Ban Ki-moon, Jacques Rogge, and Wilfred Lemke learn how to stitch balls in Lusaka

We can’t imagine that when Alive & Kicking stitcher, Christopher Mutale, woke up on the morning of Saturday 25th February he thought that by midday he would be meeting the Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of the IOC, the UN Special Advisor on Sport for Development and Peace, and the Zambian Minister of Sport, but there he was shaking hands with them all at the Olympic Youth Development Centre. Ban Ki-moon, Jacques Rogge, Wilfred Lemke, and Chisimba Kambiwili, all stopped to talk with Christopher who was accompanied by A&K Zambia Country Director, Sughra Hussain.

The delegation was in Lusaka to celebrate the work of the fantastic new Olympic Youth Development Centre, and Ban Ki-moon made special mention of how such projects can help build self-esteem, knowledge and skills amongst young people. Wilfred Lemke has been a supporter of Alive & Kicking since he visited our centre in Nairobi, and was keen that the other members of the delegation learn how social enterprise and sport can make a difference in Sub-Saharan Africa. Christopher promptly showed them how to hand stitch a soccer ball and presented one he had made earlier to Ban Ki-moon. It was a great moment of focus on Zambian football, which was especially poignant so soon after Zambia’s triumph at the Africa Cup of Nations.