After completing Stage 1 of the Arsenal Gap Year Internship, coaching football in schools alongside other sessions in the North London community, I am privileged to be spending Stage 2 in Mozambique. Here, the goal is to provide support and awareness in a severely deprived area through the worldwide language of football. We will not only be coaching football but also teaching basic English and computer literacy skills. Follow my blog for regular updates about our time here.....

Monday, 17 January 2011

First Impressions

So it has been almost a week since we arrived in Manica, Mozambique ,and it has been an eye opener to say the least! As soon as we arrived at Beira airport, we had people scrambling to take our bags for us when the walk was a matter of metres, the poverty in the country so clear as we set off on our journey to Manica driven by the legend that is Short Chikwandingwa!

The first thing that struck us was the contrast between the poverty that was so clear for all to see, and the most unbelievable views provided by the mountains and trees in the background. Some of the things that we saw during the 5hr drive from the airport back to base were things that we had only seen on TV and did not think were possible in real life!

Real though they were, and upon arriving at GDM, not exactly incident free, it was great to see how excited everyone was to have us here!

Now that we are here and settled, we have more of an idea of what we will be doing during our stay, and some of the truly amazing people we will be working with.

Until today, it has been the holidays, so noone is at school, and the football season hasn't started yet. This means that for the first month or so that we are here it will be pre-season for FC Manica. Having just returned from one of the various tough sessions we have endured so far, I think it is fair to say that we should be in good shape by the time we return to the UK.

We will also be taking sessions for the under 11's, 14'sand 17's, possibly side-stepping a few first team training sessions to do so!

Aside from football there is so much more to be done. The club are currently undergoing one of the most ambitious and surely life-changing projects Mozambique has ever seen . 'Futeco Park', the new training and sports centre that mixes football with ecology has a lot of work to be done, starting with the first training pitch that has been laid and just needs some more grass!

This is just a brief outline outline of how we will be trying to help while we are here, look forward to more stories and introductions to the amazing characters that we have met so far....

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