As I reflect on my days in Zambia, with the effects of my malaria infection well worn off now, and silence reigns momentarily in this household, I Have finally found some time to put pen to paper on some recurrent thoughts I’ve been having during my stay here.
Whilst it has been difficult to concentrate on spending time in front of this laptop and type away thoughts and ideas that have been randomly popping up in my mind, I have been frustrated at my inability to transform these thoughts into anything concrete; such as the answers to the multitude of questions that I ask myself as I walk the pot-holed streets on my way to the football pitch every day; or the doubts I have on the effectiveness of the development assistance we provide here as I struggle to make myself understood with those I am trying to work with; or my incomprehension of public policies that limit the access to free schooling beyond primary levels.
On Sports as a Development Tool
During the run-up to the Presidential by-elections just held on the 30th of October I had plenty of chances to discuss with family members, friends, and people in the street on the worth of the campaign promises made by the candidates on the issue of education. To my surprise, for many it was not the main issue of concern.
To appreciate this one has to understand Zambia’s current literacy situation: 30% of the total adult population are illiterate (Source: Unicef Zambia)! What follows is a natural consequence of an “economy” built on foreign investment in heavy industries like mining, whilst at the other end of the scale lies rural agriculture.
What comes in between is a mix match of opportunity and necessity with early school leavers throwing them selves at every kwacha possible, whilst others roam around the streets in search of the odd job that my help to pay for family needs.
One of the issues I have had to deal with whilst coaching the boys here at BSA is trying to get them round to think not solely for ‘today’, but also try and foresee what may be the needs for tomorrow.
Tough I know, but some have already responded in ways that may foretell future reflection before action. With others, especially the “ring leaders” of the lot, the likelihood that this way of thinking will change, is far more unlikely.
The reasons are as varied as the excuses some of these boys come up with for skipping training or even games. Mainly though their rhetoric is based purely on the peers around them.
Over the weekend, one of they boys was hit by a car owned and driven by a ‘friend’ who was showing off his driving skills in front of the rest. The result ended Masaninge into an open sewage ditch and rushed to hospital for medical attention.
Thankfully, he was sent home with just a few bruises, but it was the first time I literally felt like killing someone, and I had to turn away and throw stones at a concrete wall to avoid crying in front of the boys as I scolded them for “playing around with life” and “frequenting bad company when they should be sticking together like an extended family”.
I felt it was my own child’s life that was threatened, that these boys were my boys, and it was my boys’ lives’ that was being endangered. So I scolded them and lectured them like a parent. I felt like a parent!
The importance of the work that teachers and peer educators as well as volunteers involved in “informal” or “extra-curricular” educational activities is just as important as formal education and at times even more.
The relationships one builds when working together as a team can have greater impact on the lives of children that when being lectured as individuals in a class room.
The complementarities are essential for the development of children, adolescents as well as adults. There are certain virtues and qualities that sports and team activities can contribute in a way that class room teaching may not always be able too.
Of course I am not suggesting that schooling is to be relegated to a secondary means of education. What I am saying though is that I have seen it in the eyes of the boys and girls who train and play on rough surfaces, often barefoot and experienced the impact of the power of learning through fun activities.
It played a huge part in my own education and development, with both its ups and downs, but I would be denying a lot if I didn’t admit that without football I would have never learnt the importance of sacrifice and hard work, appreciation for what I had, and the need to share with others even the little you have for the general benefit of the team!
In Zambia and a larger extent most of Africa, football and sports can reach out to those corners where public policy cannot or doesn’t want to go for fear of loosing political power in the capital.
“Knowledge is Power” and key to the empowerment of those people who have been restricted the opportunities to improve their own conditions due to political greed. It may be imparted through personal contact and social relations, formal education and the simplicity of fun games.
All are part of the solution to a problem rooted in the egoism and short-sightedness of the “elected” few feeding on the “ignorance” of those they continue to relegate to the shadows of their business dealings!
