Written by CorpsAfrica/Malawi Volunteer Ms. Deborah Kamanga

Samuel Johnson once said, “Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.”

For the past two weeks, I have been working on a certain project in my community (details of which I shall share with you in another post), but basically, this particular project does not require very much of my involvement.  I have therefore found myself being in an idle state one too many times for this entire period. The realization that time was passing by and I needed to occupy myself with something more productive hit me. Just like Gustav Mahler wrote, “Fortunately, something always remains to be harvested, so let us not be idle.” I told myself that I was going to find any activity, however exceptionally small it may be, to fill up my hours of idleness.

I started a netball and football (soccer) team with some of the youth in my community.  The football team trains almost everyday since most of the guys in the team are school dropouts. When they approached me with the whole idea of starting a football team with them I was so excited because I knew that my days of boredom were going to be reduced. Thus far, the team has a total number of 20 players and they have played 3 matches with 1 win and 2 loses. With intensified training, the performance of the team is picking up.

The netball team is also an exciting endeavor with more than 20 players (and many new ones showing up each training session). Some of the girls in the team are from the girls’ club while others are non-members. The training days are Wednesdays and Saturdays only, due to the fact that most of the girls knock off late during school days. I help in coaching the team and thus far we have played one game, which I was part of, and we won.

In a nutshell, this is how I have been spending my free time here in Mbewa village. Below are some of the pictures I took from both teams.