Drew's African Odyssey - Mwange Refugee Camp, Zambia

What a great day! The festival turned out to be really good, with the students that were performing for Right to Play even winning a prize. I decided to attend the lunch that they have for the NGO’s, though the only reason I went was because then our driver Peter would get a free meal as well. The meal was kinda pathetic as all the Heads of the NGO’s sat on a platform at the front of the room while the refugee representatives are down on the floor on uncomfortable benches. Even the food was different with the NGO’s getting chicken, goat, beans, sweet potatoes and pop, while the refugees only get goat and water… This style of ceremony and eating is very normal and traditional in Zambia and Congo, but I’m still getting used to it. I felt like I should be down on the ground eating with the refugees…

In the afternoon, the coaches and I organized a basketball and netball match with the students from the secondary school and primary schools. The kids have really improved on their play since I completed the workshops on these two sports a couple of weeks ago (especially the girls who have started scoring 5 times as many goals as before!!)…

At the end of the basketball game, I presented the players and their coaches with their certificates for the basketball workshop, as that game marked the end of their practicals. Whenever we do a workshop, we always require the participants to teach what they learned to others, as their practical element. Together with the certificate, I gave each player a poster of an NBA player to take home. You should have seen the looks on these guys’ face when they saw those posters (oh, thanks to Claire and Dad for sending me over the magazines where I got the posters)!! It was like they had received a million dollars and they started asking questions about each player in the posters. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay and answer all the questions as we are required to leave the camp by 4 pm, but I can see that basketball is really taking off in the camp!

Posted by: Drew Gardiner / 2:49 PM