EMIMA

As part of this journey™ (journey ™ is used to rather then trip to signify both the actual journey and the ‘emotional’ journey – like in X-Factor) we were asked to do a bit of scouting for Tackle Africa, not just visit existing projects but also to develop potential new projects as well.  They’d received a funding request from EMIMA, a project they had worked with before, and wanted us to take a ‘butchers hook’ at their ‘gaff’.

EMIMA is trying to develop itself along the same lines as MYSA in Kenya (see Ed’s article earlier in the blog). Getting the youth of the city into the communities and playing sports. Football is a key part of doing this. Tackle Africa have visited them before in some capacity and had the opportunity to work with the EMIMA coaches, showing them the HIV/AIDS drills. We went along to see how things were going now, going into one of the communities in Dar Es Salaam and helping with the drills. And in Andys case kicking a ball into a childs face.

We met up with Nicholas, one of those initially involved in the project, and one who continues to be involved at ground level, working with football as one of the key factors in gaining the support, and enthusiasm, of local kids. He spoke eloquently of his plans to help the communities in Dar beat boredom, poverty, and AIDS through participation in a more active lifestyle.

One of the coaches helping Nicholas and EMIMA to do this is Dunga. He loved the sport and did a great job of running through the drills with a number of different age groups. A number of the youngsters here are good footballers, and some even play in the Tanzanian Premier League. We didn’t need those folks to see ‘mad skillz’ on the pitch however, step forward myself and Andy to help with the drills. The first drill was a basic one to demonstrate communication. Andy was blindfolded and I had to talk him through taking a penalty.  I felt this was a chance to misdirect Andy and began to do so, but it was taking a while so I aborted this attempt at ‘hilarity’ and got him in front of the ball. He took a classic Howie penalty (a toe poke) but this time it skewed off his boot and flew into an onlooking kids face. The fact that all around were laughing certainly didn’t help the child take this wit a pinch of salt but he stopped crying eventually, and got some football cards. I added that last bit for ‘feelgood factor’, actually he was a bit sulky and went off with his brother.

The last incident notwithstanding, EMIMA was an exciting programme with aspirations of emulating MYSA, a charity described by Sport Relief as a perfect example of an African run charity, so we can only hope it matches it’s lofty ambitions. We also gave them a bag of Alive and Kicking footballs as they badly required resources.

A final word on EMIMA to say thanks to Alison, a volunteer with the charity who allowed us to stay in the house she shared with the other volunteers. There was a group of Sheffield Hallam students over as part of a coaching course, so thanks also go to Adam, Kylie, Robbie and Sam for putting up with us a for a couple of nights.

JJfootballafrica