Zimbabwe

We're officially in Zimbabwe! We crossed the boarder a couple of days ago from Zambia to Zimbabwe, over the Kariba Dam. It was a huge dam and had 6 sluice gates open gushing water! Sadly photos were not an option as every where in Africa dams, bridges etc seem to be very guarded and not fans of photography!


When in Harare, yesterday, we managed to screen a game in the outskirts of the city, we were very wary of filming as its still very possible to get arrested for having a camera. But we got some great footage and there was stacks on aids info given out. Sadly Ghana, the last african team in the World Cup, didnt make it through and were robbed if you ask me!

Today we head to Mozambique, we have a very long drive ahead of us but now there are not games every day it means we may get some down time and get to go snorkeling!

Only 3 countries and 11 days to go!

The things I could tell you...

Phew! So I haven't blogged since we were in Nkhata Bay at a very lovely backpackers on the edge of Lake Malawi. After my blog I unfortunately managed to pick up a tummy bug which was particularly unpleasant and lead to me being laid up in bed shivering like crazy and riddled with stomach cramps! Not my fave moment on this trip! However after letting the fever do its work I think it nuked whatever was in my gut and I am now pretty much better, few aches but nothing more.

Whilst in Nkhata bay one of the AG team cars was involved in a car accident and was rolled, everyone was fine however it was a mission getting the car out the ditch and getting it repaired so the team split up and the Landrover went ahead to screen the next match and not let down a partner. As a result the film crew also split and I left jean with the damaged car and myself and jonny headed with the Landy to the next spot which turned out to be one of the most remote screenings yet. It was a great night game although we had to stay in a somewhat questionable rest house that night!

The team then regrouped the next day and the landy promptly had a breakdown! So the film crew came to the rescue and went to the nearest town and hunted down the spare part. However in our haste to get back to the team we managed to get done by Malawi's only speed camera and were fined 5,000 which is about £30! Ouch!

We then entered Zambia and did a screening in a bus station in Chipata and the following day was Jeandre's birthday (my cameraman) We celebrated with a breakfast table almost on the road, with cupcakes, condom balloons and a good breakfast of omlettes, pies and samosas! That afternoon we did a screening at a new school which was built by the chinese so they could plunder Zambia for their copper. We then stayed locally in a derelict hotel with no water or electricity. However they lit a fire outside for us, provided warm beer and cooked up goat, cabbage and nsima (maize mush)

During all this one of the AG team, Dom, was feeling worse and worse and had a fever. When we reached Lusaka, capital of Zambia, we took him to a clinic and he tested positive for malaria, he is now being treated but is still feeling pretty crap and not looking forward to being back on the road again later today. However he has a pharmacy of drugs to go with so we hope he will be back on his feet in a few days. His car that was involved in the accident is almost fully repaired and as i write this is having its side windows replaced. She has lost some of her former glory as she is now covered in primer and filler but she is running fine and will easily get the team to South Africa.

Tomorrow we head into Zimbabwe which may be an interesting boarder crossing, it was only a year or two ago that you could get arrested just for having a video camera in your possession! We hope it shouldn't be an issue now but will have to lay fairly low on the journey through. The team have 2 rest days while there and have been offered a house boat so we will be cruising down a river and able to see elephants bathing! Cannot wait!

We're 2 weeks in so half wayr through the trip now - we just have Zimbabwe, Mozambique, swaziland and south africa to go! Can't believe it's going so fast yet it feels a long time ago that i slept in a big clean bed or used a spotless bathroom where there was loo roll and not just a bucket of water or hole in the ground!

We take so much for granted at home!

Hello again,

Since the last blog it has been a series of fairly long drives and a few good screenings. We are now in Malawi and it is so stunningly beautiful and lush here I cannot get over it. But before I gush on about that I'll try and recap the last few days since I blogged which was when we were in Arusha, Tanzania.

These first photos are of the Flamingo 4000 a creation my cameraman Jeandre came up with in Kenya. It may not look much but its the height of technical genius and is a housing for his Nikon D90 camera which we have been using to get driving shots when it is strapped on to the side of one of the Africa Goal cars.





Here are a few snaps from one of the matches screened in Tanzania just outside of a town called Morogoro. It was a big turn out and a beautiful spot but just off one of the main trucking routes so HIV is a big issue there. The AG crew teamed up with a local NGO there and gave out vuvuzelas and t-shirts etc. There was even a live band there which resulted in lots of dancing and excitement from the community.




Where's wally!



After Morogoro we had a long drive up into the mountains past lots of huge Baobab trees and baboons! I don't have any photos sadly as I was driving the whole time! We arrived in a small town whose name totally alludes me at the moment! The match was screened in a huge walled off pitch from where you could still see mountains surrounding it. There were some very cute kids there. The one below followed me everywhere for the day and constantly wanted to be photographed.









Once the car was sorted we found a hotel...



On our way to the next destination one of the AG team cars water pipe decided to break so we had a very long and dull afternoon in a small town in the middle of nowhere. We had to wait for a man in a town 200km away located the replacement part and got a bus to us so it could be fitted. However we managed got to check out some local street food which was bits of beef cooked for way to long in vats of bubbling oil and fat! Didn't look to good, but some of the lads on the trip enjoyed it!

As I said at the start we are now in Malawi, it was a good 8 hour drive to get here but the border crossing was uneventful and we are staying in a fantastic hostel right on the edge of Lake Malawi. My crew are camping and I have the luxury of a hut with a double bed and balcony all to myself! All I can hear as I type this is the waves of the lake lapping at the stilts my hut is standing on! finally we have a chance to stay somewhere more than one night and do some much needed laundry and even a bit of chilling for the film crew! Yay!

jonny drinking Special Brew - generally considered as tramp juice in the UK but apparently considered pretty fine here! I'm not sure I'm convinced.


My view






Relaxing on my balcony! Oh Yeah!

Team hyped up to leave Nairobi for the first leg of the trip - to Mbita



On the road


Jonny eating some horrible colourful WOW crisps


Heading toward an electric storm


M'bita


Lake Victoria


The long drop! It had a bat living in it, and the first time I walked in there at night a big scorpion scuttled out.


The view from the longdrop made it all ok!


Pretty flowers


Laundry - I haven't managed to do some for ages!


Camera car mounted to film team on the horrific roads


My soundman and cameraman looking very professional





Jonny making friends


The crowd at Mbita!


Sotik tea plantations


Muddy feet in Sotik after massive rain storm


New friends in Baringo!






Wildlife








Nice jumper!

We've had our first good nights sleep in a week and are full of good breakfast! Yum! Today we sort of have a day off, well the Africa Goal team do! They have to drop some materials off to a partner they worked with for the screening yesterday and then they have to meet more materials off a bus that are being delivered from Nairobi. Somehow they have to find space for all these new boxes in their already crammed cars and trailers and then we start the long drive to Morogoro which is about 800km from where we are now! Not sure how far we will get this afternoon or how bad the roads will be but I hopefully we'll get fair bit done and find somewhere relatively clean and flea free to stay for the night, unless we camp.

We have met some real characters the last week, including lots of naughty children that swarm you asking for you to take photo's of them and show them. We've also seen the sad stuff, the effect of drinking, some of the male attitude towards HIV and AIDS and the poverty. But smiling faces have been prolific which is great and they seem to really love watching the football matches, regardless of who wins there is always so much excitement.

So i shall try my best to find internet asap but its unlikely to be for a few days! Keep your comments coming and follow the Africa Goal Blog which you can find on www.africagoal.com They have a fancy internet connection gadget meaning they can update way more often than us!

Mzungu = white person!

This is a word I hear a million times a day! OK so its been a while since I have been able to get online, as a consequence I'm so behind on my blog I don't know where to start!



We screened 3 matches in Kenya, starting out in M'Bita which has the highest HIV rate in Kenya. Mbita was a 8 hour drive from Nairobi which was exhausting as there were some terrible roads! Potholes that you could get lost in! We also had an electric storm so the last bit of the journey was in darkness and required using the the dif lock as we were sliding all over the place in the mud! We made it though and the first game drew a big crowd of nearly 500. After that we headed to Sotik which is full of tea plantations. it was lush and green and the match was a success despite very heavy rain! After that we hit an outskirt area of Nairobi where the Africa Goal partners had organised some skits before the match - this included a condom orchestra! Classic!

Now we are in Tanzania, it was a 7 hour drive but we're here although we didnt get to screen the match as Coca Cola beat us to it and apparently are touring and screening matches too! So AG teamed up with them and used the crowd to put out lots of HIV and AIDS info and prizes for answering questions correctly. Very interactive and noisy as one of the gifts was a vuvuzela which is a south african trumpet!

Its very late, jonny is passed out asleep and we're about to have some food with the AG team - chinese! mmmm! Not sure what tomorrow brings but no doubt much chaos! So much I haven't mentioned but I shall try to write another blog in the morning when I have more energy!

Byeeeee!

Just a quickie to introduce Disco AKA The Plum!

Where do I start! Monday and Tuesday were exhausting and busy! Since our adventure with the giraffes we have been out to a beautiful house outside the outskirts of Nairobi, bordered by the Nairobi National Park. The house belongs to Tiana, one of the AG team. It is a beautiful spot. While there we introduced ourselves to some of the insect life and checked out their new gas system that runs off methane!









We managed to assist Tiana in her visa application for South Africa and a International Driving Permit. We also went to a clinic and made ourselves drink a disgusting dose of live Cholera vaccine! YUCK! However if it means less upset tummies then it can only be a good thing!





Then we headed back to Hog Ranch to meet our cameraman Jeandre who flew in to Nairobi from Johannesburg. It was quite a chaotic meeting as almost all the AG team turned up at the Ranch too and the reunion was celebrated with a lot of drinks! Including a pretty potent bloody mary concoction! Unfortunately I had to resist because we were also meeting our newly acquired 4x4 which was kindly and NOT uneventfully driven up to Kenya from Zimbabwe by Ben our antipodean AG team member. The rest of the crew didn't quite manage to resist the cocktails so after only 4 hours sleep Tuesday was a struggle!

Here are a few snaps unfortunately taken this evening instead of during the day - of our little beauty!






Today we actually started to film! Jonny had his first try at being a sound man and did very well and Jean has already proven his capability not only through tech talk but also by his initiative and camera abilities. So pretty damn good day all round! Oh and we have also managed to learn some of the roads around where we are staying and only got lost once on the way to the shops! Phew!