On Sunday 21^st of September, in line with activities carried out in the 192 Member States of the UN, BSA participated in the world wide organisation of a Peace Day Football Tournament.

Supporting Peace One Day, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO), promote peace through sports, BSA held a football tournament under the “One Day One Goal” slogan promoting fair play rather than competitive entertainment for the boys and girls attending the academy.

Twelve teams, from under 10s to an amateurs and coaches team, kicked –off festivities with a march-past sung to the tune of over 120 children and youths.

The media was also present, conducting interviews with various players, the Director of BSA and volunteers. The feature was broadcast the same evening during the children’s news at 17 hours and again during peak-time news broadcast at 20 hours.

It was a day where rivalries became a mere formality for the conduct of the tournament, but on the plush grass pitches, kindly provided to BSA by Rhodes Park School in Northmead, boys and girls, young and old came together in a colourful display of skill, sporting chants and goals galor. No yellow or red cards were handed out, but rather hand shakes, pats on the back and hugs.

Played under a blistering summer sunshine, players supported their team mates and cheered on the comical antics of the coaches team as they ran after their younger counterparts up and down the length of the field.

There was a truly vibrating atmosphere that was accentuated with the tranquillity of the surroundings and the continuous chattering, and laughter of all present.

The girls demonstrated that they were up to the challenge and proved that football is a sport that has become increasingly attractive to women all around the world. In between school, taking care of younger siblings, and housework, they train hard on a daily basis and put the boys through their paces, making them sweat hard with their precise passing, tactical play and skills repertoire.

On the other side of the pitch, it was a gruelling task for the coaches who had to maintain their poise to deal with the persistent attacks of the same boys they coach during the week. Nonetheless the More experienced bunch made it first in their group to reach the semi-finals with a fine display of experienced counter-attacking football and … a good dose of luck.

After a brief lunch-break of bread and juice, the final phase of the tournament took off under the added force of the afternoon African sun. The coaches had to finally surrender to the Under 17s as they lost a stalwart of their midfield in a fluke injury caused by the undulating surface of the field and fatigue.

The first series of penalty shoot-outs were contested amidst the fervour and watchful eyes of fellow team-mates and anxious onlookers.

The two finals kicked-off simultaneously at 15:30 with the Under 17 team from Northmead clinching the first title of Peace Day Tournament winners as, BSA Northmead Under 14 battled it out against BSA Garden Under 14 in a very tight and nail-biting affair that ended in penalties going the way of the Northmead team.

Due to the events thematic emphasis no winners’ trophies were distributed to the victorious outfit. Instead Fair Play / Peace Award’s were presented to the two teams that played tribute to the conduct of sportsmanship throughout their games. One the one side BSA’s girls team narrowly outshone Garden Under 10, whilst in the senior category Garden Under 17 took the coveted prize from Northmead Under 17.

The closing / award ceremony was concluded by an overwhelming roar of “Peace! Peace!” accompanied by congratulatory embraces and hand shakes.

It was a delightful scene and the perfect ending to a very successful day. The ripples of the tournament still scene at the next training session attended as the players greeted me with a “peace” welcome.

Even though the fixtures, team participants and schedule had to be re-written time and time again during the course of the day due to, wrong teams playing randomly against those in other groups and the usual time delay for late arrivals, the efforts put into the organisation by all at BSA (including the children them selves), made the sunburns and dehydration a worthwhile price to pay. After all, anything for PEACE!

On Saturday 13 September, we had our first game after the 21 day period of national mourning after the death of President Levy Mywanawasa. It was also my first official appearance with the team as assistant coach.

During the past weeks I have met with the lead persons at the helm of Breakthrough Sports Academy (BSA); met with the various teams, as well as, held our first meeting together with the Director, coaches and players representatives on our next steps and duties for the coming weeks and next 3 months.

The Game was played an hour away by bus against a team from the village of Mwembeshi. Just hours before kick-off we still had no bus to take us, the Director was held up in a meeting at the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) and the two head coaches were nowhere to be seen!

The boys assured me that it’s the same every time the team plays an away game due to the lack of finances to pay for transportation, so I shouldn’t panic. “If no one comes, we don’t go”, they informed plainly.

It is also a common fact that most of the boys would not have eaten yet, since food is scare in their families, only lunch and supper are served and therefore means that if the team meets before lunchtime (as they do in order to be able to walk to the game if no transport money is available), they run on empty stomachs!

An hour and a half before kick-off I told the boys to stop a mini-bus and negotiate a price to take us and bring us back. Of course at the sight of the muzungu (foreign) coach, this was immediately upped by an extra 50,000 Kwacha (€ 10). Eventually we found a good-hearted soul who took us there and back for 250,000 Kwacha and the mini-bus exploded with football chants all along the way!

I bought them water and sugar to make glucose and some bread to fill the holes in their bellies, and the game kicked-off under a blistering sun at 15:30, in a patch of land in the middle of nowhere.The team performed modestly in a very uneventful first half against their elder, stronger opponents.

In the second half I made a couple of positional changes to Coach Tembo’s original set-up, deployed a stopper into last man, pulling a mid-fielder into the defence and urging the full-backs to assist the mid-field when attacking. We now played with a tight 5-3-2 formation when defending and fast 3-5-2 attacking formation when looking for goals.

The boys performed much better, looking for each other, playing short quick passes and filtering the ball into the empty spaces for the two fast front runners to hit the ball home. We had a couple of close misses but in the end the result rested at 0 – 0.

The boys performed much better, looking for each other, playing short quick passes and filtering the ball into the empty spaces for the two fast front runners to hit the ball home. We had a couple of close misses but in the end the result rested at 0 – 0.

Even though this was not my first match at the helm of the team, the boys responded well to my indications and the results showed in the way they passed the ball around the filed and supported each other when defending. I can only look forward to when I start my training programme this week to try and help the guys develop the tactical and positional play we tried during the game.

Form speaking to Coaches Tembo and Soldier (he is a sergeant in the Zambian army!), the main difficulty the coaches have had with the boys is in the disciplinary area. Not that they are disrespectful or undisciplined, but rather it is hard to get them to respond appropriately to their indications and directions. Some don’t take training seriously as they don’t see the “rewards” of such rigorous drills, others have their minds on their empty stomachs growling, the school work or house chores they have to face afterwards.

As the sun started to set in the west, raising a tamarind mist in the background, I stopped to reflect: These are a talented bunch and not withstanding the difficulties they face at home, the holes in their shoes and their stomachs, they train and play passionately.

My challenge is to earn their respect as a coach and trust as a friend so that together, we can build a strong unit that works well and plays diligently to achieve the results they deserve.

On the morning of the morrow, after a very restless first night of sleep on the Tazara, I was woken up by the cries of the vendors selling their goods as we stopped in one of the numerous stations along the way.After nearly 20 hours we were still in Tanzanian territory and would only reach the Zambian border by sunset. From leather belts and shoes, to shower caps, electrical tools, fried chicken, freshly picked carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, knives, radios, practically everything may be purchased along the route.

After a cup of tea and a banana, I settled into reading Hemmingway’s “Green hills of Africa” given to me by my grandfather before departing as he knew “it was fitting for my journey”!

Days can be very long as you sit in a steel compartment for such a long period of time, however the colours and the continuously changing backdrops of the landscape provide interesting enough diversity to keep your mind off the clock and just wonder, mesmerised by the expanse and livelihood of the populations scattered, seemingly haphazardly in the middle of these great arid plains, unfazed, unperturbed.

My travel companion for the duration of the journey was a guy named Freddy Tshibanda from the DRC. He is a frequent traveller on the Tazara and quite an authority on anything African.

A graduate in computer programming his business has been diverted to importing of goods from Tanzania and supplying schools and industry with his merchandise. His English is better than that of many English folk I know and he is as widely read as any intellectual I know. His sense of humour and inquisitiveness characteristic of many I have met along my travels, especially when talking of Malta and the little Island Republic I hail from. For many, it is nearly incomprehensible that a place housing just over 400,000 people has its own internationally recognised language, President and currency.

In a land that expands beyond the setting sun, where one country hosts 72 diverse tribes in peaceful cohabitation, where one city is home for over millions and, 76 distinguished languages are shared amongst its people, it is nearly understandable that the level of curiosity reaches astonishment at times.At around 17:00 on our second day of travelling we reach the Zambian border post of Kuenda, where little boys and girls gather curiously at first on the top of the dust banks divided by the train that pulls into the station tentatively. With increasing confidence they perform playful rituals for the onlookers perched on their elbows from the dark holes in this tin can on wheels … a pre-emptive show of juvenile zeal and nimble acrobatics to attract sympathy and the odd Kwacha (Zambian currency).

On the other side of the tracks, peeping through the wire fence separating the platform from the near by settlement, a little kid has his glance fixed on me and the camera. His facial contours reshaping, from his initial curiosity to doubtful shyness, until he reconvenes with his mother selling charcoal grilled corn outside a mud-brick shack. Night falls rapidly upon the African expanse and after a relatively appetizing dinner (for train grub) of fried chicken in a tomato sauce and Nshima (Zambian staple food made of corn flour and water, stirred until like a thick porridge eaten with your hands, breaking off little pieces and rolling them into mini rugby ball shaped portions in which you create a little dimple with your thumb in order to “scoop-up” sauce, vegetables or other contornos for a very tasty morsel), sleep is an inevitable consequence. As the Nshima settles deeply at the base of your stomach, your eyelids are brought down heavily in a blurry descent to the rhythm of steel wheels over steel tracks.

By 09:30 of our third day of travelling the Train comes to rest at its final stop in Kapiri Mposhi. From there it’s a packed 200 km mini-bus ride with 19 other passengers (plus luggage’s) towards Lusaka.

Luckily Zambia is one of the most urbanised countries in Africa with a road network that is the envy of most of its neighbouring countries. Even though the driver was booked for over-capacity of the mini-bus, the trip into town was relatively comfortable and unhindered. Arriving at Lumumba bus station, the hustle and bustle of local transportation terminals is immediately overwhelming with the presence of haggling porters, street vendors, the diesel exhaust, bleating horns, smoke from burning coals and, blaring Zambian music from the packed mid-day eateries!

Weaving my way through the serpentine line of mini-buses making their way to their pre-destined dropping stations, I haggle with various taxi drivers to take me the final few kms to Kuomboka backpackers where Petr and Achim are waiting for me.

There I also meet with Isabelle, my tandem partner for the project as well as Malanga Jeff, Director of the organisation we will be working with, Breakthrough Sports Academy (BSA).

It is Thursday, 4 September by this time, and I am to spend a couple of more nights at the backpackers until the last arrangements with our host family are settled and, I can finally move into my new home for the next 3 months.

Lusaka, Zambia. Plot 6006, Flat 1, Sibweni Rd, Northmead. Residence of the Kalimanshi family where I am and will e hosted for the next three months as a volunteer on a GLEN project in collaboration with Breakthrough Sports Academy (BSA) Lusaka.

As I sit on the little front porch, surrounded by numerous plants in clay pots, the air is silent, very silent. Apart from the odd car that slowly makes its way along the pot-holed filled dirt road that divides the plot from the Rhodes park elementary school I front of us, the atmosphere is tranquil and very peaceful.

I have managed to catch up on the rest that was deprived from me whilst trying to make my way to Lusaka via Dubai and Dar-Es-Salaam. After an 11 hour night-over at Dubai international I met up with a couple of friends in the coastal town of Dar-Es-Salaam on Saturday 30 August whilst waiting for the Tazara train to Lusaka.

The two days spent in Dar revealed the immediate friendliness and joviality characteristic of East Africans. Chirpy, smiley and loud. No greeting may be started without the rudimentary handshake that comprises the formality of a typical British greeting and the more informal styled palm-around thumb shake used amongst old pals and celebrating sportsmen.

I also visited the project my friends Lara (from Germany) and Franja (from Slovenia) are participating in: a German-Tanzanian collaboration on health development in Tanzania, mainly focusing on HIV / AIDS prevention and education.

Whilst in Dar, I also managed a dip in the ocean which would be my last for at least another three months.

I was delighted to see the beach come to life as the day was starting to settle into the evening with kids playing volley ball and football to the foreground of the turquoise Indian Ocean and the green backdrop provided by the palm trees.

The white sand sparkling gold as the sun turned a fiery red. All the elements were embracing us as two little kids sat covered in sand grains munching on a freshly cut sweet coconut!

On Tuesday 2 September it was finally time for my journey towards Zambia. The Tazara train, built by the Japanese links Dar to Kapiri Mposhi, 200 kms outside of Lusaka and takes on average 40 hours (if you’re lucky). It has been recorded that the ordeal could last as long as 52. I was lucky!

With the option of 4 person first or 6 person second class sleeper differing by only $10, or the more populated 6 x super seater (no sleeper option offered), I went for first class.

In its former glory days, sheets, pillows, towels, bed lights, ceiling fans and porters were part of the deal. Nowadays, the sheets, pillows and towels are gone; bed lights and ceiling fans accumulate dust and the porters have disappeared.

Nonetheless soap, toilet paper and bottled water are supplied for you, as well as a fleece blanket, with which to cover yourself during the hours travelling through the stillness of the African plains that can become hair-raising cold.

Thanks to our timely on-scheduled departure we managed to catch a glimpse of some wildlife whilst traversing on of Tanzania's National parks.

As we puffed along the tracks, wildebeest and zebras ran parallel accompanying us mundanely just like my uncle’s pet dogs would do every time our car would enter or exit the driveway.

Antelopes would hop along small scrubs and bushes like little enthusiastic children would do playfully whilst waving us on our journey, whilst the elegant giraffe continued to munch away foliage, unbothered as the moon replaced the sun for its night shift and tucked us in to rest.

Changing the world through football

Claudia Calleja

"Sportsmen and athletes are heroes and mentors for many children who aspire to become like them... At this young age, it is important to do something to help them keep believing in their dreams... Besides, sports brings people together, it's an excellent means of communication and it's fun."

As a firm believer in the integration of sporting philosophy into children's everyday lives, Mr Azzopardi will next week be setting off to Lusaka, in Zambia, where he will be volunteering as an assistant football coach - with the ultimate objective of providing children there with skills that go beyond the sport.

These include health education, communication, teamwork, integration, leadership and confidence-building skills. Issues addressed will also include HIV and Aids, gender equality, respect for others, and fair play.

His project - entitled Youth Education through Sports (Yes) for Development - will be realised through local non-governmental organisation (NGO) Third World Group Malta that forms part of the Global Education Network (Glen).

The latter is an international non-profit organisation that aims at contributing to a better understanding of global issues including development.

Once he gets to Lusaka, where he will be staying for three months, Mr Azzapardi will be working together with other volunteers under the umbrella of the Breakthrough Sports Academy (BSA), a Zambian NGO.

Volunteers will focus on enriching the children, aged between eight and 18, through football and sporting philosophy during programmes held at the BSA's grounds.

Mr Azzopardi started planning this project soon after returning to Malta after his first voluntary work experience - in India, South Africa and South America - when he spotted an article in The Sunday Times calling for volunteers in Africa. Still intoxicated by the satisfaction he felt during his first mission, he applied.

Why does he do it?

"I say why not? Children are the world's future. If you don't provide children with love, care and attention, the world will remain in the same situation," he replies promptly.

Apart from that, he adds, there is a more self-centred reason why people should help others. "You never know what life is going to throw at you. Today you might be helping a child in Zambia, tomorrow you may help an elderly person cross the street... one day you might need help to cross the street. Unless we are aware of the benefits that extending a helping hand can have to a person's life, we're just going to continue killing each other," he says.

He adds that people have often asked him how he would be able to tear himself away from the children, who may feel abandoned after bonding with him.

"The way I see it is, at least you've done it. You're giving them something... They love the attention... and you leave there with a whole lot more than what you wanted and expected."

The Malta Football Association and Urban Jungle have donated sports gear and equipment for the children in Zambia. Mr Azzopardi is now looking for funds to help transport these objects. Anyone interested in helping or learning more about the project can visit Mr Azzopardi's web-blog http://yesfordevelopment.weebly.com .

Donations can be made by clicking:http://yesfordevelopment.weebly.com/participate.html.