LUSAKA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- In vulnerable and low-income areas of Zambia, such as slums, recreational facilities like leisure parks are almost non-existent. However, bars and liquor stores can be found at almost every turn.

The lack of adequate recreational facilities in these areas pushes members of these communities, especially young people, to resort to excessive beer drinking and drug abuse.

To address this challenge, low-income residential areas have and continue to invest in community sports programs to help youth stay preoccupied. In addition to providing a safe haven for youth from troubled areas, community sports initiatives also serve as recreational hubs for other members of the community.

As a result, community sports fields are often a hive of activity, especially on weekends and holidays, as people flock to watch games for free.

Community playgrounds are essentially vacant lots, often located at the center of a low-income neighborhood. Most community fields are in the form of a football pitch.

While football remains the most popular sport in these areas, sports like rugby, netball and basketball are also beginning to gain some ground.

"Affluent places have in place recreational spaces such as parks where residents can go to relax, but vulnerable areas look to community sports organizations to meet their recreational needs," said Edward Bwalya, a sports administrator based in the Zambian capital of Lusaka.

Bwalya, who is also a coach with the Old Ngoma Football Initiative, a sports organization in Mandevu Compound, a sprawling low-income area situated north of Lusaka, pointed out that the primary goal of community sports initiatives is to improve the physical and mental well-being of vulnerable youth.

The Old Ngoma Football Initiative has had over 200 adolescent boys that have benefited from its program since its establishment over five years ago. The sports initiative currently has 45 boys actively playing football under the banner of Old Ngoma United.

"People from vulnerable areas are drawn to community sports grounds to watch youth play football and other sports. This helps them (spectators) to avoid engaging in illicit activities; as they say, an idle mind is the devil's workshop," Bwalya said.

Mwansa Malambo, 29, a football enthusiast based in Mandevu Compound, explained that going to watch football every Saturday at a nearby sports ground has enabled him to stay away from bad company.

"While my peers take to drinking, I just walk over to the community grounds near my house to watch a football match whenever I am bored," said Malambo, a medical student at one of the universities in Lusaka.

He went on to call for more support toward community sports initiatives, which according to him, are bridging the gap created by the lack of recreational facilities in vulnerable communities.

"There is a need for more corporations and other profit-making organizations to assist community sports organizations with things like jerseys and proper footwear for players," Malambo said.

Patson Chisanga, a patron for PATVEE, a sports academy in Chainda, another low-income residential area east of Lusaka, said community sports initiatives are helping to shape vulnerable communities into better places to live.

"Studies have shown that youth will have no time to engage in a host of anti-social behavior, including criminal activities, once enrolled in sports programs. They will instead focus on becoming better citizens and improving their communities," he said.

He further observed that the presence of PATVEE Football Academy has seen a growing number of youth in Chainda choosing to take part in sports programs as opposed to squandering their future in drinking places.

The academy was established in 2017 and currently has over 100 adolescent boys aged 12 to 20 years that are actively involved in its programs. Enditem.

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