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| 10 years YA - with YA NL's Gonneke Campen |
 Back to Moz and Zim After two years, I landed in Beira to visit Dorien and Raj and their project. Dorien welcomed me at the airport and drove me straight to the Young Africa Centro de Formação (YACdF). Two years ago, they lived in town and the YACdF was a bare piece of land. Now, colourful buildings have come up and students follow different courses: building, dress making, and English. At least 40 people are building two large workshops, a camp site is being made, and volunteer houses will be build the coming next month by Irish volunteers. A vibrant and lively project! And that in Mozambique where things go really slow…. On Wednesday, we left for Zimbabwe to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Young Africa. We covered the 550 km by car and were stopped several times by the Zimbabwean police. Half of them knew Young Africa in Chitungwiza and wished us a safe journey. If that isn’t very special! Chitungwiza looked as lively as ever and the YASC even more. We were greeted warmly by the staff and I was introduced to the new staff. Great to be back! Good to see the project is going strong after is was handed over to local management two years ago. The general manager, Enet Mukurazita, is a natural leader with her heart at the right place. In the few days that followed, I experienced every aspect of the YASC: I worked with the very lovely hostel girls, was part of the official cocktail party with diplomats and other “VIP’s”, had a fundraising meeting with the Dutch advisors and was guest to the meeting of the board of trustees of Young Africa Zimbabwe. I went to Harare with Dorien and Raj to meet old friends. Despite the difficult situation of Zimbabwe, life goes on, supermarkets and restaurants are open and streets are busy with traffic. On Saturday, a big sports festival took place; more than 2000 youngsters competed in different games and had fun. It was a wonderful final of my visit to YASC, Zimbabwe: seeing that big crowd of youngsters enjoying themselves and knowing that in a few years time the Young Africa Centre in Beira will be crowded and lively like this one. |