Zahana Cup 2024
The “Zahana football cup” (soccer in American English) has become an annual event as part of the celebration of Independence Day. Traditionally each of our four villages had at least two teams competing: one for women and one for men. All villages also sport youth teams, to foster young talents and encourage physical exercise.
The big innovation for 2024 was: For this season the tournament was reserved for teams with players aged 8-12, female and male teams. Many of them in two of the teams are also students in our Zahana school.
We do this to strengthen education through sport and foster friendly competitions between teams of girls and boys from different villages.
The results are:
Girl’s team: Tsaramandroso won against Fiarenana with the score of 1 to 0
Boy’s team: Fiadanana beat Fiarenana with a score of 2 to 1
The biggest prize went to each of the winning teams. All 4 semi-final teams also won prize money, so they could buy ducks and cookies.
Besides providing a great form of exercise and entertainment, our soccer teams also foster a great team spirit and community engagement.
Many of our soccer clubs are now active participants in reforestation efforts. Leading the way, they motivated and mobilized others to join them in their reforestation or other community building efforts. They have become agents of change, leading by example.