A BELGIAN ON THE ROAD IN AFRICA
In this part, we continue to follow rugby player and coach Diego Lacroix on his journey through Africa. He spent his first ten days in Lilongwe, Malawi where he coached at a local primary school. The coaching week was a great success and ended in a memorable tournament.
After that, the Bhubesi Pride team continued its journey to Zambia, a 6-day drive by car. “The driving is definitely a great way to see more of Africa. The border crossing from Malawi to Zambia was interesting, it really look a lot of time. But eventually we made it to South Luangwa, which was a truly memorable stay.” Diego says.
 The coaches stopped in South Luangwa National Park for a game drive (safari) and other activities such as a memorable game of touch on the banks of Luangwa river. |
Traveling through Africa in three Land Rovers is certainly a special experience. The team members take turns in preparing food and doing the washing up. This week, Diego and his South African colleague Robin were in charge of the menu which ranged from tuna pasta to BBQ to the South African dish Boboti.
Diego explains : “When we are on the road, we are camping. I made the mistake of setting up my tent really close to the river, which meant that at night the hippos came a bit closer than I would have liked. They were even louder than my snoring tentmate. I also thought that the responsibilities are really well distributed within the team and everybody helps each other. During the many hours in the car, I had lots of time to think about the new team we are starting up this year (Brussels Citizens), the coaching season and the social projects we are hoping to get involved with. I really enjoyed this part of the journey just as much as the coaching.”
 The Bhubesi Team getting ready to go on safari. From left : Safari guide Conrad, Tom Donohoe from Ireland, Liz Wilson from Canada, Oli Munns from the UK, Jaxs Roper from New Zealand, Diego Lacroix, Leanne Wafer and Richard Bennett from the UK. |
After two days, Diego and the Pride moved on towards Choma, the final destination for the next coaching week, with a quick stopover in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. In Lusaka, the team had the opportunity to meet with project sponsors G4S and DHL as well as other local stakeholders, to discuss their involvement for the upcoming week. Diego was part of the meetings in his role as competitions coordinator– he is in charge of the tournament day, coordinating the schedule, running the games, keeping the results.
“It’s just a fantastic chance to learn more about coaching and to work on my leadership skills. Last week, a new team member arrived from New Zealand : Jaxs Roper. She is an All Blacks coach and brings lots of experience to the team. I am excited to be working with her in Zambia.”
Generally, Diego has been impressed with his team members that come from as many as 11 different countries. Especially Richard Bennett, founder and director of Bhubesi Pride, strikes him as a very enthusiastic and positive leader from whom lots can be learned.
“Overall, I have very much enjoyed my time in Africa up until now. It’s also nice to see the difference between the various countries, for example Zambia is way more developed than Malawi. But most importantly, the people are very warm and friendly and always welcome us with a smile. Equally, many places we go to hardly ever get visited by white people (affectionately called Mzungus by the locals), so people are very curious to interact with us. I cannot wait to start coaching again and, admittedly, I am a bit sad that this is already going to be my last week with Bhubesi Pride.”
The Facebook page of Bhubesi Pride
The official website of Bhubesi Pride
