Meet the Team - Stacey Coffin

Initial Thoughts:
I spent a lot of time working with the Athletic Union this year and had heard a lot about Project Zambia. I was interested last year but was not available for the summer. I spent a lot of time this year fundraising and was really looking forward to getting out there and working hard.

I didn’t know what to expect heading out to Zambia which is I think what made me the most nervous. I also felt a bit underprepared. While I think a bit more training before we head to Zambia could be beneficial I also understand that a lot of what we experience could not be explained before hand and it was best to figure things out on our own. Having too many expectations might just leave you disappointed if things don’t work out the way you expected.

Impressions of Lusaka/Zambia:
I worked at Mutendere school which, along with Chibolya, was one of the most impoverished schools. This area, while upsetting, was what I was expecting Zambia to look like: Two classroom schools, no running water, playing netball on a bed of stones without shoes. What I didn’t expect was the areas 1km down the road that you could easily find in Britain: westernized shopping centres, pizza places, petrol stations, hotels.

I think the part of Lusaka that disappointed me the most was the garbage. There are no bins to be found and everyone seems to just dump their rubbish in the ditches. I would have to carry any rubbish I had around in my bag all day until we got back to the house before I could find somewhere to throw it out properly.
I didn’t expect to be the only white people. There are more ‘muzungu’ here but they’re not immersed in the local culture like we are, riding the buses and visiting the local markets.

Impressions of the Value of the Project:
It was frustrating, especially for the first week, to feel like we would be making any kind of an impact this summer. The SIA peer leaders are so good at what they do and there can be such a language barrier that it sometimes seemed as though they would be better off without us. Most things we did had to be told to the peer leaders and translated anyway. Perhaps just training up the peer leaders would have been a better use of time.

However, as you spend more time with the kids you see how much respect they give you just because you’re white and how excited they are just for you to be there. With some kids its more obvious you are making a difference than others. I coached a netball team at Mutendere and at first the girls were always fighting with one another. However a few sessions on team work and they seemed to get along a bit better and open up with us.
I found it difficult because the results aren’t as tangible as I would have liked. In the house at dinner, after a day on our placements, some of the team would get such gratification just from putting a smile on a child’s face for an hour. I found it hard to get past the fact that one of my 14 year old netball girls was 5 months pregnant and there was nothing I could do to help besides be there if she wanted to talk.
I think we make an impact by getting involved with the kids rather than just throwing money at different projects. I got a real eye opener one day at Fountain of Hope. UNICEF was there to visit the project and to look at the peer leaders and make sure they were doing a good job. They were there with all their cameras and nice clothes on and when the cameras were rolling they spent a couple of seconds interrupting our games and songs to make it look like they’d been taking part. They didn’t speak to a single kid though and when the cameras were off they were walking straight across the middle of our netball court in the middle of our game without even noticing. It made me happy that while I may not have the money to donate food to the schools or build facilities, at least I was getting to know some of the kids and giving them someone to talk to.

Impressions of the Team:
I was so impressed with the SIA team and with a few peer leaders in particular. The kids give them so much respect and they have dedicated what seems to be all of there time to the SIA projects.