Namangale and her entourage poses with their hosts
* The children were taught the importance of planting trees and were appraised of the increasing rate of deforestation
* Their participation means they are part of the solution to the dangers of deforestation, which include climate change
* They also donated school gifts and played a friendly chess match after the exercise — as part of bonding the two sets of children
By Alfred Chimthere
Dadaz Chess Academy — founded by former Chess Association Malawi (CHESSAM) president, Susan Namangale — in its quest to grooming chess prodigies in the rural areas, has taken a socio-economic stance by planting trees and interacting with vulnerable children at Manondo Primary School in Dowa District after the school was introduced to the sport of chess last year.
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The activity on Saturday, February 18, at the rural school’s grounds, involved 12 youngsters from Dadaz Chess Academy in Lilongwe, led by Namangale in the company of trainers, Ken Forster and Stanford Chibambo.
They also donated school gifts and played a friendly chess match after the exercise — as part of bonding the two sets of children.
Namangale said: “During this national forestry season, we decided to inspire our students in a special way by taking them far from the comfort of the city to make a difference in the lives of their colleagues at Manondo Chess Club.
“Chess is not only an educational tool but can also be used for socio-economic purposes,” said Namangale, who is the current Zone 4.5 Chess president that comprise 10 southern Africa countries.
The immediate past CHESSAM president applauded the 12 children’s parents who allowed them to participate in the exercise and also was grateful to the Academy’s sponsors for trip that included Satguru Travel (Africa’s largest travel management company); C&M Investments and Agrawal Jitentra.
“We plan to have several extra curricular activities in the other regions as well”, Namangale said.
One of the parents, Nancy Chamdimba thanked Namangale for organizing the trip, saying her children have come back “full of stories, they have been inspired. I told them I passed through a school like that one.”
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Manondo Chess Club patron, Kondwani Chipaka commended Dadaz Academy for such a selfless gesture by choosing their school, despite his students going down 5.5 to 4.5 points during the friendly contest.
The Dadaz Chess Academy is fully fledged in the cities of Lilongwe and Mzuzu and Namangale said plans are underway to open a campus in Blantyre.
Meanwhile, CHESSAM national schools coordinator, Margret Ngugama hailed the tree planting initiative on the national chess WhatsApp forum, saying this is way to go in inculcating the culture of environment protection.
Dadaz Academy was the first to be registered after the new CHESSAM administration announced its chess academy registration guidelines, and Namangale said: “We aim to support the new administration agenda to make Malawi a chess playing nation and that’s why we are taking chess to rural schools.”
In its statement, CHESSAM applauded Dadaz Chess Academy which was recognized as part of common efforts towards sustainable sports development.
“The initiative was also aimed to contribute towards global reforestation efforts of restoring lost forests and repairing damaged ecosystems, thereby mitigating climate change,” said the statement, adding that they took cognizance that Dadaz Academy students had a good time playing chess with their hosts at Manondo Primary School.
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Namangale said being the tree planting season, all the children were taught the importance of planting trees and the young minds were appraised of the increasing rate of deforestation, saying their participation means they are part of the solution to the dangers of deforestation, which include climate change.
“There is need to work together towards a better tomorrow,” said the founder of Dadaz Chess Academy, which is affiliated to CHESSAM through registration.
To register their academy or club, interested chess enthusiasts are encouraged contact CHESSAM general gecretary on 0999647287 or email chessam2018@gmail.com.
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