By Edwin Mbulo

KRISTINA Antal 25 and Benedikte Ridderholt 24 who are in Zambia for a sports development programme on a Youth Sports Exchange Programme (YSEP) with Response Network have finally departed for Nyawa village.

Antal and Ridderholt who are students at the Norwegians Sport School of Sports Sciences (NSSS) in Oslo, departed  for Nyawa village over 80 kilometres northwest of Livingstone city are have been escorted by Response Network’s facilitators Amon Kasweka and Annet Sonko, and also Caleb Chabauni who is the organisations buildings officer.

The two students will be in Zambia until June next year.

Antal who will be based in Nyawa’s Mabwa village says “I chose to be taken to a rural part of Zambia and I want to learn a lot, see new places, know different cultures and get to meet new people. I also want to show my competence in my work on how sports can be used for development, especially at grassroots levels.”

Ridderholt on the other hand says she wants to grow her understanding of Zambia.

“During my stay here in Zambia I want to grow as a human being,” she said.

“Before coming to Africa I only had the perception of the continent as given by the European media, who only showed the worst part of the continent, the media has a lot of apathy on Africa, so I want to make my own opinion and not trust media gossip.”

Response Network runs several programs such as village self help programmes with the aid of the Norwegian Association of Disabled (NAD), Academic Works of Sweden and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA).

The organisation however is still seeking more funding from local and foreign organisations to be able to sustain its programmes being implemented in Zimba, Kazungula and Kalomo districts.