It is a great honour and pleasure for me to address  my fellow youths, parents and indeed government leaders this afternoon, for I stand as a bearer of a message of hope, motivation, inspiration and transformation to the youths of Zambia in general, Kalingalinga and Lutanda members in particular.

Before I get to the gist in delivering this message ladies and gentlemen allow me to recognize in our midst the presence of our leaders:

The guest of honour and hard working Munali Member of Parliament - Hon. Mumbi Phiri

The Patron of the Lutanda Foundation - Mrs. Pamela Sinkamba

The General Overseer of CAOG and pastor of Kabulonga Victors’ Temple - Bishop Elliot Chalwe

Government representatives from the Ministry of Youth Sports and Child Development

 Our guests who have travelled all the way from Berkshire School in United States of America led by Mr. Jonathan Cooper Moodey.

Executive Committee Members of the Midlands Football Association and fellow leaders of various Youth Soccer Academies

Parents and guardians to the children under Lutanda and members of Kalingalinga community

 Members of the press,

Brothers and sisters

Your honour: let me take this opportunity to welcome all of you present here to this historic setting and equally important assembly.

Six hundred and four (604) days ago today on a 12 hour long flight from Europe , Moses and I were thinking and discussing this vision and today our organizations stands at a defining moment from which we should either emerge stronger and resolute or consign ourselves to failure and ignominy.

After 604 days of the sweet sweat we must define anew our vision and rekindle afresh our strategies that saw the formation of these two organizations.

We must give our organizations a renewed mission of purpose in our collective effort to respond to the new challenges that confront us. We owe it to the community of Kalingalinga to exhibit true leadership at youth level and we owe it to ourselves to rise to the full expectations of the parents to the children under our two organizations, of the communities and indeed expectations of Zambia as a nation.

Your honour; it’s my sincere credence that an organization without a vision, mission and conviction is bound to fail. We as Lutanada Soccer Academy and The Lutanda Foundation have a vision, mission and conviction. We have a purpose, will and soul to march forward bravely and face the challenges of the day and future, confident of our bearings and assured of our ability to make an impression on the formidable array of challenges ranged against us.

The community is proud to be members of our organizations because our illustrious track record speaks for itself; we have a proud record of achievements.

We must look at our past to appreciate the present. Those who ignore history do so at their own peril and are doomed to repeating avoidable follies and mistakes.

 We must know who we are, our role in society and our portion of contribution to community and national development in order to be effective in walking towards accomplishing our mission. 

Your honour: through our strong campaign against illiteracy and our total commitment to the attainment of the millennium development goals in education 2015 set by the government, we have brought to resurrection the lost hope in that sister and brother of becoming who their dreams say they are. We have breathed life into the hopes and aspirations of our fellow youths, a day of rebirth for Zambia and the Zambian youths. The challenges we stand to face as we move towards the attainment of these goals are many. Indeed, most of these challenges appear almost insurmountable but with great tenacity and unbending will to survive we shall conquer. I must emphasize our commitment to uplifting the welfare of the youth which is not a matter of pronouncements but that of determination, perseverance and action.

Zambia indeed is a land of liberties and we wish to state categorically here to the new and existing organizations carrying out similar activities not to panic because our coming is not for competition but rather we are here purely to serve. In other words it’s our humble appeal to all of you to embrace us and work together because it’s only by being united that we can drive further the mission of being relevant to the communities in which we live.

To the government we are your grass root partners with a defined role of supplementing your efforts in the provision of goods and services to the young people especially in the area of education and recreation.  We are conscious of the need to equip the youth with skills that will support their survival. Let me reiterate here that it is government’s policy to ensure that education is accessible to all Zambians. However, it is important for the nation to understand that education is an expensive venture that government cannot shoulder alone. 

It’s our sincere hope that the government shall find room to accommodate us within its programs as stakeholders in ensuring translation into reality of the many rights that we have as the Zambian youths. Our commitment is to serve and indeed we are ready to execute the task of transforming the lives of the many youths out there.

We shall invest heavily in ensuring that we remain highly focused, cohesive and united in our collective desire to promote the interests of the youths.

Through the Lutanda Soccer Academy and The Lutanda Foundation we have entered into a covenant with not only the community of Kalingalinga but Zambia as a nation and wish to state that despite the many obstacles along the way we shall adhere to the constitution of our organizations and most importantly to the larger constitution, the word of God. Fellow youths, ladies and gentlemen, the involvement of the church in community service is key to the fight against moral decay and a source of spiritual guidance. This is an important exercise which I humbly ask every Zambian youth to take seriously.                                                                                                                              .

Our future plan is to be so well organized and to have living and active presence in all the 9 provinces of Zambia and that’s why we must remain committed to our ideas and ideals by making our presence visible in society.

As I wind up I wish to thank you most sincerely honourable Mumbi Phiri for finding time despite your busy schedule to grace this occasion as Guest of Honor.

Our gratitude also goes to the church, government and other community leaders for finding time to be here with us and for sharing their wisdom.

Colleagues and partners from the United States of America, led by Mr. Jonathan Cooper Moodey and Mr. Dan Skoglund and students present here including all those who took part in the fund raising activities to make this trip a reality from Berkshire School. We also wish to stress that the equipment you worked hard to purchase shall raise the morale as well as the numbers in terms of membership to the Soccer Academy. We count ourselves fortunate to have had your great support readily available.

The future prospects for both our countries are bright and can only be enhanced by activities such as the Berkshire-Lutanda co-operation. Please join me, fellow Zambians, in wishing our guests a happy and memorable stay in Zambia and wish you even more success in South Africa.

We also wish to record special thanks to all the parents of the children we have at Lutanda for the marvelous support we have continued to receive. We are privileged that you came up to support when we needed you most.

In absence allow me pay tribute to Mr. Guy Lukebani, founder member and Director of Lutanda for being part of this success and indeed for making this whole thing a reality.

For a long time now our families have seen more articles on our two websites than they did of us! We deeply appreciate all of you for your moral and spiritual support as well as your understanding.

Lastly but not least, I want to take this opportunity to remind my fellow youths of the critical role we must play in the control of HIV/AIDS. We are the most vulnerable group to this pandemic and no matter what government do if our attitude is wrong we shall lose the battle against AIDS.

Remember at Lutanda winning is not everything but the only thing! Long live Lutanda.

I thank you.