SKILLZ Street Holiday

Molweni!

My apologies for the lack of blog updates, it has been a busy month in Cape Town, and as I approach my two-month mark here I am amazed at how quickly time has been passing.  Between work and weekend adventures, I have certainly kept myself busy. Now that the weather is finally starting to get nicer (hooray for spring!) I'm looking forward to more excitement to come!

Here at Grassroot Soccer we just wrapped up a grueling week of holiday camps. Last week was spring break for Cape Town schools, and while most of the country enjoys holidays, here at the Football for Hope Center in Khayelitsha, spring break means Holiday Camps! In normal GRS weeks, our coaches go into local schools and implement GRS curriculum during school periods (one class of 20-30 kids will have one class period of GRS curriculum 2-3 times per week, thus the entire process lasts about 5 weeks). During a holiday camp, however, coaches implement all the curriculum (10-11 "practices") in a week long camp that runs from 8am-4pm and incorporates HIV education, life skills, and of course, plenty of time for playing soccer.

I was helping to coordinate a SKILLZ Street Holiday program at a primary school in Khayelitsha. SKILLZ Street is our all-girls curriculum, which addresses gender specific issues in South Africa that make women nearly 3 times more likely to contract HIV than males. The curriculum allows participants to learn important health information and develop the skills necessary to help counter some of the realities that are present in these communities that severely disempower women.  The curriculum also incorporates a soccer league, giving the girls a chance to play soccer, a truly rare opportunity in Khayelitsha (and really the whole of South Africa), where it is generally considered that girls can't play soccer (GRRR!).

I have been assisting our SKILLZ Street coordinator, Mphaki, a fantastic, hilarious, and passionate young woman, in several SKILLZ Street interventions that are currently in progress at various schools in the area, so I am now familiar with the energy, enthusiasm, and excitement associated with SKILLZ Street. However, SKILLZ Street Holiday is like SKILLZ Street on steroids. The camp-like set up allows for coaches and participants to bond quickly and it was really cool to see how much the participants loved the coaches (and how much the coaches loved the participants!). From the opening circle, during which the whole camp gathered to partake in songs, dances, and cheers (or in GRS lingo: energizers and kilos), the excitement was palpable. Girls were screaming, laughing, running around, and just having a ball; it was a truly beautiful thing to see so many people so happy!

SKILLZ Street joy

Amazingly, between moments of insane energy, singing, dancing, playing soccer and just plain FUN, the girls and the coaches had intense discussions about really serious issues. From HIV/AIDS, to gender based violence, to sexual health, to personal issues that participants face in their day to day lives, it was really incredible to see the participants open up to each other and the coaches as the week progressed.

The week culminated in a heritage themed graduation ceremony (in celebration of the South African public holiday, Heritage Day, which was last Tuesday). There was time built into the program during the week for each team to prepare a song, dance, or skit to perform during the graduation ceremony about what they learned during the week.  The graduation was a really powerful day for everyone involved. All the coaches and many of the participants dressed in traditional Xhosa garb and the performances were really spectacular. Several of the skits moved both participants and coaches to tears as they addressed some of the different issues facing young girls and women in South Africa. One girl stood up in front of the entire camp (100+ participants, and nearly 20 coaches, and several other GRS visitors) and confessed how the SKILLZ Street camp was one of the first times that she had ever felt happy and proud to be a girl. When it was finally time for people to leave, as we hugged all the participants goodbye, I noticed several people crying. When I asked one of the coaches what was going on, she told me that the girls were crying because they didn't want the camp to be over.

Graduation song and dance: Women with Power

As great as it was to see how much fun the participants had over the course of the week, the moments in which the girls really opened up to the coaches and to each other affected me the most. These moments served as a window into which I could actually see the impact that Grassroot Soccer has on participants and its potential to impart positive change within the communities that we work in. It is the moments like these that make the less glorified aspects of NGO work really worth it (figuring out budgets, printing and binding materials on weekends, acting as the GRS taxi service, etc.).

Soccer time!

GOOOALLLL

SKILLZ Street team

Outside of work, life has been great and full of adventures! From exploring new places and revisiting some other spots, I have been having a lot of fun! Some highlights include:

• Road-tripping out to Hermanus for the annual whale festival. Hermanus is a beach town about an hour and a half east of Cape Town, which is known for having the best land-based whale watching in the world, especially during the winter and spring months during which nearly 100 Southern Right whales come to breed in the warm(er) waters of the Hermanus bay. Despite getting off to a somewhat rocky start with getting a flat tire on the side of the highway immediately followed by a dead battery (all in the pouring rain), we persevered and ended up seeing TONS of whales! So cool!
• Exploring the West Coast National Park with the other Cape Town intern ladies. The park is known for having spectacular wildflowers in August and September and it certainly lived up to its reputation.  We also had some more animal encounters, including a bay filled with hundreds of flamingos!!
• Running the Cape Town Marathon 10K road-race with some fellow GRS-ers
• Watching the South African Springboks take on the Australian rugby team. I still don't really understand the sport, but the Springboks won and it was a happy day in ZA!

That's a whale!

Flamingos taking flight

Wildebeests enjoying the wildflowers 

GRS race crew post 10K

Thanks for reading and cheers until next time!

Anna

First week on the job!

Molweni!

I have been slowly settling into work life in Cape Town and although it has been a crazy week, this year is shaping up to be pretty incredible. Starting with an HCT (HIV Counseling and Testing tournament) last Friday, which was Women's Day, a South African public holiday, and leading up to my first week working Khayelitsha's Football For Hope Center (FFHC), a lot has happened since my last post! I have had the opportunity to participate in my first interventions and am now beginning to learn how GRS curriculum is actually implemented on the site level, which is very interesting, especially following nearly two weeks of training in which we learned about the theories behind GRS, its history, goals, and future directions.  I also got the chance to participate in a Coach Development session and have started playing with the only women's soccer team in Khayelitsha and have been training with them almost every day after work. Many of the players are GRS coaches and it has been a great way to get to know people better and has helped me feel like less of an outsider in the community (now when I walk around the site I often hear yells of ANNNNAAA or IMVULA (my new Xhosa name, which means rain--apparently Rayne jokes cross cultural borders!).

I have also gotten a much better idea of what projects I will be working on this year, which has gotten me even more excited to get things underway! Because of my interests in medicine and HIV, I will be trained to become the point person in organizing future HCTs (which will mean recruiting participants and working with the partner organizations that actually do the HIV testing and counseling). More immediately, I will be working to start implementing the Skillz Street curriculum (an all girls curriculum that incorporates gender issues as well as soccer and HIV/AIDS information). I will begin working to recruit schools with hopes to reach 200 participants this week!  Another project that I will organizing with Eric is the development of a girls soccer league to be run out of the Football for Hope Center, similar to the men's "Community League" that has upwards of 700 participants.  In the next couple of months we will start trying to recruit teams, most likely starting with the teams that participated in the Women's Day HCT! It is shaping up to be a busy but incredibly rewarding year!

Mid-HCT tournament dance break!

Some teams taking the field

Getting tested!

South Africans getting a big kick out of watching our attempts at dancing :)

All ages getting involved in soccer: this is from the "Granny League" portion of the tournament!

Probably a reaction to some of my dancing...

Now for some highlights from the week:

• Women's Day HIV Counseling and Testing tournament--see photos above!). Nearly 250 people were tested at this all girls tournament (which is impressive considering girls generally don't play soccer in SA)! Without thinking about numbers or stats, the first thing that comes to mind when reflecting on the day was how joyful it was. Everyone there seemed so happy to be there, to play/watch soccer, and to dance and sing along to the music. There was so much energy (seems to be the theme of GRS so far!) and the tournament even incorporated breaks for dancing! It was an amazing day and seeing how powerful soccer is at bringing communities together was really inspiring; the perfect start to this new adventure!
• Going to my first GRS interventions. Although I don't understand much of what is happening since the curriculum is primarily delivered in Xhosa, seeing how receptive the kids are to the curriculum and how excited they are to participate is really special. Not to mention, each time I enter a new classroom, I need to introduce myself and show off my favorite dance moves. As I mentioned before, South Africans love watching white people with no rhythm (like me) try to dance, so as you may expect I've been constantly making a fool of myself via my renditions of the macarena and the funky chicken dance.
• Driving to an intervention in Nyanga (another township) and having a guy on the road try to sell a puppy through the open car window--it took all my self control not to take it home with me!
• Having a meeting with the principal, during which we were asked to defend what GRS is doing in the school and how the school can benefit from GRS curriculum (note: this was our 1st day of work!!). After attempting to summarize all the key points we learned during our orientation while the principal just stared at us and remained completely silent and stone-faced, we were a bit flustered. Apparently we did alright with our GRS summary because at the end of our monologue, he insisted that Eric and I eat his lunch. As a guest in South Africa, it is considered quite rude to refuse hospitality from a host, so Eric and I awkwardly split his baloney sandwich while he continued to stare at us silently. What a first day!
• Being convinced to eat a magwenya, a South African specialty that was provided at the coach development session, which in English means "fat cake" and is a circular loaf of fried bread stuffed with meat. After eating almost the entire thing under the watchful eyes of the coaches (a real feat!), they then informed me I had just eaten nearly a pound of chicken livers and got a big kick out of my reaction, ahhh!
• Getting some pretty sweet hairdos and Xhosa lessons from little kids who hang out at the center after school.
• Playing at least an hour of pickup soccer everyday during and after work :) I now just end up wearing my turf shoes to work in the mornings!
• Joining a new soccer team! Let's go RV United!
• Heading back to Old Biscuit Mill followed by Cape Point on Saturday with the rest of the intern crew! Ate delicious food, saw penguins, baboons, and ostriches--pretty much the best day ever!! 

My workplace :)

Cape Point ostriches!

Cape Town interns at the Cape of Good Hope

Showing some teeth on the beach

African penguin takes a tumble!

That's all for now! Thanks for reading!!

Anna

P.S. Wishing my mom a very happy birthday today! Sending you lots of love and a huge thank you for all that you do!

And it begins!

Molo!! (Xhosa for hello)

I am writing this blog post from my new home in Cape Town!

The past week has been a whirlwind! From backing saying goodbyes to friends and family, to meeting the rest of the GRS intern class and experiencing the fun-filled 5 day orientation in Hanover, to the grueling travel to South Africa and finally, the long-awaited arrival in Cape Town (!), it has been an emotional rollercoaster!

Since I'm not really sure how to go about formulating this blog post, I'm just going to list some highlights thus far:

• The outstanding orientation led by Leah, Hooter, Austin, and S-Cal--I didn't think I could be much more excited for this year, but after an incredibly fun and informative orientation led by these incredible humans, I am even more excited to be joining the GRS team and contributing to some of the awesome things going on at GRS!
• Getting to know my fellow interns--an incredibly fun, welcoming, and talented group of people!
• Attending a dinner at which 3 of the 4 founders, plus nearly all the board members of GRS attended and getting the chance to learn about their visions for GRS as well as the impressive history of the organization.
• Being assigned my first project that Eric (my fellow Khayelitsha programs intern, mutual friend of Matt Wetherell, and animal soulmate) will be spearheading in Khayelitsha involving the use of fingerprinting technology.
• Revisiting some of my favorite Cape Town spots--Lion's Head, Royale Eatery to name a few.
• Playing in my first soccer match of the year down at the waterfront!
• Meeting the Cape Town staff!
• Getting settled into my new home, an amazing spot in the Gardens district with amazing views of Table Mountain, Devils Peak, and Lions Head, complete with a massive patio with a mini soccer field!
• Learning my first Xhosa phrases with Eric from our new friend Nothula. We now know how to say hello, how are you, thank you, you're welcome, and I don't know--pretty good for day 3!
• Driving test, not sure if Eric and I passed yet...it's pretty tricky driving stick shift cars on the opposite side of the road in a city with hills like San Francisco.

2013-2014 GRS interns!

Views from the roof of Lions Head and Table Mountain, not too shabby :)

So far, my main emotion has been extreme excitement! I am so excited to dive into work with GRS (tomorrow I will be attending my first HIV Counseling and Testing tournament in Khayelitsha so stay tuned for details on that!), and am thrilled to be back in Cape Town and getting the chance to revisit some of my favorite spots and explore new ones.

On the top of Lion's Head on the first nice day in wintery Cape Town!

Here goes!

Hello world!...well, really just my parents and the dedicated family members who choose to read this :)

View of Cape Town, South Africa from Robben Island taken in March 2011!

Hooray for my first blog post ever!  After a few technological troubles, I have officially created a blog to chronicle my upcoming year, which I will spend working for Grassroot Soccer (GRS) in Cape Town, South Africa (a return that I have been plotting ever since I completed a junior year semester abroad there).  For those of you who aren't quite up to date on the craziness that has been my life for the past few years, I graduated from Haverford College and spent the past year working in a lab at the Columbia University Cancer Research Center learning all about stem cells, hematopoiesis, mice, and lab moves.  I also applied to medical school, and will be starting at Georgetown University in the fall of 2014 when I return from my year in Cape Town (so any advice about living in DC will be greatly appreciated as it gets closer!).  Post-college life has been busy and exhilarating, and I had a wonderful year exploring and experiencing NYC with friends (both old and new!).  Although I am sad to see this year come to a close, I am incredibly excited for the adventures that the future has in store!

Working for GRS has been a dream of mine for quite some time, which makes a lot of sense considering how perfectly its mission and goals align with my passions and interests (i.e. my love of soccer and my fascination with HIV, public health, and Africa). GRS is a non-profit organization that uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS (check out their website for more info).  I will be serving as a programs intern in Cape Town where I will spend my days working in Khayelitsha, one of the largest and fastest growing townships in South Africa, working at the Football for Hope Center (the product of a movement led by FIFA during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa).  I will support coaches in administering curriculum, network with schools and community members, collect monitoring and evaluation data, and provide other logistical support for the staff and volunteers who directly implement the GRS curriculum.  I am particularly excited to get involved in organizing HIV Counseling and Testing Tournaments (big soccer tournaments that offer free HIV testing and counseling for community members) and Skillz Street, a newer GRS initiative for adolescent girls that combines HIV prevention and life skills curriculum with soccer and community outreach activities.

On that note, I am SO excited to get started and learn all about what GRS does and what I can do to contribute to this fantastic organization!  Tomorrow I begin training/orientation in Hanover, NH along with the rest of the 2013-2014 intern class and on Sunday August 4th I fly to Cape Town!!! Stay tuned for more updates and feel free to email me at arayne10@gmail.com with any questions or just to say hello!!

Thanks for reading and cheers until next time,

Anna