Ray have been extremely great in adjusting to the new things."

Lifhaus understands that the 3 member team is excited about the prospect of watching basketball stars from all over the world compete at the FIBA World Championships.  "The tentative program has been given to us and the three games that we have been given access to watch all feature the United States of America."  Team USA will feature NBA stars Chauncy Billups, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Lamar Odom in its starting five.  "Lamar Odom is from the current NBA Champs, LA Lakers while Billups is a former champion with the Detroit Pistons, Derrick Rose is a former #1 draft pick, Kevin Durant was the scoring champ last year.  So we are very excited to see these players play in real life."

Australia will also feature two NBA players in the FIBA World Championships.  Patrick Mills of the Portland Trailblazers will be the most famous Australian with some NBA experience behind him.  Like Team USA, Australia is also sending a young team with many of its more renowned players resting.

Ms Wini said other activities are also organized and there is never a moment when they have been bored.  "The Turkish Federation is doing an exceptional job in keeping the children actively involved in activities.  During the day, we basically go through workshops and training for the children.  The coaches also have their program which runs parrallel to this and then we have small scrimmages after all that.  In the evenings before dinner, we go out as part of organized tours to see different sites in Turkey."

Reports reaching the Lifhaus News Desk has highlighted that the children have already visited Sutanahmet district and gone on a cruise.  Sutanahmet district is the heart of the old historic Istanbul and features many historical sights of interest to tourists.  The cruise was organized on the Bosphorus Strait which forms part of the boundary between Asia and Europe.  "These trips were an excellent excursion for the children and they had heaps of fun." Ms Wini reported.

Lifhaus has been informed that the Solomon Islands team will return on the 31st of August and fly through Singapore.  In Singapore, they will have a 24 hours stopover which Ms Wini hopes "to take the children around the city and see some parts of Singapore that we can quickly see before flying out to Honiara via Port Moresby."

In the meantime, Ms Wini said she and the children will continue to represent SIBF and Solomon Islands basketball "we hope to show to other participants that basketball is alive in the Solomon Islands and that the federation is also very keen on developing players for the future.  Ruthie and Ray are a testament of success by SIBF in engaging with the global family of basketball federations.  We would not have had this opportunity if we had not shown dedication and commitment to FIBA Oceania."

Lifhaus hopes to bring more stories from Istanbul, Turkey as the festival continues and bring you the reaction of the two children who are representing Solomon Islands at this gathering of children and coaches from more than 150 countries of the world.