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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
June 17th - July 11th
Well, I’ve finally returned to Mporokoso after a near months trip to Lusaka. Things got really complicated while in Lusaka. Nothing was going my way. Examples - The insurance agent that was processing our accident claim seemed to be eternally out to lunch; our headquarters in Toronto (who were in the middle of training new RTP recruits) seemed to forget about us people in the field; the government department where we were supposed to have our new vehicle registered had a line of people coming out from it the same length as the wall of China; the mechanics where we were having our new vehicle looked at apparently thought they could get away with charging us 4 times the normal costs of maintenance work; and finally, who woulda thought that Zambia could get so friggin’ cold during this season? Two t-shirts, a pair of shorts and sandals just wasn’t cuttin’ it…
Anyway, needless to say, the trip was one gigantic hiccup – although there were moments when I was really enjoying myself…. I went to a traditional Zambian wedding with one of my friends from Mporokoso, who had a cousin getting married. Unfortunatly, I came at the wrong time. When I arrived at the venue, I heard that there was this ceremony going on called a “Kitchen Party”!! Little did I know that this event is only for women. The new bride is taught all the “moves” to please her man in the bedroom, by the older women in the family. Men are strictly forbidden from the gathering. Guess they could have told me that before inviting me. You should have seen the looks I was getting when I walked into that place…
While in Lusaka, I stayed with the Right to Play team that is co-ordinating a project within poor communities in the outskirts of the city. It was intriguing to be able to help them out in their work a little bit and to even visit some of the slums and housing projects where they are working. They have trained an incredibly motivated group of coaches within these areas. I couldn’t believe the huge amount of time and work that these coaches put into working with kids, as well as their amazing capacity to communicate with them. While on a tour of one of the compounds, called Kamanga, I became quite close with a man called Watson. As we approached the playing field, we saw all of the compound kids involved in an intense soccer match. It was shocking to hear that most of the kids were street kids, involved in drugs, not going to school and some with no parents. It seemed that playing football was one of their only escapes from life's burdens.
When our new vehicle finally arrived, it was a huge relief, especially after our accident of a few weeks back. I had been getting really tired of Lusaka, especially since I didn’t know too many people there or know my way around the city, so it was nice to see the end was near. Two days later I would start off on the 15 hour ride to Mporokoso.
As we started on the long journey, we were accompanied by our new driver, Mr. Jimmy Kakua. A very nice man, though not very outgoing or sociable. We hired him as he has extensive mechanical knowledge and he is willing to work in a remote location. It's still yet to be determined if he’ll work out…
It was nice to be able to join a basketball team in Lusaka, even though it was for a very short time (I only got to play two games and two practices). The level of play over here is not so good. I was playing in the top (and only) men’s league and there are no professional teams. One of the major problems is the infrastructure, there are only 4 indoor courts in all of Zambia. Of those 4, only two are in decent condition. The gym where we were training had almost no lighting and one of the hoops had recently fallen on a player and is now only tied to the wall with some thick wire… In my first game, it was a definite reality check to be the only white face on the court and to see the fans looking a little confused as to who I was. Luckily, I made a good impression as we won our game, the first win that the team had had all year. What was even better was I made some great friends, especially a guy named Brian who works at the state insurance company and is a great ball player. I ended up hanging out with him for the rest of my stay in Lusaka…
Also had a chance to organize my sister, brother-in-law and cousin's visit. It turns out that one of my really good friends has a cousin who owns a safari camp in the world famous South Luangwa Wildlife Park. We decided to rough it a little bit and reserved safari tents to stay in while we are there. Apparently the tents are right on the Luangwa river and you can see elephants roaming down the game trails from our doorstep! Just gotta make sure that we don’t leave any meat out… We also plan to see Victoria Falls and maybe white water raft down the Zambezi or bungee jump in Livingstone…
Anyway, needless to say, the trip was one gigantic hiccup – although there were moments when I was really enjoying myself…. I went to a traditional Zambian wedding with one of my friends from Mporokoso, who had a cousin getting married. Unfortunatly, I came at the wrong time. When I arrived at the venue, I heard that there was this ceremony going on called a “Kitchen Party”!! Little did I know that this event is only for women. The new bride is taught all the “moves” to please her man in the bedroom, by the older women in the family. Men are strictly forbidden from the gathering. Guess they could have told me that before inviting me. You should have seen the looks I was getting when I walked into that place…
While in Lusaka, I stayed with the Right to Play team that is co-ordinating a project within poor communities in the outskirts of the city. It was intriguing to be able to help them out in their work a little bit and to even visit some of the slums and housing projects where they are working. They have trained an incredibly motivated group of coaches within these areas. I couldn’t believe the huge amount of time and work that these coaches put into working with kids, as well as their amazing capacity to communicate with them. While on a tour of one of the compounds, called Kamanga, I became quite close with a man called Watson. As we approached the playing field, we saw all of the compound kids involved in an intense soccer match. It was shocking to hear that most of the kids were street kids, involved in drugs, not going to school and some with no parents. It seemed that playing football was one of their only escapes from life's burdens.
When our new vehicle finally arrived, it was a huge relief, especially after our accident of a few weeks back. I had been getting really tired of Lusaka, especially since I didn’t know too many people there or know my way around the city, so it was nice to see the end was near. Two days later I would start off on the 15 hour ride to Mporokoso.
As we started on the long journey, we were accompanied by our new driver, Mr. Jimmy Kakua. A very nice man, though not very outgoing or sociable. We hired him as he has extensive mechanical knowledge and he is willing to work in a remote location. It's still yet to be determined if he’ll work out…
It was nice to be able to join a basketball team in Lusaka, even though it was for a very short time (I only got to play two games and two practices). The level of play over here is not so good. I was playing in the top (and only) men’s league and there are no professional teams. One of the major problems is the infrastructure, there are only 4 indoor courts in all of Zambia. Of those 4, only two are in decent condition. The gym where we were training had almost no lighting and one of the hoops had recently fallen on a player and is now only tied to the wall with some thick wire… In my first game, it was a definite reality check to be the only white face on the court and to see the fans looking a little confused as to who I was. Luckily, I made a good impression as we won our game, the first win that the team had had all year. What was even better was I made some great friends, especially a guy named Brian who works at the state insurance company and is a great ball player. I ended up hanging out with him for the rest of my stay in Lusaka…
Also had a chance to organize my sister, brother-in-law and cousin's visit. It turns out that one of my really good friends has a cousin who owns a safari camp in the world famous South Luangwa Wildlife Park. We decided to rough it a little bit and reserved safari tents to stay in while we are there. Apparently the tents are right on the Luangwa river and you can see elephants roaming down the game trails from our doorstep! Just gotta make sure that we don’t leave any meat out… We also plan to see Victoria Falls and maybe white water raft down the Zambezi or bungee jump in Livingstone…
