Drew's African Odyssey - Mwange Refugee Camp, Zambia

Day 2 of my netball workshop. It's great because I don't know too much about Netball, just from the rules I have been studying for the past few days, but the girls are teaching me a lot and I'm revising a lot of the basketball drills and games that I know into netball. It was bizarre for me to see some of the girls playing with babies on their backs, but im glad that I've been able to include them. The girls get tired a lot faster than the boys and some get disinterested pretty fast, so it's a chore to keep them motivated. At one point today, a woman walked through the field with a basket full of fresh sweet potatoes. A bunch of girls immediately stopped the drill we had been doing and went over to the woman to eat the potatoes. They returned to the drill but seemed more interested in what they were eating then the balls. can you imagine??? I took the time at the end of the session to sit down with the girls and find out what their thoughts were on the sports activities for women within the camp and they acknowledged that there is not nearly enough. The only consistent activity for women is football. Woman are expected to look after the children, work the fields and cook. Women's sport is often looked down upon by others. Another problem is that a lot of them will refuse to play sports as all that they have to wear is skirts. we're trying to think of what to do to get the young women more involved.

Posted by: Drew Gardiner / 12:08 PM