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.
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