When the Youth Sports Trust first contacted the school about the possibility of developing an International Link with a school from Zambia I was both excited and anxious. I have not travelled to Africa and had only a perception based on what I had seen on television. Following the visit to Leon by Vimbi Mateke and Donald Pata I was looking forward to visiting their school and Zambia. The first hurdle to overcome was the flight! Keiron Wicks and I are not good at sitting down in one place for 12 hours and so we spent a great deal of the flight walking around and trying to stretch. The idea of taking a night flight so we could get some sleep did not quite work – the ability to sleep sitting down was not one either of us could manage! We landed at Johannesburg airport in South Africa and then had to wait 2 hours for a transfer to Livingstone airport, Zambia. The total journey time was 24 hours from door to door. Quite a tiring experience.
Impressions of Zambia: Hot, sunny, friendly (we were met by a coach load of teachers all of whom wanted to shake our hands), one main road.
The purpose of our trip was to find out a little of the education system, understand the culture and then develop a plan whereby a link could be created between Leon and Linda High school. The value of education was very different to Leon. Students had to pay to go to school and as a result children were always ready to learn. Even when the teacers were not in the classrooms!! Linda High School has very basic facilities but students and staff are very proud of their school. Classes could range from 30 to 40 students.
A visit to Victoria Falls was the highlight of the trip. This is where the Zambezi river drops 100 metres and the spray rises about 150 metres in the air creating the most amazing and invigorating outside power shower. We spent 6 days and 5 nights in Zambia and in all that time the only time we rested was when we slept at night. It was however the most fantastic journey.
The time for the return journey came round far too fast. Another 24 hours and we would be back in Milton Keynes. Flying through an electrical storm over Africa made for an eventful and very bumpy flight home. (At one time the captain considered turning round and heading back to Zambia!)
What do we hope to achieve with the exchange programme?
Teachers at Leon and Linda High are currently communicating by email to exchange ideas about methods of teaching and using resources in school. Two soccer academy coaches are flying out to Zambia in July accompanied by Kieron Wicks and Simon Viccars to deliver a Level 1 coaching qualification to students, teachers and members of the community. The idea is to create 24 Level ! football coaches who can deliver programmes in schools and within the community of Livingstone.
Students in Key Stage 3 at Leon producing a project on Zambia and in particular Livingstone using resources and first hand information from email discussions.
Creating pen pals where students can write to each other and share their cultures and life experiences.
Raising funds to help support children in Livingstone who can not afford to go to school in Zambia.
The project is funded by Dreams and Teams to run for 3 years. There are endless ways in which both schools can benefit and I look forward to developing these with staff and students at Leon and Linda High School.
Gary Wakefield 2007
Leon School & Sports College
