The Lusaka Rugby Day Out

Day 8 in the Project Zambia house – The Lusaka Rugby Day Out

Ali Hardie, the true athlete he is, has attached himself to the local rugby team whereby 3 times a week he trains and keeps up his fitness. Being quite affluent men the Lusaka rugby club decided to take the squad to an orphanage about 10 miles outside the city and very kindly asked the Project Zambia team to accompany them. Unfortunately, due to a Peer Leader Workshop at the Sport In Action office, the counsellors could not make it and Kieran (thanks to his inept cooking skills) had food poisoning so myself, Stacey, Ali, Lauren and Ashley headed to the rugby club to meet the guys. Clad in our spiffing Lusaka rugby shirts we headed off on a bus with around 10 others from the men’s team out to, what looked like, a tiny village with a number of small ‘bunk houses’ and two larger buildings. In the middle was a large open space with one set of goals at the end nearest the main buildings. Walking off the bus we were greeted by a bundle of young boys who we all immediately started saying our hellos and shaking their hands – the Zambian way of course! The biggest and most toughest looking rugby player known as Coach however, got straight in there and hugged every single one of the boys and made sure they knew he was there to see them.

We got stuck in straight away and got all of the boys involved in some touch rugby and rugby games. It was truly fantastic to see all the rugby boys involved with the children making sure every single one was involved. One of the boys was so wee, about 5 years old, I hoisted him on my back whilst we were playing touch so that he could keep up and get a shot of passing and catching with everyone else. Once exhausted and all rugby-ed out we headed into the main communal area where the boys received a chat about HIV/Aids from Lusaka Rugby club as well as an invite for the boys to come and train anytime. Following this we had anther chat from the staff at the orphanage and a fantastic meal of barbequed chicken and nshima (a local staple food kind of like a mix between pasta and rice) donated by the Lusaka Rugby sponsor Country Life Chicken.

Opened in November of 2009 the orphanage looks to take young boys off the street in the city of Lusaka and relocate them to their families and relatives. It was difficult to take in some of the stories we heard about the boys on the streets many of whom had either run away from family, were thrown out due to their parents entering new marriages or sadly were single or double orphans. What struck me was the story of the narcotics used by the boys who poo in plastic bags, let it sit in the sun and ferment for 3 days then breathe in the fumes. The orphanage build up a relationship with the boys over a number of weeks in the street and ask if they want to come and stay. The average stay for the boys is around three weeks where they are given both group and individual counselling to make sure they are ready to go back to their relatives. Once the families are located they are also counselled to make sure that they too are ready. Once both parties are deemed ready the boys are taken back and monitored over a couple of weeks to make sure the transition back home is successful. The orphanage however, makes it very clear to the boys they are always welcome back if they experience bad times again. It was truly fantastic to see the work done and the love, friendship and support given to these boys and the educational experiences for them including carpentry and building work to ensure they have the skills for future work.

Our trip to the orphanage was an amazing opportunity to see how relief work starts at home and the outreach within the communities in Zambia where, for ten weeks, we can be a part of it and know that the work will continue once we are gone. The Lusaka Rugby men were fantastic and had gathered a bunch of second hand clothes that they donated to the orphanage, which the boys were ecstatic to have! Who back in the UK that you know at the age of 13 would be that happy with an opportunity for one piece of second hand clothing?

We made plans with the staff at the orphanage to come back and visit them a few more times during our stay and I’m really looking forward to teaching the boys some more and rugby.

Fiona