To any Muzungo unfamiliar with the Nyanja language, to say to someone that they are getting or look fat, or ‘dumbo’, would seem fairly rude. However, in Zambia, to tell someone they look fat means that they look healthy and should (mostly) always be taken as a compliment. The staple food all over Zambia, nshima, is a national favourite and very filling, making everyone feel ‘dumbo’ afterwards. Made from just maize and boiling water, it comes out like a bland variety of mash potato – I know, it doesn’t sound appealing but it tastes fantastic, especially when typically served with cabbage and meat.
And this was the challenge for Laura and myself when I went with Laura to her placement in Chipata. After delivering PE lessons in the morning, we found ourselves with an hour to spare and at a bit of a loose end in the afternoon as the exam period meant some classes weren’t available. So we found ourselves willingly dragged into cooking and preparing a meal for all the teachers, which of course included nshima. Zambians are very keen to get you involved in anything, but are also very keen to make sure you do things properly; no sooner had Laura and I picked up a spoon and started stirring, we had them taken off us and shown how to stir properly.
The moral of this story – never argue with a middle aged Zambian woman in her kitchen.
Despite causing a stir in the kitchen, the nshima went down very well with the teachers, though, not as well as the game of softball we played with class 6B in the morning. As you can imagine, the schools we go to don’t have much if any PE equipment, so any equipment that the student coaches plan for in their sessions, must be taken from what they brought with them to Zambia. Laura brought a softball bat and tennis ball to Chipata and it was an absolute success. They’ve never played softball before, and even the teachers were intrigued, saying they had watched baseball on the telly but had never played.
The class picked it up pretty quickly. Laura’s session focus was not about winning, losing or getting people out but instead on something much more important: teamwork. It’s life skills like this that the student coaches are trying to get across in their sessions; yes, they want the kids to have fun as that is and always should be the point of any sporting activity, but they also want these kids to learn such life skills to use off the pitch.
Discipline and communication also featured heavily in Laura’s sessions, especially with the younger children. At this age (6-7 years old), their English is not as good as the older children, so doing a PE session and without a Peer Leader to help translate as was the case on this day, is challenging. However, Laura coped impressively well, her PE teacher background coming to the fore as she easily made it clear at all times for them all to ‘watch!’ (pointing to eyes) and ‘listen!’ (cupping ears) to her as she went through each activity. She wasn’t taking any nonsense either; if there was any sign of pushing or squabbles amongst the kids, she stopped the activity immediately, sending the offenders to the back of the line and threatening to leave them out all together for re-offending. Perhaps it was the Scottish accent that scared them stiff into obeying, but either way they soon realised they had to play nice to play at all.
You can see from their reaction to Laura that the kids have really taken to her, and she has really loved her time at Chipata Open Community School so far. ‘Everyone is so relaxed here, I love it’ she said. ‘You just have to go with it. If your taking a class for PE and another class wants to join in, that’s fine. You regularly get a class of 20 grow to 100 very quickly’.
Like Chawama, Chipata is a long way from Group 2’s base, taking about an hour and a half by bus. Being on her own without a placement partner as well, it is arguably the most difficult placement to be at. But calm as ever, Laura takes it in her stride, casually claiming ‘I don’t mind. There’s usually Chiko (the peer leader) around to help and there is usually always someone free in the group to come with me everyday.’ On this particular day it was me, and I can definitely say I will be visiting again.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Friend Of EduSport's Chawama SEE Project
The Zambian government currently spends 136 times more money on every University student than on every Primary School student, making it hard for Primary schools to get anywhere near to the level of education they’d want to be able to offer students.
Chawama SEE (Sport Empowerment and Education) School uses the power of sport to educate, empower and inspire young individuals who attend the school. They are currently renting the land on which they teach at the cost of K1,000,000 per month, which equates to roughly around £150, which value is considerably more in Zambia than it is in Britain.
Should Chawama SEE own their own land, they’d be able to spend that K1,000,000 a month on developing and increasing its reach to young underprivileged children in the area.
Chawama is an area in which Zambian Non-Government Organization EduSport currently deploy peer leaders to utilise sport to tackle problems in society such as drug and alcohol abuse and teach of the dangers of unprotected sex.
The HIV/AIDS virus is something that should Chawama SEE be able to afford, wants to educate its pupils about comprehensively, as only 46% of young people in Zambia have knowledge of. There are currently around 710,000AIDS orphans in Zambia in an overall population of 12,000,000, something which can be prevented.
Purchasing the land would firstly allow a more sustainable future for the school and secondly allow for a more stable education environment for the children of Chawama. Should they be able to do this, they’d be able to promote a quality of education vacant in many Zambian schools. Land would also allow for the development of sport as a priority within the school and the development of CSEE into a peer leader academy of excellence.
Friend of EduSport are trying to help Chawama SEE purchase land so they can help the school educate young people of the dangers ofHIV/AIDS. Operating in a particularly underprivileged area of Lusaka, should Chawama receive the financial backing required to own their required land, they’d reduce entry school fees to encourage family’s to send their children to school when they previously may have not been able to afford education.
The school’s entry fees would then be around 50% less than in the majority of other schools in Lusaka,with that original fee also covering exam fees.
Chawama SEE (Sport Empowerment and Education) School uses the power of sport to educate, empower and inspire young individuals who attend the school. They are currently renting the land on which they teach at the cost of K1,000,000 per month, which equates to roughly around £150, which value is considerably more in Zambia than it is in Britain.
Should Chawama SEE own their own land, they’d be able to spend that K1,000,000 a month on developing and increasing its reach to young underprivileged children in the area.
Chawama is an area in which Zambian Non-Government Organization EduSport currently deploy peer leaders to utilise sport to tackle problems in society such as drug and alcohol abuse and teach of the dangers of unprotected sex.
The HIV/AIDS virus is something that should Chawama SEE be able to afford, wants to educate its pupils about comprehensively, as only 46% of young people in Zambia have knowledge of. There are currently around 710,000AIDS orphans in Zambia in an overall population of 12,000,000, something which can be prevented.
Purchasing the land would firstly allow a more sustainable future for the school and secondly allow for a more stable education environment for the children of Chawama. Should they be able to do this, they’d be able to promote a quality of education vacant in many Zambian schools. Land would also allow for the development of sport as a priority within the school and the development of CSEE into a peer leader academy of excellence.
Friend of EduSport are trying to help Chawama SEE purchase land so they can help the school educate young people of the dangers ofHIV/AIDS. Operating in a particularly underprivileged area of Lusaka, should Chawama receive the financial backing required to own their required land, they’d reduce entry school fees to encourage family’s to send their children to school when they previously may have not been able to afford education.
The school’s entry fees would then be around 50% less than in the majority of other schools in Lusaka,with that original fee also covering exam fees.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Kicking Aids Out
Over 2,000,000 African’s die from the HIV/AIDS virus every year and 7.3% of the population of the continent between 15 and 49 are infected by it.
This startling statistics seriously hampers Zambia’s progression as a nation, currently the world’s 8th poorest country. Only 46% of the young population of Zambia have a comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS and there are currently around 710,000 AIDS orphans in Zambia.
Kicking Aids Out is an African organisation which aims to raise the awareness of the dangers of unprotected sex. Both Lusaka based Sport NGOs EduSport and Sport In Action are part of the network which help deliver the message of Kicking Aids Out.
From the 3rd to the 6th of July, EduSport was helping its peer leaders gain their level one qualification to educate young people about the virus. EduSport staff Paul Zulu and Klevin Chasauka held the workshop at Bauleni to over 20 peer leaders who will use the knowledge gained to good effect.
Klevin Chasauka said “Most the people are cornerstones of their communities and they will take this knowledge gained to a higher level for the benefit of many”.
The peer leaders were taught about the prevention of HIV/AIDS through the practice of abstinence and the use of protection along with the best way to deliver the knowledge they had gained over the four days.
One of the attending peer leaders, Christian, said “Since I came here to attend Kicking Aids Out Level One, I feel I will be able to coach the knowledge I have gained at the workshops”.
The objective of Kicking Aids Out is that knowledge will be passed down through communities to young people who will in turn teach and educate other young people about the dangers of unprotected sex and the transference of the HIV virus.
This startling statistics seriously hampers Zambia’s progression as a nation, currently the world’s 8th poorest country. Only 46% of the young population of Zambia have a comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS and there are currently around 710,000 AIDS orphans in Zambia.
Kicking Aids Out is an African organisation which aims to raise the awareness of the dangers of unprotected sex. Both Lusaka based Sport NGOs EduSport and Sport In Action are part of the network which help deliver the message of Kicking Aids Out.
From the 3rd to the 6th of July, EduSport was helping its peer leaders gain their level one qualification to educate young people about the virus. EduSport staff Paul Zulu and Klevin Chasauka held the workshop at Bauleni to over 20 peer leaders who will use the knowledge gained to good effect.
Klevin Chasauka said “Most the people are cornerstones of their communities and they will take this knowledge gained to a higher level for the benefit of many”.
The peer leaders were taught about the prevention of HIV/AIDS through the practice of abstinence and the use of protection along with the best way to deliver the knowledge they had gained over the four days.
One of the attending peer leaders, Christian, said “Since I came here to attend Kicking Aids Out Level One, I feel I will be able to coach the knowledge I have gained at the workshops”.
The objective of Kicking Aids Out is that knowledge will be passed down through communities to young people who will in turn teach and educate other young people about the dangers of unprotected sex and the transference of the HIV virus.
The Streets Of Lusaka
We walk through Kamwala shopping complex. After a month in Zambia the narrow streets with dust and dirt have become second nature to me. The colours that are now familiar are all different from the ones I see back home; everything from the warm orangey brown of the streets to the various pastels of the shops’ front doors. The shops that are small enough to be labelled as shacks. I walk along, say hello, and try to look like I belong. The only thing that gives me away is the colour of my skin.
We reach the end of Kamwala; the roads become bigger and more heavily trafficked. When crossing through a small tunnel under the motorway, my friend says “this is where I used to sit when I was sniffing petrol”. And we all agree that it’s a good place because it keeps you sheltered from the wind. The lady who is crouching at the end of the tunnel when we walk back silently concurs.
The road opens up into a field: an array of mud, dry grass and garbage. We walk up to a group of people who have gathered under a tree. A crippled man and four young boys – all of them living on the streets of Lusaka. The man tells us how he was injured in a car accident, and he pulls up his jeans to reveal a severely deformed limb. He couldn’t afford to go to the hospital, and now his leg is forever fixed in that unnatural angle. We give him some money to buy pain killers. And I think that if he is tricking us to get money for drugs, at least it will have the same effect.
Next to the field is a train station. An old steam engine is parked on the abandoned train tracks, and I think it looks like a museum, or like it is part of an exhibition of some sort. My friend tells me that this is where the street children sleep. He takes me onto the train and shows me the interior of the engine which is wrapped in dirty blankets and old clothing. Someone is sleeping inside. On the other side of the tracks is a sign, bidding me welcome to Lusaka railway station.
We cross the bridge over the train tracks and make our way into town. Every place we pass is another area of the life of the street children. This is where they beg for money. This is where they steal. This is where they play. A worn down wall with fading blue paint bears an inscription that we stop to admire; an inscription that seems like a voice from the streets of Lusaka. “JESUS HELP ME”
We reach the end of Kamwala; the roads become bigger and more heavily trafficked. When crossing through a small tunnel under the motorway, my friend says “this is where I used to sit when I was sniffing petrol”. And we all agree that it’s a good place because it keeps you sheltered from the wind. The lady who is crouching at the end of the tunnel when we walk back silently concurs.
The road opens up into a field: an array of mud, dry grass and garbage. We walk up to a group of people who have gathered under a tree. A crippled man and four young boys – all of them living on the streets of Lusaka. The man tells us how he was injured in a car accident, and he pulls up his jeans to reveal a severely deformed limb. He couldn’t afford to go to the hospital, and now his leg is forever fixed in that unnatural angle. We give him some money to buy pain killers. And I think that if he is tricking us to get money for drugs, at least it will have the same effect.
Next to the field is a train station. An old steam engine is parked on the abandoned train tracks, and I think it looks like a museum, or like it is part of an exhibition of some sort. My friend tells me that this is where the street children sleep. He takes me onto the train and shows me the interior of the engine which is wrapped in dirty blankets and old clothing. Someone is sleeping inside. On the other side of the tracks is a sign, bidding me welcome to Lusaka railway station.
We cross the bridge over the train tracks and make our way into town. Every place we pass is another area of the life of the street children. This is where they beg for money. This is where they steal. This is where they play. A worn down wall with fading blue paint bears an inscription that we stop to admire; an inscription that seems like a voice from the streets of Lusaka. “JESUS HELP ME”
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