Fun for a cause in the Zambezi: The AML Cup

On a sunny Saturday in early April the sports field at the village of Choi in the heart of the Zambezi Region is alive with energy and the sound of spectators noisily supporting their respective netball and football teams. The reason for the excitement is the inaugural African Monarch Lodges (AML) Cup. A tournament that was fiercely contested by local teams from the Mayuni Conservancy over two days and culminated with the finals of the two different sport codes played on Saturday afternoon.

While the tournament is great entertainment for the locals and winning the cup is the ultimate goal for competing teams, the AML Cup serves a greater purpose in the community. It acts as an incentive to keep villages and the surrounding ecologically sensitive areas clean for the benefit of the wildlife, the environment and most importantly the people who live there.

The idea for the clean-up campaign came about in 2021 when the owners of African Monarch Lodges, Dusty and Tinolla Rodgers, were made aware of a small child and its mother struggling with sores on their hands and feet in a nearby village. Luckily, at the time, one of their guests was a doctor who visited the family and identified their condition as scabies. Human scabies is caused by an infestation by the human itch mite that burrows into the upper layer of the skin where it lives and lays its eggs.

Dusty, Tinolla and their guest (a doctor from Namibia) organised for the mother and her child to be sent to Windhoek for medical treatment and recovery. As a result of this, they were determined to find a way to promote the cleaning of the communities’ immediate environment and prevent medical conditions that can occur due to waste lying around openly. As these rural areas have no municipal services to take away refuse, it is an ongoing problem requiring community participation to solve.

On a visit from the Miss Supranational Pageant owners in October of 2021, a young boy from a local village had the courage to ask for some footballs. His heartfelt request sprouted the idea of The AML Cup in conjunction with a clean up campaign. Apart from hygienic reasons, an additional aim of The AML Cup was to create an after school activity for kids to keep active and fit as well as providing a healthy outlet for them to have fun.

Six football and netball teams representing different villages in each zone of the Mayuni Conservancy competed in The AML Cup. The winning teams and runner-ups were awarded medals and cash prizes for their achievements. The winning netball and football teams were also presented with a floating trophy each.

While the tournament was a great success and provided excellent entertainment, a bold undertaking such as this is not an easy process, especially without the support of other companies passionate about the greater cause. The AML Cup was created in collaboration with Miss and Mister Supranational who helped to promote the event through their social media platforms as well as supplying the medals for the winning netball and football teams. Mister and Miss Supranational 2021, Varo Vargas and Chanique Rabe, as well as the founder and president of the pageant, Gerhard Parzutka von Lipinski, attended the event and handed out the medals.

Other sponsors who helped to make this event possible were Elephants, Rhinos & People, Seapride Foods, Woermann, Brock & Co, Polo, Coca Cola Beverages Namibia and Plastic Packaging Namibia. Coca Cola generously sponsored 40 recycling bins which will be distributed within the Mayuni Conservancy to help promote responsible waste management.

The AML Cup will become an annual event to raise awareness and promote a clean environment. Keeping the Mayuni Conservancy litterfree will also be an ongoing campaign. AML is committed to partnering with various other businesses to assist with keeping the environment clean in a sustainable manner for the sake of the health and hygiene of the community as well as the safety of the beautiful wildlife which roams these areas.