Category Archives: Never Give Up eng

VCT Day

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Zambia Compound Market was particularly busy on Wednesday 30th June, young men and women were crowding the football pitch of Mutendere Basic School to access free Counseling and Testing as part of the Zambian national VCT day. Majorettes in green and white danced to their music; drama groups performed HIV/AIDS awareness related sketches between the laughter and clapping of the spectators; the Kafue District Commissioner gave a touching speech. 
 

VCT match at Kafue Day: need to know!

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A team from Comet Champs came to Kafue Day on Saturday 5th May to provide Volunteer Counseling and Testing. Part of the Never Give Up Football League program is the sensitization on HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness, so the presence of VCT made the peer educators` activities even more special and relevant as the participants and the spectators could find out their HIV status.

Need To Know bands were distributed to all those who accessed the VCT. Most football players left the ground proudly wearing the band, excited and empowered thanks to the counseling and advice received by the peer educators and counselors.
Regina Chipwele, coach of the Chiparamba team as well as Kafue Day ground coordinator, reports: “We appreciated the presence of Champs who were doing the VCT. The youths after being advised on abstinence willingly went for testing of their status. Well done organizers!”

Peer educators working with the children

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Since their training in April, the peer educators have been actively involved with the children and youth on the grounds.
They have been organizing activities to sensitize them on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention as well as life skills such us self confidence, self esteem, discipline and respect, motivation and leadership, goal setting and communication.
The Choose Life magazine has been distributed among the older children and its contents have been carefully considered and discussed.
Among the most active peer educators, a big thank you goes to Edwell Nyirenda, Joachim Mangamu, Joseph Kapungwe, Ireen Tembo, Florence Chilima, Joyce Kapuya, Regina Chipwele and Agathe Chabi.
 Well done and keep up the good work!

Never Give Up Cross Country: the first race

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On Saturday 29th May 2010, the first race of the Never Give Up Cross Country 2010 took place. The excitement among all participants was incredible; everyone was very eager to start the race and see who would be leading, assuring each other that this time they would make it to the top.
The C7-MUNGU is a 6.5km gravel race which every year opens the Never Give Up running season and is used by the participants to assess their training as well as the competition.
The participants were about 250, mostly junior boys and girls. In between the long-standing runners, many new smiling faces could be identified; the excitement among these last ones was incredible, as the numbers were distributed during registration nervous shaky hands were trying to help each other pin them to their clothes.
The team from Chipapa proved to be once again the overall strongest, closely followed by the one from Chanyanya. As the last few left at the end of the day, children`s happy laughter still rang in the air.

RESULTS
RESULTS
SENIOR MEN
SENIOR WOMEN
N°
NAME
SURNAME
N°
NAME
SURNAME
1
Gillias
Nangwala
1
Dorothy
Shaba
2
Arnold
Mainga
2
Judy
Chileshe
3
Donald
Mahauhau
3
Elisabeth
Maningi
JUNIOR BOYS
JUNIOR GIRLS
N°
NAME
SURNAME
N°
NAME
SURNAME
1
Fedrus
Timba
1
Esthel
Nuweswa
2
Dave
Dolopo
2
Milika
Nuweswa
3
Shemi
Shamwanza
3
Ruth
Kapempa

Africa Freedom Day Celebration

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On May 25th 2010, our teams celebrated Africa Freedom Day with some friendly football matches.

The coaches decided that the best way to keep the children active and celebrate this special day for Zambia was to play football together. At Matanda ground, the Matanda Boys, Shikoswe and Yam Sakala U10 and U15 played a little tournament which saw the home team win on both categories.

Everyone had a lot of fun and enjoyed the friendly competition amongst the young children. At the end of the tournament, the Matanda Boys celebrated with singing and chanting for their team.

Never Give Up Football League 2010 Kick Off

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8TH May 2010: The Never Give Up Football League has finally started!

On Saturday the emotions run high: the children and youths were very excited, especially among those players whose teams were new to the program. Most teams arrived singing and chanting to the match grounds ready for the first games.

The coaches and peer educators too, were very enthusiastic: the ones looking forward to see their team put into practice all those training practices, the others thrilled to finally having the possibility to engage with children and youths on very important topics such as life skills and HIV/AIDS awareness.

The all community from the 8 different grounds where the matches took place was somehow involved in the day: many children came to watch their friends play cheering and encouraging them; football fans tried to spot new talents and potential international players; rival team`s members came to show their support and somehow check the competition.

The games run fairly smoothly and by the end of the day everyone was exhausted but extremely happy of having taken part to such fun day!

Peer educators training

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26th – 30th April 2010
Chiparamba Community School

All the Peer Educators are now ready to face the children and youth of Kafue, to guide them and to become great role models. Their training, held at Chiparamba Community School, was great fun and extremely educational. The facilitators, Mable, Joseph and John, were exceptional in their presentations and made sure everyone was involved and participating.

The organization and daily management of the training have been the best example of community mobilization: there were those who came providing plates and cups for lunch; those who carried 25kg bags of millie meal on the back of their bicycles; those who hosted overnight the participants who came from too far…

On the last day, the Kafue District Commissioner honored us with his presence and issued the certificates to all participants.

For many this week will always be remembered as KAPENTA WEEK, in honor to coach Mwansa who very “skillfully” was in charge of choosing the kapenta (a traditional dried small fish) for lunch!

The international volunteers have arrived!

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On Sunday 11th April, Giorgia joined the Never Give Up team followed by Ramadhani on Saturday 17th. Giorgia, from Italy, arrived from South Africa bringing with her all the excitement of the imminent FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa, while Ramadhani travelled the long journey all the way from Burundi to inspire us with his love of sport and the strong discipline of the great karateca he is.
The two have already united forces to organize the Never Give Up sport activities with the help and support of the local community creating an amazing multicultural team!
Giorgia Marchitelli:
Since an early age, I have been involved in swimming, initially as a swimmer and then as a swimming instructor both in my hometown in Italy and later in London, UK. The values and skills which I have acquired through sport have always accompanied me and made me recognize the importance of sport in the social and physical development of children.
I have completed a BA in International Studies and Diplomacy followed by an MA in African Studies. My interest in African societies developed since my first experience as an international volunteer in South Africa in 2001 and 2002, where I was involved in HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns and women support groups at the Carl Sithole Social Centre in Soweto, a home for HIV/AIDS affected children and young women.
The Never Give Up project is able to unite two very important aspects of my life: sport and cooperation for development. I truly believe that Sport for Development is an amazing tool in our hands and the way forward in today’s society.
SINTUKA Ramadhani:
My early age has been characterized by youth and sports related activities in my home area.
Later on, I continued after being transferred for secondary school to Bujumbura where I introduced scout activities in an Islamic based school. I strengthened my involvement in sports such as Football, Basketball, Handball, Karate, Kick boxing and Rugby.
The skills I acquired accompanied me while in Uganda for studies and I was elected as Sports and Games prefect, requested to join the Karate national team of which later on I became the national coach, chairman of the Technical comity and African Karate Federation Union for Zone 5.
At university, I obtained a BA in Social Sciences majoring in International Relations, a MA in Leadership and Human Relations, International Relations and Diploma in French.
I worked for several times as a Volunteer in JJB (Jumelage Jeunesse du Burundi), involving mobilizing youth and adult for development activities, sport to fight against HIV/AIDS.
Burundi at one time had fallen in ethnic crush; a synergy of NGOs, organized sports as one of the tools to create a peaceful environment. I spearheaded sport activities and the impact was remarkable.
My sports and education involvement continued with Kabira Internatinal School and Kampala High, Haka Tahir Karate and Yin Yang Karate Temple.
The Never Give Up project has come to strengthen me where I would learn how sport can go far in changing the society basing on youth and children. I must confess to be proud that Never Give Up has given me an opportunity as child of Africa to support the positive dynamic of our continent and the world at large.