Sports Day Zambian Style

A school sports day Zambian style always sounds promising and it's fair to say it delivered. Last week I experienced my first ever sports day in a Zambian school and it was more than entertaining. A 5:45am alarm resounded as we woke just before sunrise to get ready to head to the school for 7:30am. In Zambia a lot of people use the sun rising and setting as a way of living, with a lot schools beginning way before many of us would ever dream of being awake. This can be for numerous reasons but mainly because schools do not have the capacity or space to house every student so operate their days on a split timetable; half the students in the morning and half in the afternoon, running sometimes off at 6am until 5pm schedule! 

Each house proudly displaying their banners

On arrival at the school it was quiet, as we took our places at the table ready to help record scores, direct events and add assistance where possible. I was very impressed but kinda chuckled at seeing all of the key member of staff dressed in retro Adidas classic green tracksuits, the ones that featured quite heavily in the 90s. Where they got them from I'll never know but I've probably never seen better dressed teachers in my life! A sight I won't forget quickly. Before we knew it the songs began, the chants rose as each 'house' made their way out onto the sports field. Although today's sports day was for the intermediate and senior students the youngsters were involved and followed them with banners and drums. One thing I will always love about Zambia, and about Africa generally as a continent is the way the people simply radiate happiness. Never in a school in the UK would you see a group of students singing and dancing spontaneous to music, yet here students ranging from 4 to 16 all joined together to represent their house in true style. 

Time to announce the winners

Four houses competed in your usual sports day events such as 100m, 200m and 400m, plus some more 'traditional' Zambian related events such as the water bottle race where students had to carry a water bottle on their head and run a race and the needle and thread race, where one student began with a thread at one end and another with a needle at the other end and they had to run and put the thread through the needle eye using only one hand. Something very different but probably an event that will help develop much needed life skills for many of these children. The four houses Lumumba, Cairo, Cha Cha Cha and Nkwazi took part all morning in what was a very closely competed sports day. The students continued to entertain with their athletic prowess as well as their chants, with many encouraging pressure from the other teams. The last race was ran and the scores tallied up as we all congregated to hear the winners. The Head Teacher or at least a very senior member of staff gave a closing speech which probably differed greatly to that you would usually hear within a school. The focus on taking part shifted to winners and losers as she thanked those who lost, for without them there would be no winners. 

A proud moment for the staff as well as the students of Cha Cha Cha

Then came the dance off. One thing I've learnt whilst in Zambia is that us muzungo's do not have a scratch on the local people when it comes to dancing. Although not very hard, I've seen many four year olds who can shake their hips better than me! Thankfully I wasn't the one summoned to the dance floor but Katy, one of the IDEALS students, was called up and giving an absolute dancing lesson by a four year old! And even I think she would admit that she lost, this little girl had so much swag, dancing with not an inch of emotion on her face... Something I couldn't do! 

A funny ending to what had been a great morning. I'm glad to see schools in Zambia placing an emphasis on sport, taking the time to schedule and organise a sports day. As with all 'competitive' events, there are negatives where kids get demoralised if they lose but it was fantastic to see everyone giving their all and competing the best they could to represent their house. Another fantastic morning spent in my life as a IDEALS Team Leader.