Twenty-third Week in Zambia 🔆🇿🇲

The week was a mix of emotions, encounters and surprises — pure “Zambia style.” It started with a stomachache and headache that kept me in bed for half a day, but by the afternoon my energy came back thanks to a chat about the future of the academy and a trip to town with Jo and Karo to buy materials for the girls and their future business. Meanwhile, no water and no power for two days: we had an improvised party when the electricity finally came back (more or less). In the middle of all this, some sad news: the loss of my snowboard teacher and friend — goodbye Chri.

The following days were slower — some bad moods, relaxing at Jo’s, and an endless queue in town to buy tickets for Monday’s match (surprisingly, the power was still on when I got home!).

Then the week picked up a different rhythm: cheerful evenings with friends, nshima, music, laughter, car rides and walks. I’m enjoying these last weeks with them, trying to live them to the fullest to distract myself from the blues.

During the days, things happen that still leave me amazed. Among them: a little girl at her uncle’s funeral holding her ear piercings open with tiny fragile wooden sticks (local genius!), two buses with “Torino” written on them — which made me laugh because of my hometown — and Jo, noticing I wasn’t wearing my ring…the tiny one I always keep on me…made me one out of grass.

I spent several afternoons at the training field: chatting with the older boys and playing with the kids, who are always my happiness. They love to touch our hair, convinced it’s artificial like the extensions they see here. I even saw a group playing a sport similar to baseball — unusual, considering football rules supreme here.

The weekend match, unfortunately, ended with a loss. But the real big news is that the academy has a new motorbike, bought thanks to the fundraising: it will be used for transport and referees, a step towards independence! The driver, Gift, is already a legend: they got stopped because he was driving in flip-flops… out of all the things missing (helmet, license plate, driving license), they decided the problem was the flip-flops.

Between endless ticket queues, kids braiding my hair, and sweet little brothers sitting next to me during matches, the week flew by. It ended with a “wild” episode: spiders and cockroaches in the bathroom, and a night spent in Chipulukusu at friends’ because it was too late to go back home.

Sunday morning I stopped by the stadium to watch the Zambian national team’s training session, which I actually didn’t get to see… but I waited until the end to say hi to a friend, Golden, who’s in the photo below with me!

Another intense week, full of surprises, laughter and moments I’ll carry with me.

Word of the Week

Since I’m working on the article about food, this time the word is Imbaulula: it means peanuts, the ones that people here often eat roasted… basically, peanuts.

Photo of the Week