Zambia
Zambia has benefitted from a great many of our school tours, building bridges between young people in both countries.
Country Snapshot
We’ve been busy in Zambia – here are a few facts & figures:
Zambia is a landlocked country that, unlike most of its neighbours, has earned itself a reputation for political stability. As Africa’s second largest copper producer it has experienced rapid economic growth in the last decade but, with falling commodity prices and one of the world’s fastest growing populations, two thirds of Zambians are still living in poverty.
Raring to go!
After its conception in Uganda in 2002, TRT went on to test the “model” in Zambia, with the first Tour in July 2006. It very quickly became clear that the same appetite existed here for community-based grassroots rugby development, and in the early years our Tours focused on Lusaka and Kitwe – linking with the schools and rugby clubs in those towns.
Thriving volunteer network
We have no actual employees in Zambia, but our fantastic volunteers have proved what can be achieved. The success of these well-motivated, and well-coordinated, individuals has helped to direct our focus in Zambia – strong demand has led us to move on to new towns in order to create an inter-town Tag Rugby scene. As a result, we have been able to add Ndola, Chilanga, Luansha and Livingstone to our TRT map.
UK Schools have huge impact
Zambia has also proved to be a fantastic destination for UK school tours. To date we have had students from five UK schools (typically years 10 and 11), working as coaches in schools in and around Ndola, Luanshya, Kitwe, Lusaka, Kafue, Chilanga, Livingstone and and many other locally developed programmes. We are very grateful for all the local support provided by our partnership with Baobab College in Lusaka and Simba School in Ndola.