Day 4 in Kitwe – As today was a Saturday, it meant that we didn’t go to Kawama Community School. Instead we had some different activities lined up. We went to a charity called “Mechanics for Africa” – an organisation that allows local Zambians to train as mechanics over a 2 year course, at the end of which they achieve a City & Guilds accredited Diploma. We met Jason, who currently leads the charity, and he helped us understand the aims and objectives of the project before we proceeded into the workshop. After a short safety briefing we learnt the basic principles of how to service a car. After a couple of hours of tuition by MFA mechanics everyone was confident on how to change a tyre, check and replace the oil, clean the air filter and check battery voltage. After speaking to the mechanics we found that some had been at the charity for a few years, and their aspirations to open their own garage in the future was utterly inspiring.
After lunch we headed to Ndola to go the market. Here we met young people from the Janna Church praise group. They were kind enough to give their free time to take us around the market in small groups and they were able to tell us about the local goods available in various parts of the market from shoes, clothes, hardware and food. The more adventurous even tried dried caterpillar! Benjamin helped us to rehearse our Sunday hymn in the car park which was called “Nsangale” (pronounced “san-ga-la-ley”) before we said goodbye to the choir and started our journey back to the Town House.
A quote from Jason stayed with many of us today: “Africa doesn’t need help, it needs opportunities”
This really made us reflect on how his charity was less about raising money, and more about giving people the opportunity to earn their own source of reliable income.
We had a final choir practice after dinner as we needed to get ready for church on Sunday.
Harry Simmonds, Tom martin and Jake Subba Row
