BUSA hosts Tuesday 2nd February 2021 Barbara Banda Foundation launch

Notice: Undefined index: catFilterList in /home/zambi/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wp-likes/api.php on line 243

By Ashton Kelly Bunda and Derrick Sinjela

ZAMBIA National Female Team – Shepolopolo Captain Barbara Banda happily paraphrased both John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Junior insisting that it is better to share blessings and make others prosper as she launched the Barbara Banda Foundation (BBF) in Lusaka densely populated Bauleni Township.

Speaking at an event at Bauleni United Sports Academy (BUSA) preceded by some rain as a sign of good tidings, Barbara Banda Foundation proprietor in quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. noted that life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’

Currently eking a living through football at Shanghai Shengli FC – Team in China coached by 54-year-old Shui Qingxia, Banda confessed that the counsel rendered were not her words but that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., though she had no option but to adopt them heartily.

“So in line with those Dr. Martin Luther King Jr thoughts, I decided to start the Barbara Banda Foundation, a non-profit organization whose main focus is to uplift, protect and help a girl child on her path to success. Like many, I did not come from a place of abundance and hence I understand what it means to need help and no one willing to help you. I have also experienced how much easier life gets when you have people ready to help you on your path to success,” prayed 20-year-old Banda within earshot of her mentors;  co-founder, Kaluba Kangwa and BUSA Director Fred Kangwa.

With the formation of the Barbara Banda Foundation, the team marshalled by Interim Chief Executive Officer, Aaron Mubanga Junior aims to support programmes that promote empowerment for women and girls, fight economic inequality, Gender-based Violence (GBV), lack of access to equal opportunities, teenage pregnancies, and early marriages; as major issues that women and girls are facing today.

“We want to help alleviate such vices using the power of sport Like Nelson Mandela once said “Sport has the power to change the world,” a reference that has birthed a maiden eight (8) team football tournament in collaboration with Bauleni United Sports Academy over two weekends; Thursday 4^th February to Sunday 7^th February 2021 and Thursday 11^th February 2021 to Sunday 14^th February 2021 to be played simultaneously at Crested Crane Academy – Group A and Bauleni Community Stadium – Group B.

In the draws conducted by Fred Kangwa, Group A teams to compete for honours at Crested Crane Academy are Pataaki FC, Luyando Foundation Girls, All Stars and Nkwazi Queens, while Group B Teams using Bauleni Community Stadium are Bauleni United Sports Academy, Lusaka Dynamos, Green Buffaloes and YASA Queens.

Equally a good boxer in her own right, Banda challenge everyone out there to support this noble cause of the Women’s tournament and the Barbara Banda Foundation, like Helen Keller once said, “Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much”.

Said an appreciative Banda: “I want to thank my family and friends for the support they continue to give, BUSA for grooming my talent and imparting precious life lessons in me, Green Buffaloes for the opportunity, Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Andrew Kamanga and everyone who has been part of my story, as it takes a village to raise a child. I would like to end by reciting a famous quote by Betty Williams: “To say that daily you can make a difference, well, you can. One act of kindness a day can do it”.