Zambia Recap

As with any life-changing experience, it's difficult to articulate the impact, emotion, insight, and amazement you feel immediately after...nonetheless, I'd like to attempt to share a bit about our team's recent trip to Monze, Zambia where, with the help and coordination of SWB (Soccer Without Borders), we were able to work with BSI (Director, Francis Malundu Nakonje) and about a thousand Zambian youth.

The short story goes like this:
As coach of the University of Edinburgh Women's Football Club, I have been looking for opportunities to challenge and encourage my players to use their natural gifts/talents for the benefit of others. Through a rather random connection, I began dialoguing with the director of SWB (Ben Gucciardi) about potential opportunities for us to support the girls program in Monze.

After a few months of planning and loads of fundraising, seven of us left for Zambia on May 16th. From touch down to take off, our two weeks in Monze were incredible.

Our first night, Francis took us to the Water Affairs project site where over 300 'kids' (ages 3-23) gathered for what turned out to be a very impromptu three-hour training session...we'll call that 'initiation'... :)



The next morning we traveled to Mamba to spend a few days with Christine (Girls Sports Coordinator for BSI). Over the course of three days, we ran training sessions at four different sites and worked with a few hundred youth (below: youth at just one project site).



We were challenged and surprised by the minimal equipment and long treks to the pitches...thankfully Christine had arranged bicycles for us, though we were humbled by the reality that the 5km journey is one Christine does regularly on foot.



On the whole, there's no question that there's huge potential for a very strong program in Mamba, though it does also seem as though a bicycle and a bag of balls would go a long way... :)



Our last afternoon in Mamba, Christine arranged a big tournament...maybe eight to ten teams showed up?? It was super encouraging to see four full girls teams participate!



After the tournament we traveled back to Monze. Friday morning was a three and a half hour meeting with Francis and all BSI's volunteer coaches...there was loads to plan with training sessions that night and a first-ever tournament involving all the Monze project sites the next day.

Each of us from U of E was assigned to a BSI coach and traveled to and led their team's training session that night. This was such a defining moment of the trip for me: seeing the synergy between my players and the BSI coaches...to quite literally see what can be achieved through teamwork and collaboration, despite cultural and communication challenges. We all arrived back at the guesthouse after training on high's...so amazing to be able to partner with the coaches and spend a bit of time with their teams, sharing what we could in the way of drills, ideas, etc. (Below: training session at Lukamantano project site).





Saturday was the tournament. 8am to 6pm. 10 boys football teams, 4 girls football teams, 7 netball teams. 3 pitches, 1 netball court. The seven of us were refs. The day was amazing. Absolutely awesome to spend so much time with the youth, the coaches...such a perfect capstone to our time in Monze. And Francis was thrilled to be able to put on such a large event; it seems to have been a real achievement for BSI, so we were really grateful for the opportunity to contribute and support him and the program.





Sunday afternoon was our last training session, for which we traveled to Lukamantano to work with Lucky and his group of about 60 youth.

What can I say other than working with the BSI coaches and kids was such a privilege...we left completely and utterly inspired...a truly life-changing experience for us all. I truly hope we were able to help BSI in some small way, though surely not to the same degree that it impacted us--broadened our perspectives and deepened our understanding of sport as a vehicle for social development.



I know my girls were all impacted in personal and meaningful ways; it's my hope that as they consider their future, they'll always keep in mind the various ways they can use their gifts/talents/skills for the benefit of others.

More pics to come.