Lulangilo 2024: Where Sport Builds Community

"Lulangilo" means "transformation" in the Bisa language spoken along the shores of Lake Bangweulu. It is the perfect name for a tournament that is about far more than football.

In September 2024, Inside-Out Community Ventures hosted the third annual Lulangilo Sports Tournament in Munyama — a three-day event bringing together twelve community teams from across the district in a spirit of friendly competition, mutual respect, and shared identity.

More Than a Match

In communities where unemployment is high and opportunities for young people are scarce, organised sport serves a critical social function. It gives young men and women a reason to train, a team to belong to, and a goal to work toward. It builds discipline, resilience, and the ability to win and lose with grace — qualities that carry directly into every other area of life.

The Lulangilo Tournament amplifies those benefits by bringing rival villages together onto a shared pitch. When Munyama plays Mpumba or Mulilo, old tensions don't disappear — but they find a constructive outlet, one that ends with handshakes rather than conflict.

The 2024 Edition

This year's tournament saw record participation. Twelve teams registered — up from eight in 2023 — representing communities spread across a 30-kilometre radius. Over three days, 24 matches were played on the primary school grounds in Munyama, which the local school committee helped prepare with freshly painted lines and makeshift goal posts built by our carpentry trainees.

Alongside the matches, Inside-Out ran two parallel programmes:

• Health education booths, staffed by community health volunteers, offering free blood pressure checks and distributing hygiene kits.
• Youth mentorship circles, where young players met with older community members — farmers, teachers, and local leaders — to discuss career paths and community challenges.

Attendance on the final day exceeded 400 spectators — nearly a fifth of the entire community.

The Champions

After a tense final, Ng'umbo United FC claimed the 2024 Lulangilo Trophy, defeating hosts Munyama Rovers 2–1 in extra time. Both teams received trophies; every player in the tournament received a certificate of participation signed by the district education officer.

The real winners, though, were the communities — twelve villages that spent three days eating together, watching together, and, for a moment, forgetting the lines between them.

Planning Lulangilo 2025

We are already in discussions with community leaders about expanding the 2025 tournament to include a women's league for the first time. If you would like to sponsor a team, donate sporting equipment, or volunteer, please reach out via our Contact page.