The penultimate Alive & Kicking regional league took place in Kalingalinga on the 18th & 25th June. With only one more local competition to go before the World Cup finals in August, excitement levels are growing.
Kalingalinga Edusport was one of the four local organisations invited to enter both a football team and a netball team. They are a branch of Edusport, a national organisation that uses sport to achieve empowerment, health, education and other development goals in communities across Zambia.
James Banda is the team coach and an Edusport peer leader:
“The league is a great chance for our young players to play other local teams and be competitive”
As part of the league each team has participated in HIV health awareness sessions led by a TackleAfrica coach. James felt this was a crucial part of the tournament.
“The football is fun but the children also learn important things about HIV and even I learnt new things. HIV is a big part of life and these TackleAfrica games help the children to know important things that could save them”
Kalingalinga is a compound in the North East of the city. There is a large population of children here, highlighted by the number of participants as well as those who just came down to watch the games and coaching sessions.
Gracious Kaunda is one of the young players to participate. Aged 14, he was very appreciative of the opportunity to play in the tournament and receive information about HIV.
“It has been fun to play with friends but also against them – football is the best thing to do, all my friends play it and we try to be like Barcelona”. With regard to the coaching sessions Gracious commented, “I know more about HIV and hope we learn more again soon”.
The football league was eventually won by Lutanda Academy and the netball trophy was awarded to Kalingalinga Edusport. They will all meet again at the World Cup Finals in August
[...] See original here: Meet Kalingalinga – Zambia – Tackle Africa [...]