How a Zambian football league is saving wild dogs
The name for Mimbulu comes from the local name for African Wild Dog. These animals are critically endangered, with less than 6,000 remaining on the continent of Africa, and only a few countries having a viable population, Zambia being one of them. Henry Mwape started this soccer (football for those readers outside the states) academy in 2017 while he was working for one of our partner organizations in Zambia, called the Zambian Carnivore Program. Henry is a field ecologist and educator whose goal was to raise awareness on the conservation of this, and many more species as human-wildlife coexistence is more important now than ever.
Henry initially started the soccer team for kids fourteen and under but has since grown to have players who are twenty-one. He noticed that there is little for kids to do when it comes to extra-curricular activities. When kids were out of school it was easy for them to engage in alcohol abuse, hanging with the wrong crowd, or even learning how to poach wildlife.
Much like a wild dog pack, football teams possess many of the same characteristics. Both rely on teamwork and cooperation to meet their end goals. Each individual has a specific role they must achieve within the group, whether that be helping to score a goal, or taking down prey in the bush. Similarly, both also require leadership, agility, and adaptability to be successful. Much like the wild dogs, the soccer team needs a leader to help run plays, make decisions, and lead their team toward victories. It is also no secret that both require agility to take down their prey, or quickly move their feet to score a goal against the other team, and lastly adaptability, wild dogs must be able to adapt to the ever changing landscape, and availability of prey, while football teams might need to adjust their game plan based on their opponents strengths and weaknesses, player injuries, or bad weather. By having these kids be a part of something, it has really helped to keep them out of trouble and allow them to remain focused on their own goals in life. The 2022/2023 season for the team has been exceptionally well. The team has won twenty games, lost four, and tied three. While they do travel around Zambia for their games, they still play locally in Mfuwe, practicing at Mfuwe Primary, which hosts one of Africa Hope Fund's reading centers. When it is time for a match, the local radio station broadcasts the events live, and because soccer is such a popular sport, the number of people tuning in to listen to the broadcast is pretty high! This is great news not only for the team to get publicity, but because during breaks the radio sends out conservation messages.
Due to the stellar performance from the team, they have started to attract more and more funders to help support them when it comes to buying things like jerseys, transportation, equipment and more. Organization like Dazzle Africa, Wildlife Crime Prevention, Nature, Environmental and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and of course Africa Hope Fund are just a few of the organizations that have shown their support for the soccer academy!
When it comes to the futures of these players, Henry is working on setting up an exit strategy for players and providing them with options, whether that be to play soccer professionally, or move on to another career entirely, by exposing them to internships, or helping them apply to college.
If you would like to continue to see Henry's soccer academy thrive, feel free to donate by clicking HERE!