Decky - Dynamic Stars Academy

Decky

This is Decky aged seven and the coach asked him to stand where you see him so I could take his photograph. An understandably shy boy, when faced by a strange bloke with a camera from a incomprehensible land he knows only in his imagination, he lives in Chainda compound with his father and unspecified other members of his extended family. I hope he gets to see the photograph of himself there one day. On the Chainda compound pitch with the Dynamic Stars Decky plays out of his skin in midfield for Manchester United, Zambia and most of all himself. He would love some boots or better still trainers and then he could wear them all the time. If he went to school he would proudly wear them there.

Mary Mwanza - Dynamic Stars Academy

Mary 

Mary is a 13 year old who lives in Chainda compound, Lusaka with her birth mother, her five brothers and two sisters. Her father has died. She has a very beautiful wide awake smile when she stands there and talks and she laughs a lot. She joined the DSA in 2013 after hearing about the academy from her friends and now plays as a central defender for the girls team.

Mary explained to me that if she was not playing football then she would be working selling fruit on the local village market stall with her mother, a job I imagine, with that smile, she is very good at. She doesn't attend school. Although she did complete a year in Grade 5 she didn't pass the end of year tests and now her mother has no money to pay the school fees. They are around £30 per year.

DSA lasses team

Many girls of Mary's age and in similar circumstances get married. There are rules but these are not always strictly followed or enforced. Girls in the compounds commonly become sexually active from as young as 10 years old and marriage is a way to relieve the poverty on the family and relatives they live with. None of this helps with the Aids and HIV situation and often exacerbates other health and social challenges facing those in extreme poverty in urban Zambia. Many girls and families are faced with little or no alternative.

Mary told me that she really wanted to go back to school and asked for some money to do so. Her favourite subjects there were English and Maths. Everybody, or so it seems, likes English and Maths. She explained that the academy needed jerseys, boots, footballs and stockings. Her favourite teams are her own Dynamic Stars and the Zambian national team.

I hope she goes to school again because I could really tell she wanted to when I sat and s[poke to her.

Pule - Dynamic Stars Academy

Pule

Pule is nine. He lives in Chainda compound with his mother and father and six brothers and sisters. One of the younger children in the Dynamic Stars Academy, he plays as striker, at number nine, from where he enjoys putting his homemade ball in the back of the proverbial net. He has a self-proclaimed talent for it. The academy have areal net now. I don't know if the mam and dad are his birth parents but, like his trousers that are far to big for him, it doesn't matter an inch.  He attends Lifeway Primary School for in the compound, another school for orphans and is in Grade 1. I spoke to Pule on the football pitch at Chainda but I didn't get much out of him. He was excited, busy, full of confidence and full of life. He supports Zambia and Zambia alone.

Pule again

Joel Simwanza - Dynamic Stars Academy

Joel

Joel is 16 years of age and lives in Chainda compound with his grandparents.He never knew his parents, both having died of "the disease" when he was very young. He is an only child, unusual in Zambia. His grant parents have other children whom he also lives with and will refer to as his mother and father. He plays in Central defence or midfield for the Dynamic Stars under 17's team.

Joel used to attend a boarding school, which saves the family money on food, but was forced to stop going after Grade 10 (Year 10 - UK), early in 2013 due to lack of means to pay the school fees. He really hopes to start again if his grandfather, a primary school teacher himself, is able to find more money. With large extended families not all the children can go to school at the same time. Often older children have to give up to allow their younger siblings to attend and get a basic education, or at least the start of one. Secondary school fees are generally more expensive that primary so the younger children will attend leaving many older children with nothing more than a primary education. If they are lucky enough to complete Grade 12, there aren't any jobs to get anyway. Fees for further education and universities are beyond most families means. To do Grade 11 would cost Joel's family about £50 a year. His favourite subjects at school were English, History and Civics/Politics. Schooling in Zambia is all in English although outside of school Zambians will speak their own Bantu tribal language. There are 76 first tribal languages in Zambia, the most common in Lusaka being a new evolving "urban" Nyanja and more traditional Bember.

Joel has been playing for the Dynamic Stars for 3 years after he met the Coach Mukuka on the pitch one day and joined the academy with some of his friends. He feels the academy has helped him in his life in different ways, notably with the quality of the football coaching provided as well as the encouragement to return to school and life skills he has learnt. He feels that the academy is vital in protecting children and young adults from damaging pastimes, bad behaviour and habits such as drinking, playing cards and gambling. He highlights the academies need to obtain their own transport to get them to away matches across the city.

Ultimately, Joel would like to make it as a professional footballer. Football is his passion, especially the national Chipolopolo team and Manchester United. He names Gareth Bale and Tevez as his favourite players.