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