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This blog will be an account my life working in a Refugee camp in Northern Zambia called Mwange. For the next year, I will be working for Right to Play, a sport and development organization based out of Toronto. What follows will be a life altering experience. Stay tuned....
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
July 23rd
Day 2 of the sports training. Ran into some trouble today as it was so windy and dusty that we could barely do anything. By the end of the day, I was caked with dirt and grime and all my clothes were filthy. Since there is no pavement or concrete in the camp, when it becomes windy, you can’t do anything. Red dust erupts into little tornadoes all around the camp and you’re lucky to be able to see anything.
It was great to see one of the refugees named Kabete come out to the training. He is a disabled man that contracted polio when he was in Congo and now walks with a severe limp. It’s amazing what this man can do despite his disability. He’s always engaged in community activities including sports and games and he is the most motivated member of the Anti-AIDS club, always singing, dancing and yelling out his messages!
I was pissed at the end of our session, when HODI, the NGO that is responsible for paying the teachers yet hasn’t done so in the past 3 months, interrupted our workshop to call all of the teachers into a meeting. They didn’t even have the respect to ask me if it was all right. I ended up telling them that NO, they couldn’t leave the workshop, but when the participant teachers got word that they might be paid, everyone trickled away to where the HODI vehicle was heading.
It was great to see one of the refugees named Kabete come out to the training. He is a disabled man that contracted polio when he was in Congo and now walks with a severe limp. It’s amazing what this man can do despite his disability. He’s always engaged in community activities including sports and games and he is the most motivated member of the Anti-AIDS club, always singing, dancing and yelling out his messages!
I was pissed at the end of our session, when HODI, the NGO that is responsible for paying the teachers yet hasn’t done so in the past 3 months, interrupted our workshop to call all of the teachers into a meeting. They didn’t even have the respect to ask me if it was all right. I ended up telling them that NO, they couldn’t leave the workshop, but when the participant teachers got word that they might be paid, everyone trickled away to where the HODI vehicle was heading.
