 You are the king and the ruler of this nation, father with surrender, whatever we have with surrender, and I ask you that you brought me up here at such a time as this, when other men were better, they could have been here, but you brought me lord in order to proclaim your name as our god. If you were born in an African home, you would definitely remember this name, Chipolo Polo. I loved that name when I was a kid, and I can't believe that I'm in Lusaka. And guess where I am? I'm actually behind a beautiful stadium which got so much history. Like, do you know I still can't believe that I'm here? Welcome to Zambia, my brother. Welcome to Zambia. Welcome to Zambia, but I still don't believe like I'm in Zambia. Listen brother, when I was a kid, also when I heard this story, and coming here makes me feel so emotional. I used to hear something, now I'm here. I would love to tell them the story, but it's all about Africa to the world. Telling our own story, you've been a Zambian born and raised. What is the history behind this beautiful stadium? Welcome to Zambia, I am Maya. Alright, let's get on with it. This is the story behind the stadiums. So, while we're standing, it's not just one stadium. What you see behind us, that's a recent stadium. It was built between 2011 and 2014. It was completed in 2014 and officially opened. So, there are two names that were suggested before it was named the Hero Stadium. Two names? Yes. The initial name was supposed to be Gabon Air Disaster Stadium. It was suggested by a minister of sports then, Chimba Kambili. Now, it's in the opposition, it's no longer part of the government. So, at the time that he was a minister of sports, he suggested to name it Gabon Air Disaster Stadium. And then there was Public Apro. But I feel like using that name is kind of disrespectful to the people who died during that time. That is exactly what the reaction from the public was. You cannot name a stadium after that. We've grown past the grieving stage. We've grieved for years and accepted that. So, what's the point of naming a stadium after such a... So, what is the new name right now? Exactly. So, after Public Apro, the name was suggested by the public to say it's supposed to be named Hero Stadium. That's the power of social media. There was a social media campaign, most of the young people said no. The name that we want is Hero Stadium. Hero Stadium? Yes. If someone is watching this video right now, people don't know why the name Hero Stadium. Yes. Why the name Hero Stadium? Thank you. So, this is a 60-city capacity stadium. And it's named Hero Stadium because of the Gabon Air Disaster. The one that was mentioned, the name that was suggested. So, in 1993, players Lechipolo Polo were going for a match in Gabon and using an air plane. Zaaf is like the Zambia Air Force plane, which crashed in Gabon and all the 85 players and the technical team that was part of it died. So, that's where Hero Stadium comes from. So, that's the heroes now, they are heroes, right? So, they use the name Hero. But I'm seeing another stadium right behind us. This was the stadium that you guys have before this one? Yes. So, the area mentioned, the entire area is surrounded by two stadiums. So, what you see behind us is what is called the Independence Stadium. The Independence Stadium represents our independence when Zambia became independent from Britain, which is 1964. So, this is the stadium that you see behind us. So, later on after becoming a deployable stadium, they said instead of renovating the same stadium, they decided to build the Hero Stadium, the one that we had mentioned. Yes. So, this is the graveyard where they buried the 25 players including the technical team. Yes. So, this is just right opposite Independence Stadium and a few meters behind Hero Stadium. So, what you see besides us, this is a grave site. So, all the players that died in that plane crash in 1993 are buried here. Not only the players but also the technical team that is the doctors that I involved in the 25 in Toto. And then, one other important story that is worth noting is that one player survived Great Kahlu. I don't know if you've come across that name. He's a very good player for Zambia. So, the time that his friends were on board this flight, he wasn't available to get on the flight. So, he missed the flight and that's how he survived. He missed the flight and survived. God really loves him. I know, right? But is there any special day that the entire country celebrated these heroes? Yes. So, there are two different days. I told you our independence we obtained it in 1964, right? Yeah. And then in 1993, I mean, that's when this gentleman passed on. So, because we changed it from a grumi moment and mourning moment into a celebration, we said, let us honor this gentleman on our independence day when we celebrate our independence. So, that's the day that has been picked, when we commemorate their lives, when we bring the families together, the families that are left behind. Most of these gentlemen are very young kids the time that they had passed on because they are in their prime, they are not very old at the time. So, they are left very young kids, some of them were left in months, some of them were left not yet born as pregnancies. So, when you get to meet the families that are behind those names, that's when the effect comes in, you get the idea, right? It's quite easy for a nation to say, no, we are celebrating this gentleman because you don't see the faces that are really affected by their loss. So, when we celebrate them on independence day, when you get to see the families where there are no proper facts to this story. You say, okay, this is exactly what caused the plane to crash and there are some rumours to say some of the parts that are buried in these graves are simply plane parts, not in the body parts. So, all those misconceptions and stories around the thing, now you can imagine that's been talked about like that. So, yeah. Wow. And I can see that zambians are not mourning anymore but rather celebrating them. Yes. I don't know any streets, any schools, hospitals, these heroes because in Ghana definitely we named these people without treating all the stuff. One thing that is very common about Africans is that our mindset is not very different. We are pretty much the same people. You get the idea, right? So, the names of these heroes that you see there, when you go across the nation, you find either a road, a street, some stadium, some small pitch named after this gentleman here. So, pretty much everyone of them is honored in that regard because we decided to move from that mourning state because we mourned for a while. There's footage all over online where you can see even the president, when he was acknowledging to say he lost this, he couldn't hold himself, his composure, this assumption to say as the president you're not supposed to show emotions and stuff like that. He could not hold it, he cried like a baby if you see that the president at the time that is president Fredrik Chilova. It's also late may he saw rest in place. You know what? Being here, I can imagine how people felt in the year 1993. I just saw the moment. You can't hold the tears that were in that stadium, the independent stadium. As we get closer, in West Africa we have a tradition. Oh really? You have to take off your shoes. That's the West African tradition. To pay respect. On behalf of myself, the entire YouTube subscribers, anyone watching this video for the first time, let's pay respect to that. Yes indeed. You are gone, but not forgotten. May your soul rest in internal peace. If you wanna see anything about Zambia, he's the best guy to show you around. Go subscribe to his YouTube channel, go support him. Ya, this is how we do it. It's all about Africa to the world. He will represent Africa to the world. Here in Lusaka. That's right.