Archive: Africa Goal 2006 Blog

24/08/06
by Ben Weigl

Eight countries, 70 days and over sixteen thousand kilometres (10,0000 miles) and we arrived back in Nairobi, where we had started. The trip was finished! WE MADE IT! Both cars still rolling, Vicky the old Subaru looking a lot worse for wear than when she left and we had all managed to arrive unscaved, apart from a few burns, a brake and a couple of scratches. Crossing the Kenyan boarder was for me and I’m sure it was for all of us a moment of sadness, knowing that we had reached the end of this amazing trip, but this moment was short lived as our exhilaration grew knowing we had done it!

A full loop of Southern Africa, traveling in car that no one but ourselves believed would make it, playing countless football games, setting and packing up sometimes late into the night, many long hours negotiating the roads, blessing the asphalt and cursing the potholes, almost always on the move…..Wow, what a trip! It all started with a group of people from all different corners of the globe that grew tight, each had their talents to give and were always by your side to share the different tastes, sights and smells, and the many amazing moments that couldn’t be captured on film or video, but will forever remain in our minds.

We definitely did what we set out to do, but this was never a certainty. We prepared ourselves as best as we could, but Africa has a way of surprising even the best planned like no other place I have ever been to, which is one reason why I love this place so much. The most worrying was the possibility of a car accident, with so much of our time spent on the road. Then there was the small chance of Africa living up to one of its less positive stereotypes and finally the condition of our two workhorses that dutifully carried us from country to country.  Luckily it was only the latter that ever caused us any real concern.

The last week was a true test for the vehicles and for us. That last damaging homeward stretch started when we left Pemba, with an already creaking car. Smooth asphalt roads became just a memory as we bumped along endless detour tracks and tried to swerve our way along the NE1, where bathtub size potholes littered the north-south “highway”. The going was slow but steady, but it turned out that most of the team had not recovered from their stomach crams and loose bowels so we turned off to Panganie for another couple of days to recuperate.  Perfect place for it, camping on the white sands of a protected beach, clear blue water, a low-tide that connected distant islands to the mainland, living off what the fisherman brought in and the local market had to offer.

Feeling fit again we plodded north towards the most eastern boarder. Never seen a boarder road like it, a 30km track fit for a tractor and that is all we saw for the first hour. A tight single lane track that weaved through dense bush and open woodland, through creeks and deep puddles and up steep escarpments were water had eaten out much of the track turning it to a balancing act. All went well, bumping along, holding our breath as we plunged into the deep muddy puddles until we were faced with a deep Lagoon. We had been warned, but there was no choice but to go straight through. So Vicky was strapped to the back of Dorris and it was not long before she was stuck deep in mud.  We managed to get out of that one with out to much trouble. Then a group of thirty male youths showed up from a near by village to watch. We asked the help of a few of them to get us through, then off we went straight back into the mud and water almost to the other side. Vicky spitting and gurgling as she sat deep in the water. Then with a massive group effort we managed to push both cars out.

We said our thanks and gave a tip to those that we asked for help and as we tried to leave we were refused our tip and blocked by a now far more assertive group. Deep in the north of the country, with no one around but for the crickets and bull frogs that sung all around, we argued over payment as night fell upon us. After over an hour, we paid our sum, knowing we had been scammed, Vicky came back to life after her drowning and off we went again. Relieved to have left the lagoon behind and slightly bitter that this incident was to be our last memory of Mozambique we arrived at the boarder post. We quickly discovered that the lagoon incident wasn’t going to be the last of this crossing.

It was late, but adamant to get the last ferry across to Tanzania that night. We were met by a couple of drunk boarder police that demanded our passports. We held tight as we kept our eyes open for a boarder official or customs officer. We maneuvered our way around a couple more scams, but had to resign to spending the night in front of the mud hut used as the immigration office. This place really was on the fringes of the country and the law and didn’t seem to receive much traffic. As we emptied the small lake in Vicky that had formed when she was swimming in the Lagoon, a stumbling police officer, cocked his AK47 with a fresh round and mumbled something about guarding us tonight while parading himself around our makeshift campsite. We decided not to tell him to do otherwise and made our way to the tents. Next morning we packed up, expecting the worst, but we were pleasantly surprised to see a few officials that did their job and laughed at the hung-over police (perhaps still drunk) who threatened us by saying that they would search everything! We just didn’t have the time for this and luckily they didn’t have the balance.

So after a bit more 4WDing, we arrived at the bank of the Ruvumu river, where there were a few people selling tea, coffee and Chapatis (thick pancakes), a wide flowing expanse of water where a thick forest covered the opposite bank, a few little motorboats below a steep 4 metre sand bank, but no sign of a ferry ……WAS THIS WHOLE THING A JOKE? No, this was the right place, so it began again. Two of us jumped onto a boat to the other side further down steam, borrowed a push bike and got the ferry driver out of bed after much persuasion, while the rest twiddled their thumbs hoping to leave the country on the that day. The ancient German ferry arrived with its ramp which it dug into the sand. Getting on was doable, but steep, getting off needed a run up, a loud thump and Vicky’s front lifting a metre clear off the ground as she then crawled her way off the sand wall onto TANZANIA! We had made it, but what a mission!

The Tanzanian boarder crossing was relatively painless and we soon made our way along the 650km stretch to Dar es Salaam. This turned out to be the worst long stretch of road we had seen on the whole trip. Late the following day we limped into Dar es Salaam with Vicky’s back bumper half hanging off, one front wheel bent in at 20 degrees, a collapsed roof rack and an entire symphony of sounds accompanying us. Now too close to what everyone now called ‘home’ we turned a blind eye to Vicky’s condition hitting the road again and to many peoples surprise we made it!

After $2000 dollars worth of repairs, a final side trip to Mbita, a small town by Lake Victoria, and the first of our group heading back home, the trip is truly finished. We will all head our separate ways in the coming days and weeks and have this unforgettable experience lingering in our minds. How this trip has changed each of us and what we have learnt will surely show over time, but what will remain unique about this trip was its goal. The reason eleven people flew from all over the world, to pack themselves into two cars and race around in one giant loop through southern Africa makes it all the more special. We share our memories with people from every country where we set up our equipment; screen, projector, computer and satellite, and it was for these people that this group of eleven managed to come together and go on this two and a half month journey.

How much change and influence we brought we will probably never know and only time can tell. What we can be sure of is that thousands of people loved watching the worlds best football teams compete in their own backyard. To see how much football meant to these people and how knowledgeable they were was amazing. Being part of such an ecstatic crowd, everyone so positive, created a very intimate atmosphere. Seeing the little boys and girls sitting up front, heads held high at the screen, the older boys, men, and women sitting and standing behind intently watching the screen made it all worthwhile. Knowing that everyone was enjoying it as much as you were and getting to know those you had just met often made it hard to move on, but we had to, we had a goal.


12/08/06
By Ben Weigl

Here in northern Mozambique, we have reached the point where we all feel that we are on the homeward stretch, Nairobi now a mere couple of thousand kilometers away - easily achieved with several long days behind the wheel, although travel has at times been very slow due to road conditions, which have taken their toll on both vehicles. Vicky has added that extra challenge to this trip, especially as the kilometers have ticked over on the less than perfect roads. Loaded up with five passengers, their belongings and a few extra bits and pieces thrown on the roof rack as room simply ran out.

The overloaded workhorse has taken a beating with at least 13 punctures, a few tires, two rims, a fan belt, all eight CV joints, new rear shocks, which lasted two thousand kilometers before one shock absorber popped, and our last mishap was a brake caliper falling off the disc as the bumps rattled loose the bolts. Bush mechanics have been an essential part of this trip and not just for Vicky.

Now with the end in sight we all cross our fingers and keep powering north, ignoring the squeaks, bangs, rattles and that hissing sound that comes and goes. Although it might sound as if we are traveling with a musical instrument at times, Vicky the 20 year old Subaru with her dazzling paintjob, packed in true African style, were no space is wasted, has brought smiles to countless faces and collected hundreds of notes and signatures from all those that have taken a pen to her. Many of those notes are from police officers at check points, mechanics that have had to patch her up again and of course those that have taken part in watching the football games and Aids awareness videos that have been shown along our loop.

Tonight was the payoff of having half our team in bed with stomach cramps, a first on this trip. Having now spent two and a half days here in Pemba we managed to organize showing the World Cup highlights at the SOS Hermann Gemeiner School, which acts as a childrens village for orphans. Over one hundred excited children and one stepmother watched on from the playground. As their faces were glued to the screen, I wondered how these kids came to be here: civil war perhaps, accidental death, runaway parents, and likely the fatal diseases that Africa struggles with more than any other continent, Aids possibly the highest amongst them. But Mozambique seems to be very aware of this epidemic, with drawn posters on many street corners, condom advertisements in almost every bar and on many billboards and the Aids ribbon painted on walls and on every tree along main avenues in many towns and cities to the point you would begin to believe that it is the country's symbol.

It is great to see countries where governments, NGOs, charities, and the country's people are working together to address Aids issues. Botswana is an example of a country on its way to a success story, its promise to provide free nationwide retrovirals is proudly displayed on billboards, condom dispensers can be found in all public restrooms, Aids awareness and counseling posters can be seen everywhere from bus stops to shop windows. Even at our first police check point after having crossed the boarder from Namibia the driver of the vehicle was taken aside, told the road rules of the country, told to watch out for donkeys and cattle at night and handed a pack of condoms, welcome to Botswana! Even in the most rural settings where we showed the World Cup games, the enthusiasm and acceptance of the Aids Awareness videos has been encouraging. I believe the big screen played a part, but it seemed that people, especially the youth, were familiar with these issues and videos. I am sure this would not have been the case 10 years ago. It seems that the difficulties associated with educating people about HIV and Aids is beginning to bear fruit and will most likely be seen in the coming generation. It is great to have the opportunity to have an input, however small.



12/08/06
By Anna Sudra

In Francistown (Botswana) Chris and I separated from the team ready to explore Zimbabwe, visit Chris's mum, exchange and play football, and take on the challenge of navigating through a country on public transport for a change. Being in Zim was quite exciting and depressing at the same time. We  were quite unsure what to expect as we knew the situation was not the best, but were also aware of the fact that the media is full of exaggeration. Furthermore, as things in Zimbabwe are changing everyday, our guidebook proved to be basically useless. Hotels, supermarkets, petrol stations and restaurants that once thrived now stand empty or do not exist at all anymore. Though it saddened us to see the country crumbling, we definitely enjoyed having national parks all to ourselves and incredibly rarely crossing paths with any other tourists. The locals seemed excited, yet surprised at the sight of some tourists and took incredible pride when we told them how beautiful their country is (and we meant it). Although one could really feel that Zimbabweans are going through a really tough time, we were continuously impressed by their strength to push through and remain incredibly optimistic and friendly.

Entering Zim we spent two nights in Bulowayo. We explored Zim's second largest city by strolling through different markets, eating in the still existing restaurants, driving to the Chabalala wildlife sanctuary and strange (but beautiful) Matopos NP. Although the wildlife sanctuary was not over-flooding with wildlife, the fact that is was safe to walk around in it made up for it. We spotted a group of seven giraffes and just followed and walked with them for a while. When we got too close they would shy away, but then turn around curiously. Matopos NP is known for its unusual rock formations surrounding the Matopos damn, which is where Bulowayo gets its water from. It was crazy to see huge boulders carefully balancing one on top of the other as if a giant had carefully placed them there and that they might topple over any minute. The locals also believe them to be extraordinary and consider it bad luck to even point at them.

Our five days in Harare were well spent recuperating, doing laundry, washing, relaxing by a pool, reading good books, and spending quality time with Beatriz (Chris's mum). On top of that we went for a walk in Harare's varied botanical garden and visited nearby lake Chivero bird sanctuary. The sanctuary receives abandoned pets and injured birds which they nurse back to health and whenever possible release back to the wild. The ones that are permanently mutilated or too dependent on humans are then kept to go hunting and fly in the tourist demonstrations. Besides all the colorful and speedy birds, a darling pet duiker was definitely a highlight.

From Harare we headed East to Mutare, near the Mozambican border. After Bulowayo and Harare it felt really nice to be in a smaller more chilled out place. We were away from the money changers, could easily figure out public transport or walk. We visited an amazing colorful and bustling market with piles and piles of tangerines (must have been the season), and slept in the tiniest caravan. Seeing as we still had some days till we were to meet the team we decided to head further along the border, to somewhere even smaller and more remote- Chimanimani.

Chimanimani is a little village surrounded by green lush hills on three sides and the beautiful Chimanimani mountains on the fourth. We had planned to spend some days in Chimanimani mountains, hiking through the mountain range and sleeping in one of the many caves offered  s free-wind-sheltered campsites. Due to the lack of tourists it has become very difficult to arrange transport to the national park and the renting of camping equipment (we had left ours in dear Vicky to avoid carrying too much bulk). As often, the slight complications worked out for the best, and we ended up having a beautiful afternoon hike to the Bridal Veil Falls located in the nearby Eland Sanctuary (ironically not inhabited by any Eland). The following morning we organized a three-hour horse-ride up Green Mountain. The ride took us up lush hills, with views of the gorgeous countryside and village down below. Once at the top we devoured some oranges and admired the 360 view of the hills and onto Chimanimani mountain range which lies partially in Zim but mainly in Mozambique.

Although we adored Zim, and so often thought if only the rest of the team were here they would love it, but we still believe it was a wise decision of them to cross through SA instead. Entering with that much equipment (when the country is wary of the media), the lack of fuel, and changing money would have been among the many difficulties. We are happy to be now reunited in Mozambique and be able to share stories of what we have done and the places we have seen and all must some day return to.


07/08/06
By Tiana leakey


We are now in Beira, Mozambique's second largest city set on the Indian Ocean. We arrived yesterday evening eager to be reunited with Anna and Chris, who we had not seen since they left Fransistown on the 18th of July. They have been traveling through Zimbabwe and by the sounds of it they had an amazing time. In fact, I think the rest of us are a little jealous, although we are not saying it, a week in Gaborone doesn't quite compare.

It has been a week since we left Gaborone, and we are all very happy to be back on the road. On the morning of the 26th, Mouse, Dom, Aimi, and Bjorn left Gabarone early in Dorris, heading to Johanesburg to drop Bjorn off at the airport. While Maciej, Ben, Hannah, and I stayed behind to wait for Vicki to have some final touches done to her before she was back on the road again. We had planned for the other car to call us when they reached Jo'urg, and otherwise we would meet them in Maputo as soon as we could. But none of us had realized how close Gaborone is to the border of South Africa. So, by the time they got to Jo'urg we were already in South Africa and did not have any reception on our Botswana phone.  By two thirty we had entered South Africa and had not heard anything from the others, so we decided to try and make it, at least to the Mozambique border that night. By the time we got to the border it had closed, and so had all the places to stay! So we parked the car outside a hotel and settled down for the night, coming to terms with having to sleep in Vicki. The next morning at five thirty we drove up the road to join the queue of cars into the border. Feeling very sleepy, we tackled our way through crowds of people and over the border. By nine we were in Maputo, heading straight to the backpackers where we arranged to meet up with the rest of the gang. But there was no sign of them! A little worried, but trying to keep positive, we finally got hold of them on Mouse's Uk number, only to find they were still in South Africa, about 200km from the border. Happy to know they were safe we had a well-earned breakfast in a cafe in the centre of Maputo.

Having spent such a long time in Gabarone we were keen to get out of the city and keep driving north to Xai Xai, a quiet beach about four hours drive north of Maputo.  We arrived there that afternoon, excited to be by a beautiful beach and able to relax after an incredibly long journey. A couple of hours later we found a house to rent which was a cheaper option then the near by campsite. Feeling content with our find, we rushed to the beach to dig our toes into the sand and test out the water. As night fell, we decided to leave a note for the others at a hostel where we were going to meet the others and head back to the house, to set up home before their arrival. Giving the beers just enough time to cool in the freezer, Dorris rolled in with three more weary travelers. The next day we spent the morning relaxing on the beach. In the late afternoon as the sun began to set, we played football with some boys we met as we arrived in Xai Xai. After the game we set up the projector and showed a previous World Cup match back at the house.

Three nights later we were in Vilanculo, about 400km north of Xai Xai. While we were there we arranged to take a boat to 2-mile reef to snorkel, and have lunch on an island. The journey there was cold, with sodden clothes and high winds, but by the time we reached our destination all was forgotten as we lived a day in paradise.

The next morning we left early for our drive to Beira. We have one more night here before setting off again to Isha de Mozambique.


04/08/06
By Ben Weigl


After a week spent in Gabarone, waiting on Vicky to have her CV joints reconditioned and new rear shocks made up it was great to finally be on the road again. Vicky now looks like a rally car and no longer bottoms out over the smallest of bumps. We have been warned about gearbox problems, but we have all pushed that to the back of our minds for now. We crossed South Africa in a whirlwind twenty-nine hours, sleeping in the car next to the Mozambique border crossing.

It was great to see roadside stalls again and kids playing football with their improvised balls and goals, something that has been a rarity since leaving Zambia. Within a few hours of being in Mozambique we had played a roadside game with a group of kids, for whom football was their life. These guys were good, making us look like amateurs.

We did not spend much time in Maputo, the capital, instead making our way straight to Xia Xia, a coastal town 200 kilometers further north.

The next day was spent on the beach, where we organized a match to be played in the evening with the kids that move along the coast selling tourist wares. They all knocked off early and set up a pitch in front of Dolphin, a derelict concrete hotel. Flip-flops became the goal posts, and the boundaries were set with the deep soft sand on one side and the waterline on the other, which would move back and forth as the sets of waves washed onto the shore. It was a brilliant game, even a few of the girls managed to put down their cameras and join in. After the game half of the players came back to the house we were renting to see the AIDS videos followed by the World Cup highlights projected onto the garage wall. They stayed as long as they could but at 18:45 all dashed off to catch the last mini-bus back into town.

Having now finally arrived in Mozambique with its high population density we have realized that, as beautiful as Namibia and Botswana have been, it was at times difficult to find even a town, let alone an appropriate place to show a game. Hundreds of kilometers were crossed in both countries without seeing a soul except the occasional car heading in the opposite direction. Here we once again have the chance to be spontaneous in where we show the highlights, and if there is no Aids counselor in one town there is sure to be one in a town close by. The amount of roadside games is a definite highlight for myself and a brilliant way to break up a long trip from A to B.


09/07/06
By Tiana Leakey

World Cup Final:
As the world cup was drawing to an end, the question of where to show the final was very much the main topic of discussion amongst the team. We had been traveling every day, some days not seeing anyone. Namibia is such a vast country with a population of only 1.8 million people. Finding a crowd to show the final to was a difficult task. But once again it all fell into place and was more fantastic then any of us could have expected.

We had planned to be just outside of Swakopmund that night, hoping to find a village on the way. But, after Vicki got a puncture that afternoon, we stopped at the only place we had seen for many kilometers. It was a small place, with a shop, that supplied only the basics and had a tire repairs sign outside. So we settled in, waiting in the heat, eating canned sardines. While Ben fiddle around putting patches on inner tubes, only to have them burst again each time they were pumped up. A couple of hours later and still no spare tire we continued down the road to Twyfelfontein.

The sun was now hanging low in the sky, and time was running out, we had to find somewhere to show the, all important, final match. When we arrived in Twyfelfontein, we headed straight to drop off the tire at the hotel workshop before it closed. There, we spoke to some people about where we could show the football. We were told that the hotel staff had been following the World Cup very closely, but had only been able to watch it on a very small screen. After telling them that we wanted to show the match somewhere on a big screen, we received such excitement, that we all agreed that the small, cement room in the staff quarters, was to be our venue.

As we started to set up, people started to gather, and the room began to fill up. There were men, women, children and even guests from the lodge, who hadn't been able to find anywhere else to see the match. The atmosphere was so alive with the crowd cheering and shouting. The majority of people were Italy supporters and only a few supporting France. At first I was undecided as to which team I would support but not long into the match I couldn't help but join in and cheer on Italy. As the penalty shoot out began the energy in the room escalated with everyone eagerly wondering what the out come would be. Bjorn, Chris, Ben and Maciej began to drum on our tin trunk, a group of people behind us started to sing, and the rest of us moved to the beat, all with big smiles stretching across our faces. As Italy scored their last goal, winning the World Cup, everyone jumped to their feet, throwing their arms in the air, and then turning to the nearest person offering them a handshake and a hug.


24/07/06
By Bjorn Everts


A note from No Mans Land:
We left Francistown with a firm intention of get to the South African boarder before its 11pm closing time. A mere ten minutes out of town Maciej spotted a small group of children playing football in a dry river bed just off the main road. Since Namibia we were somewhat deprived of spontaneous football matches, without hesitation we ran down to the river bed and organized two teams. The match was wonderful and full of excitement as Ben's obliterated Maciej's team.

After our fix of football we got back into the car sweaty and exhausted and made our way to the South African border. Two members of the Africa Goal team (no names mentioned) forgot to check when their South African visas ran out. We arrived at the Botswana boarder at 10pm after a long night drive - rather an exiting affair considering the herds of roaming donkey and cattle that took a liking to hanging out on the middle of the road. Completely obliviouse to the fact that the visas had run out we trotted off to what we thought would be a rather seamless border crossing. Sure enough we were rejected at the South African border. So back we went only to find that the Botswana border had closed for the night. There was a short period of extreme novelty followed by the realization that we actually had to spend the night in No Man's Land. We promptly decided to make the best out of this situation and declared it our very own princecipality, Africa goal obviously being a matriarchy. We named our new nation Doria, a harmonious compromise between the two teams, Doris and Victoria.

After a rather uneventful night in our new nation we said goodbye to Dorria and crossed the border back into Botswana. 130km towards Gabarone a loud crack followed by the smell of burning rubber confirmed the worst, Victoria was crippled. Her right shock absorber had broken off its mount. The mechanical equivalent of loosing a kneecap, we were going nowhere. After an hour Ben and Bjorn's Auzzie bush mechanics got us 200 meters up the road. This too was followed by a horrendous amount of noise and burnt rubber. What happened after this was a true testament to the kindness of strangers and the generosity of the Botswana people. From people pulling over and arranging tow trucks to a mechanic housing and feeding us all, the people here have taken us all aback. As has been the case throughout this trip, the people have been what makes this special.


14/07/06
By Hannah Jones

Saluta al Italia! Though there may be some disagreement and lingering rivalry between the French and Italian supporters among us, we can all agree that the atmosphere of the final in Twyfelfontein, Namibia surely rivaled that of the one in Berlin. And although we were all on a high after screaming our lungs out, jumping up and down and dancing around, we shared a little niggling feeling of sadness in knowing that the World Cup is over and that, although our trip continues, we will no longer have the excitement, exhaustion, and exhilaration of setting up for a match each day. We hope that a DVD capturing the magic of the 2006 World Cup will soon be available so that we still have an excuse to share football with all sorts of people in all sorts of places.

In Namibia, we have found that even the tiniest towns have at least one satellite dish so that everybody can watch football on Botswana TV, but people have been very appreciative of us upgrading them to a big screen by hooking up our projector to their decoder. Whether in a little local bar in Divundu or outside a small private home in Warmquelle (both towns with under 1000 inhabitants), people have been welcoming and excited to watch the final stages of the World Cup on a big screen. We did set our satellite up on the football pitch in Tsintsabis, but lost reception halfway through the Italy-Germany match (an unkowingly cruel interception by Dstv in Kenya, who did not realize that we had paid for two month subscription and coincidentally hit us where it really hurt by cutting us off in the 43rd minute).

We experienced the France-Italy final at the staff quarters of a fancy lodge that is nestled among mountains of beautiful red rocks in a desert landscape. The workers from the lodge as well as football fans from several tiny villages in the area had been making the pilgrimage here to watch the World Cup games and were very excited to be able to watch the final on a big screen. The atmosphere was electric with many Italy fans, a few excitable French fans, mothers and babies, old and young men, and even a few genuine Italian tourists thrown into the mix for good measure. The noise and excitement built up gradually during the match and culminated during the penalties at the end, when almost everyone was on their feet, arms waving about, screaming and whistling, jumping and dancing, and a tin trunk was being drummed to add to the frenzied atmosphere. And when Italy scored their final penalty the room really went wild as everybody hugged and shook hands and broke out dancing, and of course remembered to pat the despondent French fans on the back. A bottle of wine went around, starting with the Italian family, who were looking very proud and happy, then onto the people sitting on benches, outside to the people peering in through the windows, back inside to those sitting on the floor and those standing against the walls. Nobody wanted the atmosphere to die because we all knew that it was a golden moment.

When we visited the mechanics at the lodge the next day to repair a punctured tire, they told us how much they had enjoyed it and that they hoped we would be back for the next World Cup.

Apart from the football, there has been plenty of other excitement, our first case of malaria, many days of camping without showering, two birthdays to celebrate, and reaching the Western coast of Africa. Namibia has brought with it some unbelievable landscapes, an incredible amount of wildlife, the opportunity to pull off the side of the road and camp, and the latest addition to our team, who flew in from Australia and met up with us at a petrol station in Katima Mulilo, just after we crossed the border from Zambia. Bjorn has settled right into the rhythm of things, making enormous campfires, skinning road-kill, and helping us all to analyze things from a psychological perspective.


12/07/06
By Maciej Sudra


A detailed update is on the way. We are currently in Swakopsmund, Namibia. We showed the World Cup Final game at the staff quarters of a 5 star lodge in the north of the country (near Opuo). An amazing game won by Italy! An Italian family staying at the lodge ended up watching the game with us, lost of shouting, laughing and finger-crossing. More later.....we are now off to check out the dunes near Sesriem.


29/06/06
By Hannah Jones


We have crossed another border and are now in Zambia, where we have spent an eventful couple of days in South Luangwa National Park and been overwhelmed by the modernity of the capital city, Lusaka. Although we feel Melissa's  absence, Ben is proving to be a useful addition to the team, changing fan belts, digging Doris out of the mud, and generally providing manpower where it is needed, as well as entertaining us with travel adventure stories to help pass long car journeys.

The road to Luangwa Valley was too rough for poor Victoria, so we left her in Chipata and all squeezed into Doris, along with most of our camping gear and the satellite equipment. We arrived just after nightfall and set up camp next to the river, where we could see and hear the presence of hippos, crocodiles and various other animals, including the two elephants that wandered through camp later that night. Our day in the game park started very early and rather disastrously as we first got stuck in the mud and then had an accident with the volcano kettle while trying to make tea. But with our level-headed team and well-stocked first aid kit, we were able to take care of Anna's burns until we got her to the local clinic, where they cleaned and dressed the wounds. Luck turned our way and we drove around all afternoon marveling at the natural beauty of the park, enjoying the sunset, and then being escorted part of the way home by two proud lionesses, who did not seem at all bothered to be holding up traffic or eating into our setup time for the evening's match, which we eventually showed on the soccer field at Mfuwe Village, to a small, but very appreciative audience.

After Lusaka, fate led us to Lake Kariba, which was slightly out of our way, but where we ended up anyway after missing the turn-off to Livingstone (and wandering why there were so many guys on the side of the road waving Zim. dollars at us). Before setting up the satellite at the local school for the all-important Brazil vs. Ghana match, we had time to play some barefoot football in the village, where we suffered from the thorns that did not bother the local kids in the least. The Aids video fit in well with the program that the school runs, and we were able to donate one of our videos to them, along with a football signed by all of us.

We have been covering long distances to make up for lost time and have been drifting gradually away from our schedule, but we can feel that we are getting further south as it gets colder. Stops for nsima and chicken and barefoot football games in small villages have made car rides longer than expected, but also more enjoyable. We are now heading to Victoria Falls and then onwards and downwards to Namibia.


22/06/06 
By Ben Weigl

Writing a quick entry from Kiboko Camp, getting a few things done before our early morning departure for Zambia tomorrow. Been with the team for a few days now, good to see friends from years back, but already it seems like I left them only weeks ago. The rest of the team are also great, couldn't ask for a better bunch of people for this trip.


21/06/06
by Maciej Sudra

Just waiting for the photographs to upload, so I might as well write something. In an internet Cafe in Lilongwe, about to leave to the Zambia border, and then onwards to South Luanga Nat park. It was Ben's B-day yesterday, good night out at Chaz-Njemba! Tonight's the Ghana - US game, should a be a good one. After the Czech Republic game, everybody here seems to think Ghana is Africa's team this year.


19/06/06 
By Hannah Jones

We have left Tanzania behind and with it a starry night camping in Baobab Valley (complete with a big screen football match under a huge baobab tree and shooting stars), a hike up Ngozi Volcano (as well as a refreshing swim in the crater lake at the bottom), and three of Victoria's tires (good for nothing more than making cheap shoes). After getting behind schedule in Arusha, we drove a whole day to get to Morogoro, where we managed to take out money, use internet, have much-needed showers, and buy more footballs to trade for home-made ones along the way (so that Maciej wouldn't have to keep stripping himself in order to trade his clothes for those precious balls!) In the town of Mbeya all nine of us shared one hotel room and enjoyed a night out in a local bar.

A few times we have managed to stop by the side of the road and play a quick game of football with local kids before we ask them if they would like to exchange their home-made, plastic-bag and string footballs for our new, store-bought ones....to which they always gladly agree. We are now taking a well-deserved break on the shores of Lake Malawi, where we have connected with the latest addition to our team, Ben Weigl. But it hasn't all been fun and games - we have spent many hours trying to get the dish set up on a football pitch in Nkhata Bay and then many more hours trying to push and pull Doris the Land Rover up a hill after her battery died, almost killing Victoria in the process. Next, we will head to Lilongwe, where we will bid goodbye to Melissa, and then onwards to Zambia.


06/06/06 
By Maciej Sudra

Two days and many new ideas thinking about our exhibition following the trip we are taking lots of photographs, video footage and coming up with ideas for related art/installation projects. We also bought six footballs with the idea of trading them for the home-made footballs so common in Africa, which we are thinking of using in an installation once the trip ends. We disliked the idea of buying the balls from the kids, and figured trading new footballs for their crafted ones would be nice solution. Second day and already we have traded one of our China made leather balls for a carefully crafted piece assembled with old cloth, plastic bags and washing line. The surprise and smile on the boys' faces as we handed them a genuine football for their tattered one was amazing. They gave us their creation, took our ball and immediately continued with their game to much laughter and applause from the onlooking crowd. Following this first trade we have decided to make football trading part of our project.


12/06/06 
By Hannah Jones


It is day 4 and there has already been enough excitement, frustration, trials, and tribulations to last the whole three months of the trip. The first day was very nearly a royal failure, but thanks to the help of some very kind parents it ended up being a resounding success. The second day we crossed our first border and entered Tanzania, where we had to set up camp in the dark, so didn't manage to show a match (but did manage to watch one on a tiny screen in a small room packed with people). The third day there was a full moon and we showed two football matches to an entire village of men, women and children, and the fourth started out with some worrying car problems, but ended up well in the same place that we were for the third night. We have already learned many lessons along the way, like not to forget essential pieces of the satellite dish in Nairobi and not to let useless mechanics drive your car.

We are becoming better and better at setting up and taking down the satellite, screen, projector, and other equipment necessary to show the match and the AIDS awareness film. Setting it all up in the middle of nowhere is a simple concept, but a complex operation, but we are starting to feel like experts at screwing together the parts of the dish, connecting the projector, decoder, and the generator, finding signal, putting up the screen, and then taking it all down again and packing it into and onto the Land Rover. The first few times the image flickered onto the screen, we breathed a huge sigh of relief and half expected a loud cheer to go up from the crowd that inevitably forms around a bunch of crazy wazungu (foreigners in Swahili) setting up a big satellite in a little village. But once the match starts everybody is too busy enjoying the football to notice and it starts to seem completely normal that the satellite signal can reach us anywhere, so it's simply a matter of pointing the dish in the right direction, and letting the equipment do what it's supposed to do (assuming that we haven't forgotten a piece of the satellite, or an adaptor, or fuel for the generator!)

Early mornings hitting the road plus late nights watching football and taking down the equipment are wearing us down, but we sleep well, whether it's on somebody's floor or in a tent. And it hasn't all been hard work - we have had the chance to sit around a campfire, go swimming in Usa River, and relax and watch football and even play a little on the side of the road. We have taken hundreds of photos - of kids playing football, people watching football, Victoria looking like a football, and much more (please see our latest gallery). We have driven hundreds of miles, passing plains and mountains (including Kilimanjaro), and many bustling towns and villages. We have seen gazelle and cows, donkeys (mistaken for zebras), ducks (mistaken for crocodiles), sheep, monkeys, birds, fish, and giant snails. Despite minor stomach upsets, small car problems, and moments of disagreement, we are looking forward to more of the same as well as new adventures and excitement.

We would like to thank the Philip and Katy Leakey as well as Tomasz and Ines Sudra for their help in making the first day of the trip a success and Geoff Burrell for not just one, but two nights of hospitality.


06/06/06 
By Hannah Jones

T minus two days, and counting. The past week has been a whirlwind of activity as the team has converged upon Nairobi, Kenya to make preparations, buy supplies, test equipment, finalize documents, and do the 4382 other things that seem to be necessary before the trip really begins. Emotions have run high and low as we have spent nearly every waking minute working to ensure that we kick off as planned on Friday, the 9th of June. We have been all over town getting documents signed, paying bills, waiting in lines, as well as buying and selling satellite dishes as if we were hoping to set up shop in the DStv parking lot.

One moment we learn about yet another official document that we have to obtain and pay for and we all get discouraged to the point that we start to wonder what on earth we were thinking. Another moment we see the TV images flicker onto our snazzy portable screen, generated from our 6-foot satellite dish, beamed from our precious projector, powered by our Tiger generator, and we all cheer as if our team had won the World Cup. We have had a crash course in satellite dish installation and now know something about LNB frequencies, the relative advantages of C-band and Ku-band, the importance of signal quality and how it's not always easy to find 63 degrees east. But with all the technical equipment we have, we are fairly certain that we will soon be communicating with aliens (though we hope that the border police will believe us when we tell them otherwise).

There are still two days to go and there is still so much to do. Our number one priority is obtaining the expensive carnet de passage that has been the bane of our existence for the past few days. 34,000 shillings and three days worth of visits to the AA and the bank, costing another 6,000 shillings and all for a lousy slip of paper ensuring that we are not planning to sell our nearly worthless (though dear to our hearts) Subaru, fondly named Victoria, or Vicky for short (please see pictures of her, cunningly disguised as a football). There are also vaccinations and visas, packing, testing, picking up and dropping off, as well as contacting media, sponsors, friends, and organizations, which will surely be of help along the way.

Meanwhile, Maciej is looking forward to watching football every single day for a month; Anna can't wait to sleep in our cool new tent and spend long evenings chatting around a campfire; Chris is hoping that the team won't mind if he designates himself as the official driver; and Hannah is busy getting her fingers slammed into car doors! Finally, our thoughts are with Victoria, who is undergoing important surgery after the success of her recent face-lift.