Argentine passion for exporting: he is 18 years old, went to Zambia and is making history

At 18 years old, just after finishing high school and despite being highly identified with the Buenos Aires culture and everything that comes with living in the Federal Capital, this young man made the decision to go to Zambia, where he began working with a club called New Hope Waves, which in Spanish means New Wave of Hope. It was founded in 2016, plays in the third division and aims to help the neighborhood through football. In this way, in dialogue with Filo.news, Martín Shatal spoke about his adaptation to a new country: “All my life I lived in Buenos Aires, I am very porteño, that is why at first I realized that I had to adapt to a very different lifestyle. Luckily, I was surprised by the warmth with which they received me and their desire to share things with a foreign person.” Arriving in Zambia was not what I had planned at first, since I had planned to go to study in Italy, but after an inconvenience with the papers the trip did not materialize. That’s why he signed up for a volunteer who didn’t do either, because a talk with club president Auldridge Chibbwalu was enough to convince him of what to do.Courtesy of @Martecoll“When I contacted Auldridge to talk about the project, I jumped in headfirst. That’s why I decided to go my own way and with my savings, with which I could pay for my house and have more comforts, because not being a volunteer I do not have the obligation, perhaps, to be there four hours a day and I have more independence, “he explained. This is how his adventure in Zambian football began, in which he commented that “the first thing we talked to Auldridge was the idea of trying to give something to the neighborhood and leave a mark, I, clearly, wanted to leave an Argentine.” The plan to try to leave something for the club was so strong that it began with the assembly of a Twitter account, known as Argentino in Zambia, but that the user appears as @Martecoll, which quickly became popular, and in which the followers themselves, perhaps inspired by the case of Maratea and Independiente, insisted that he start a collection to collaborate with the team. On this, he said that “after they gave me the idea, I found out the costs to make the court and published everything, always with the idea of seeking the maximum possible transparency and that people feel involved.”Courtesy of @MartecollAlthough the collection is still active, he made it clear that, so far, “we raised more than eight thousand dollars, which is an incredible amount for what the NGO is,” so that the dream of fixing the court was widely surpassed. This enabled the possibility of going in search of a bus so that players can travel to their away matches.” At first the court cost us 2200 dollars, but when I saw that we surpassed it, I started looking for a better builder to stay calmer. I prefer to leave something of better quality even if we spend more and then we will see if it is enough for the micro, which is a real dream, because we spend 200 dollars per trip. Last time I had to pay it because the NGO had no money,” he said. When asked what was the reason that drove him to leave an Argentine mark, he made it clear that “from my point of view, the Argentine is the one who leaves marks. The players and the coach will remember me as an anecdote, but tomorrow I am going to die, my memory is going to die and the players are going to die, but the field will continue to stay and many dreams will continue to be fulfilled. The goal was not to forget that an Argentine passed through here, not Martin Shantal.”Courtesy of @MartecollCarrying out the project of the field implied the idea of naming it after someone very representative, such as Diego Armando Maradona, since, he commented that he intended to “inspire the players” and that he focused on showing them to the little ones who “were fascinated”. Likewise, at first the idea was that it be called Malvinas Argentinas, but the identification that Zambia has with England, made it be rejected. Once he leaves the country, he plans to travel to Ghana, where he will lead a project that he described as “historic for all Argentine football.” It would be carried out through an agreement with a Ghanaian football academy directed by the Argentine Franco Castaño and that would consist of bringing players from that country to Argentina. It should be noted that it already has agreements with European clubs that have been very successful in some cases. When he referred to his fanaticism for one of the most popular sports in the world, he assured that he is a fan of Huracán and that, the now former coach of the team, Diego Davobe has been a person who has made him a fan of the team.Arcado, because he considered him his “football godfather”. Then, he added that he has toured Argentina to watch matches and that he has been a member of five clubs simultaneously. Finally, he said that the New Hope Waves, with all its humility, is one step away from achieving promotion to the second division, so it must win if or if its last match. This means something historic for both the team and the neighborhood and that would show that all the support that was provided from the beginning, paid off. And, he closed by highlighting that “I will leave Zambia, but I will never leave the club, I, 10 years from now, want to see them in the first division.”

Original source in Spanish