Even though it has been a short week in Zambia (owing to the Heroes’ Holiday last weekend), this week has seen the start of work proper for me here. I have been reviewing sponsorship and fundraising activities for Sport in Action, including assessing the events and rights they have to offer, and have also started to make contact with various Zambian and multinational companies here in Lusaka.
Whilst my main focus is to help Sport in Action, I am also hoping my skills and experience will be of wider benefit at both grass roots and elite level. Of particular note, I met with the President of the Zambian National Olympic Committee, Mrs Miriam Moyo (http://www.olympic.org/zambia), too this week and we are planning a sponsorship workshop for the NOC and the National Federations that they support and represent. This has brought me back onto familiar turf from my time at LOCOG with discussions about the TOP sponsorship programme and the global economic climate.
With many ideas to start working on and conscious that I am only here for another 8 weeks, I got up today hoping to make lots of progress only to be flummoxed by what I am told is a fairly regular happening: a city wide power cut, which also knocked out the water supplies. Six hours later, work could start once more (which of course coincided with the beginning of the weekend!). TIA.
On the plus side, I am the proud owner of a new bicycle for commuting (which I fear might be a character building experience) and I have the (Welsh) rugby and a run with the Lusaka Hash House Harriers to look forward to this weekend. There is also the first Wallace Tournament, the competition that pits the different schools in Lusaka where SIA runs programmes against each other. Each of the IDEALS students in the first wave of UK students this summer has spent the last five weeks coaching and preparing their teams in football, netball, volleyball and basketball. Tomorrow, they pit their wits against each other as budding Sir Alex’s and Phil Jackson’s in Munali as the children seek to emulate Tracy Neville and Malgorzata Glinka-Mogentale (yes, I had to look that one up!) in their chosen sport. It should be great fun.
Finally, another image from a visit to one of the programmes here to show you how much the kids enjoy dancing with a mzungo!
Posted in 2013
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