Camping under the stars

Once again the boarding students were invited to sleep out under the stars. All who were able, came to have a long night of fun, and in the end a little sleep. The first activity was to design and adapt a 3kg tin into a stove which is done in the afternoon before going off to find firewood. Some decided to 'steal' extra materials for their stove and so suffered disqualification at the contest. A pair of grade 12s no less!

Mwansa... I think

Having taken firewood to the site and run back for supper, a tasty pancake fajita type meal, the real business could start. The stove competition of "beauty and brains" was a close call between Asia and Naomi's bougainvillea adorned tin pot and Cholwe and Jackson's well banged out deep fat fryer. Philip and Taonga won a prize for innovation trying to incorporate a handle into the design with rubber coating to boot. However trials the following day showed rubber to be very combustible!

Getting ready for bed

First event on the cards was orienteering which even in daylight can be a challenge but at night can be very disorienting! The 'Expendables' did a 20 minute circle to find number 6, their first control point (supposedly an easy one) and ended back at the rock where they had started. The map reader having informed his team to cross a stream and then a river to reach 6 promptly did just that, but "Where O Cholwe, is the torrent?" However despite the poor start they managed to win in the end with 21 points. Hot on their heels were Take Off and Major Lazers who came very close to finding that elusive number 3. Thinking the disused road had ended they turned around not realising they were but 20 m from the big 6 pointer, which was just the other side of the encroaching heather. However to find 7 out of 8 points, in the dark, on your first orienteering exercise, is very good going and no team did poorly.

Rosemary busy stove building

Following those successes we ditched a 'Mission Impossible' game, due to time, and moved onto 'Capture the Flag'. As time was running out we did a small set up to encourage confrontation and attacking play. Sure enough, soon there were yelps and screams and cackles of laughter as raiding parties attacked and defenders ambushed one another. Small kids got picked off by three seniors without mercy, a 'Scarlet Pimpernel' emerged as Conglin walked his way into the opposition's camp unchecked, twice, and Mr Kapalaula's rhino charge was very amusing to follow as he bounced off saplings and bamboos in a bid to escape, blundering in the dark, till he was literally upended by a clothes lining vine! Great fun, even if no winner emerged, though the yellow team was later found to be cheating with a dummy flag! Probably Diana's idea.

I think the egg is supposed to be on the stove Mr K!

To finish off the night we sat round the fire with marshmallows and had a devotion on Luke's account of the sign of Jonah and the rejection of Christ. With the previous week packed with spiritual input the challenge to be 'hearers AND doers' was made again.

Time for breakfast! A very short 'sleep' later and it was time to get the stoves going. Fried eggs, bacon and toast was on the menu with some pancake mix for afters and some Coca-cola to wash it all down. Breakfast this way is very slow and a lot of maintenance is required to keep fires going but strangely satisfying when you are done. With heavy dew the challenge of starting a fire with one match can be tricky. Preparation is the key coupled with a lot of care and attention. Everyone did very well with many older timers showing refined skills.

Still smiling, can't be all that bad eh, Denise?

Sadly everything good ends very quickly and the next challenge was to be back a school ready for the Sunday service. Conglin's greatest challenge was to begin... could he stay awake?

My thanks to Mrs Haynes and Mrs Kaumba (girls dorm parents) for coming along so willingly and it was great to have some visitors with us who joined in.

Report by Mr Grove

U14 girls hockey

On Saturday the 15^th July, 2017 Chengelo hosted the ISAZ hockey tournament for the under 14 girls. There were 4 schools which were Chengelo, Amano, Trident and Simba.

 

So our first game was against Simba, most of the players were afraid because it was their first experience so the first half was easy for Simba and in the first half we allowed an easy goal, but as the game went on we slowly began to gain confidence and we did not allow any other goal in the first half. In the second half we pushed and put effort, we also shot more on target but could not score a goal and at the end they managed to score an easy goal due to tiredness and so we lost that game 2-0.

Our second game was against Trident, and surprisingly the team was also scared of them and this gave Trident a very big advantage and they were very confident because of that and so we allowed two easy goals in the first half of the game and we again began to gain confidence slowly as the game went by, we did not allow them to score another goal in the first half of game. In the second half we actually began to enjoy the game and we managed to equalize the game 2-2 but just before the whistle they scored and so we lost that game 3-2.

Amano vs Chengelo

Our last and final game was against Chengelo and we were not so scared of them so we had a lot of motivation but we were tired too so in a blink of an eye they scored 5 goals in the first half and we scored nothing. The team began to get tired and so we slacked a little in the last half and so they scored another 3 goals and we lost that game 8-0 overall we came out 4^th out of all the four schools and I don’t really blame the team for our loss neither our coach Mr. Grove and lastly I would like to thank the team, Mr. Grove and Chengelo for hosting and for providing good facilities to play and enjoy hockey. 

Report: Bwalya Mubanga     

U19 Girls Hockey

A hockey tournament was held at Chengelo on the 15th of July 2017. The under 19 team played three games in total; Trident, Chengelo A, and Chengelo B.

Our first game was the third match of the event, against Trident. Because we had lost to this team the previous year, I would say that we were mentally prepared to put up a good fight. In this game, the fact that we were passing out wide was excellent. However, we were slow on to the ball and tended to wait for it to come to us, producing quite a few opportunities for Trident to get the ball. They were able to score in the first half. I think that some of the defenders and the goal keeper were a little frightened of the fast balls that came their way. Diana was able to score at the corner of the goal in the second half. In the end, we tied this game 1 -1.

Tenjiwe passing out of defence

We then played a back to back game against Chengelo A. For this game, there was a complete change up of who played where. I think that this sort of messed things up but we did still play well. Unfortunately, we lost our wide passes and for the majority of the game, the ball was down the centre. This was one of the factors that contributed to us not scoring any goals in this game. They were able to score one goal so the result at the end of the game was 1 -0.

We took a short break before playing Chengelo B. We had been told that this team was an easier team so we let down our guard. In reality, it was an easier game but we were not willing to put up a good fight. Diana quickly put a shot into the net which further put down our guard. We were very soon knocked back into the game when they, almost immediately, scored. Another of our shots went past the goal keeper into the goal, this time directed by Grace. Sadly, they put two more away for themselves and so we lost another game 3 - 2.

Overall in the competition, we came third out of the four teams. It was a good effort put in by the team. Thank you to our defenders – Natasha Chiombe, Tenjiwe Mwanza, and Faith Chansa, and also to the people who played midfield – Diana Shakwelele, Josiah Muteb, Grace Kampeni, and Naomi Ronald. I hope that the grade twelves enjoyed their last game playing for Amano Christian School.

Thank you very much, Mr. and Mrs. Grove, for putting in the time to teach us this sport.

Report by S. Ronald

U19 Boys Hockey

Saturday the under 19 boys went to Simba International School to play hockey against three other schools. Unfortunately Chengelo were not able to make it due to transport difficulties, but Simba managed to organise a second team so we played against Simba A, Simba B and Lechwe School.

Our first match was against Simba A and this was a wake up call for us because we weren’t really that organised as a team, and so they managed to score an easy goal in the first half of the game, in the second half we became more active and we started communicating as well as playing well as a team and we managed to play the ball into spaces quickly, but Simba A was a slightly better team than us and they managed to score another goal and so we lost that game 2-0.

 

Cholwe working the left side against Simba B

 Our second match was against Simba B and this game was a little different because we went in mentally prepared as well as physically, we were communicating well as a team and we were getting the ball up at the oppositions' goal with some ease but we switched off for a bit and because of this Simba B managed to score an easy goal and so at half time the score was 1-0 to Simba B. In the second half we decided to pull up our socks and play at the intensity that we did in the first half and shortly after the second half started we managed to equalise with Xavier scoring the goal, in the end the game ended as a draw with the scores 1-1.

Our third and final match was against Lechwe and this was a tough game but we managed to dominate and score 2 goals in the first half and then they also scored 1, so by half time the scores were 2-1. In the second half we went to sleep and so they managed to score an equalising goal, that is when everything went south because our attitude changed and we stopped communicating and working together as a team, so as a result we ended up losing that game 5-2.

Ilunga having to defend against a formidable opponent!

I would like to thank Xavier, our youngest player who managed to score two goals for the team and I would like to thank everyone who came to support us, Mr Grove for coaching us and God for granting us a good day. I would also like to apologise to Mr Grove about the attitude that we had in our last game.

U16 Girls Hockey at Simba

Caitlin attacking Simba's defence

On Saturday the 20^th of May , the under 16 girls went to Simba to play hockey. We were scheduled to play Chengelo and Simba but unfortunately, Chengelo could not make it. In the place of Chengelo , Simba managed to put together another team and so we were set to play Simba ‘A’ and Simba ‘B’.

  Our first game was against Simba ‘B’. We managed to score a goal in the first minutes of the game. They followed that up with two goals and so by half time they were leading 2 to 1. In the second half we slacked on defence and we had slow passes.

We lost that game 4 - 1.

 

Many u14's like Keysha made up the U16 team

  Our second game was against Simba ’A’. In this game, we improved a lot in both attack and defence. This gave us majority possession of the ball. We had better passes, a good use of space and good communication. We managed to score a goal and they managed to score two. Therefore at half time, they were  leading with 2 to 1. In the second half we managed to score [from a short corner] but it wasn’t counted [as the ball never exited the circle]. So we lost that game 2 to 1.

  Overall, we came out third. I think we played fairly well for a new team. I would like to commend the team for their great effort, Mr and Mrs Grove for coaching us, everyone who cheered us on and above all, God for a great day and protection.

Report by G. Kampeni

U19 Girls Hockey at Simba

The Amano Christian School under 19 girls hockey team went to Simba on the 20^th of May. We were supposed to play against three teams: Chengelo, Simba, and Lechwe; but unfortunately Chengelo did not make it. Therefore we only played two matches. 

Our first match was against Lechwe. I would say that we were not very competent of the hockey rules and playing positions that were allotted. This unpreparedness gave way to two goals for Lechwe. However, we composed ourselves more in the second half and had a better knowledge of what to do. This resulted in the scoring of two goals, both by Diana. The end outcome of the game was a tie: 2-2.

 

Diana scoring against Lechwe

We had quite a long rest before playing Simba, which was our final game. Our defence was fairly good and we did not concede any goals. On the other hand, we did not score either. I would say that their defence was a strong line but we did have a few shots on goal and if someone had been cherry picking at the corner of the goal, we might have got a couple in. Nevertheless, it was a good game with good teamwork and effort.

Everyone put in their best effort but I would be inclined to say that Tenjiwe Mwanza, a resilient defender, played exceptionally well.

Tenjiwe, Wami and Tina representing Amano very well

I would like to thank everyone for their efforts and the hard work you put in. It was a good day on the whole, and God can be thanked for that.

Report by S. Ronald