My little "sister"

Muli Bwuanji? (How are you?)
just wanted to share a picture of me and my little 4 year old host sister Sarah with you. She is absolutely adorable and I'm completely in love with her!
When I get home after practice, often tired and sometimes frustrated, she will come running towards me, jumping into my arms and smiling at me, making every little worry on my mind vanish at the spot.

Haircut, anyone?

just another small business in the townships of Lusaka....

Me in action

Hello people!
once a week, the coaches of our academy play against one of the teams. Lats week it was the girls teams and of course, we needed to win not to embarrass us.
But with me as a striker that was no problem :-)
It is fun to play against the kids. The bigger boys are really good and we usually are happy if we draw against them. I have improved my skills and condition since I'm here, and really want to start playing football again when I'm back in Germany.

Impressions of a ball game

Lusaka. Sunday afternoon, 14.45h. I am walking back home. The streets are empty. Where are all the cars, the people, the noise? Has there been a state of emergency declared?

No, the Chipolopolo Boys, Zambias National football team, are about to have a game against South Africa. It’s the last game in the qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations next year, and Zambia needs to win it to qualify. Of course, nobody wants to miss it.

So I rush home, to make it on time. In the living room, the whole family is already waiting for the game to start. Unbelievably, the Zambian captain scores three goals in the first 20 minutes of the game and makes the win over the big rival South Africa perfect. People are going crazy in front of the TV, and those who don’t have one go crazy in front of the radio. The celebrations are to last for two days, as if Zambia just had won the world cup.

It is amazing how a game of football can unite a nation, make people forget their problems and sorrows, even if it is just for a short time. I have experienced that feeling in Argentina before and it still gives me shivers…..

That’s the beauty of football!

Zambias Wilderness

Hello People, wherever you are!
On tuesday me and 5 other europeans who are also working as volunteers in Zambia, came back form a 3 days trip to northern Zambia. We had a wonderful time with our rented 4x4, which gave us the freedom of going wherever we want. You really need this kind of vehicle since tar roads are rare and the conditions of the rest of the roads is terrible. We camped next to a beautiful waterfall, on the shore of a very clean lake, and in a Natinal park with hippos, crocodiles and other wild animals.


At night, we always had a barn fire.
The first night, we heard drums and singing from a village and decided to see what was going on. The answer can be seen on the left: villagers having a great party! we joined them and tasted the home-brew-beer made out of corn and tasting.....let's say-strange and strong! It was so great to celebrate with these people ("we're celebrating that we're drinking!") even though communication was hard due to different reasons ;-)

The next day, we visited a cave from the stone age with interesting paintings and lots of bats and tried to find Lake Waka Waka, which was quite a quest, not having any accurate maps, with no signs around and everz villager telling us a different way. but we finally got there and had a nice evening swimming and hanging out. No one was to be seen anywhere.
The last day we went to Kasanka National Park,one of the samllest but best run NPs in Zambia. It was so nice there as well. Unfortunately, we only got to hear the hippos nearby, and no crocodiles were to be seen either. but we saw some rare Antelopes, wild hogs and some strange spider!
Altogether, it was a wonderful trip into the wild beauty of Zambia. But now I am happy to be back in Lusaka again, sleep in a bed and eat Nshima, the main local food which is served for almost every meal.
till next time, hope you are all well!
Hanno

Viktoria Falls

Although I am not here as a tourist, part of my experience is getting to know the beauty of this country. So we did a few weeks ago! Me, Nina, Tom and Flo went to the Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. This was a spectacular sight beyond description, seeing these masses of waters falling for over 100m! They are supposed to be the biggest waterfalls in the world, at least if you go by the masses of water falling at one time. The name mosi-o-tunyia was given to the falls by the local people long before David Livingstone discovered them. Mosi-o-tunyia means "water that thunders" ....and it really does thunder!
This weekend we will hit the road again, this time going t northern Lusaka and explore some more of the wild Africa. I will keep you updated...

Road side business

This is one of the many roadside stores that you will find everywhere. You can buy anything there, from mobile phone credit, over food to cleaning material. Of course, this one is a rather small one with limited stock....