Adventure Africa!

The holiday skillz camp finished up in mid December and GRS offices around Africa officially closed for the holidays on the 17th. With schools out and most kids away for the holidays it was an opportunity to get out of Kimberley for a few weeks, refuel the volunteer batteries and see a bit of Southern Africa. I joined up with three fellow interns from Cape Town for a proposed epic hitchhiking and backpacking trip through the neighboring countries of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Our trip started in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe; home to incredible waterfalls, wildlife and non stop adventures on the mighty Zambezi River.

We wasted no time trying to find some of this adventure and signed up for a full day of white water rafting down the Zambezi. None of us knew exactly what we were in for and we certainly were not expecting the insane class 5 rapids that awaited us. Our friendly Zimbabwean guide “Colgate” (major pearly white smile) whipped our team quickly into shape as we drifted down the first couple easy rapids. We admired the amazing scenery and commented on how lovely and tranquil the river seemed. The proud spirit of the Nyame, Nyame (the Zambezi river god) must have been listening because the next couple sets of rapids showed us why it is know as the “Mighty Zambezi”: Aptly named “Stairway to Heaven” and “Devil’s Toilet Bowl”, these rapids swiftly flipped us out of the boat and some ten minutes later, flushed us out the back side into calmer water. I can only thank Nyame, Nyame for sparing our feeble lives. We held our tongues for the rest of the day and managed to get flipped only once more by Nyame Nyame: it was a wild ride and I was super relieved to make it back on land-alive.

The rest of the trip mellowed out after the first couple days as we spent some time around the falls enjoying the incredible sights. We managed to catch a ride to Botswana for a few days to see some amazing animals while camping around Chobe National Park. We even spotted a lion family under a tree, which is supposed to be real rare in Botswana. The plethora of animals was just insane and I have never seen so many powerful species living in such close quarters. We left Botswana and headed back into Zim for another adventure on the Zambezi; this time a few hundred KM’s north of Vic Falls, where the river begins to dam and becomes Lake Kariba. We set up camp next to a “Beware Crocodiles” sign and woke up happy to find all of our limbs attached and a huge ferry boat waiting to take humans up the lake! It was a 24 hour ferry ride and one of the greatest boat trips I have ever been on. There were good people, incredible views and super sweet lounge chairs…nothing could be better! We cruised throughout the day and night and woke up to a beautiful sunrise coming up over the Kariba dam.

Sadly we exited our dream boat and continued on, a little less lavishly via foot. Luckily, a nice lady in an army truck picked us up and delivered us safely to our next campground on the banks of Lake Kariba. We spent Christmas Eve in 110 degree heat, trying to stay cool by the Kariba campground pool. On Christmas day we celebrated by taking a packed eight hour bus ride from Kariba Town to the capital city of Harare. We were greeted by a good friend of mine from Wesleyan, the legend himself, Gazza Goviti. Gazza, born and raised in Harare is maybe the 2nd smartest man in all of Zimbabwe. He grew up in the biggest township in Zim, earned a scholarship to Wesleyan and is now one of the most successful and legitimate men I know. He currently works in Johannesburg but always finds time to come home for Christmas to see family. It was such a treat to get to hang with Gazza and his amazing family for Christmas. He showed us all around the town, introduced us to his buddies (one a player on the Zim national team!) and even set up a special street soccer game for us on Boxing day. Street soccer in Africa is intense and this game might have been one of my all-time favorites: The dudes skills were amazing, everyone was lightning quick and street soccer savvy. Funny enough, it was much like that scene in Waynes World; every twenty seconds a car would come rolling down the street we were playing on and the game would have to be paused until it passed. GAME OFF, GAME ON! It was awesome!

After soccer Gazza took us to a traditional Shona weeding reception for one of his friends. For not knowing a single person there, the family was uber welcoming and hospitable. All of us agreed, and I think anybody who has ever met a Zimbabwean will say that they are maybe the most friendly, warm and genuine people in the world. No matter what you hear or see on TV, Zim is truly an incredible country and hopefully one day will be recognized more for its wonderful people, culture and landscape then for its tyrannical leadership and political woes. We said farewell to Gazza as we boarded another bus to take us to Mutare, a boarder city and entrance point to Mozambique. After another amazing night of camping at the Vumba National Park (the southern most rainforest in Africa), we walked over our third boarder of the trip and into Mozambique.

Mozambique is just as unique and beautiful as any country I have been to in Africa. A former Portuguese colony, Moz is fascinating to witness because of the blend of Portuguese language and culture into traditional African life. Being in Moz was the most foreign experience I have encountered since coming over to SA. You sometimes forget how important language can be for your overall comfort and for the short time I was in Moz I was generally lost and confused. Despite the language barriers and long, long bus rides through the country we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Moz.

We spent a few days in Villanculos, a sleepy little beach town in central Mozambique and another couple further south in a beach town called Tofo. Tofo is a popular holiday spot for both South Africans and Mozambiquians and has an incredible beach scene, not to mention amazing seafood! The Indian Ocean water was absolutely divine; warm, clear and delicious. I spent most of my time floating around in the goodness of the ocean and trying to keep up with my surfing buddy Mike. It was a glorious few days spent immersed in sun, surf and sand. I have never celebrated New Years on the beach and I have to say it is the way to go. I dreamt the night before I came back to Kimberley that the ocean would magically transport itself to the middle of the Kalahari so that I could visit it more often. Alas, I will have to hold onto a few shells and the sand stuck in my toes and clothes until my next visit to the ocean. I had a lot of time to reflect on the trip as I traveled slowly back to Kimberley. Overall, I spent about 34 straight hours on different busses trying to get back to the sparkling city. The traveling was all worth it to have a trip of a lifetime with great friends and a chance to see three beautiful African countries.

Super Fine 09!

Happy 2010 everyone! It is going to be a big year for South Africa, GRS and hopefully everyone out there in cyberspace! Before I can move totally into this new and glorious year, I must take a step back in time and recap some of the things that were FINE at the end of 09! December was by far the craziest time for GRS Kim. We had two very important events that went in two very distinct directions. The first was a V.C.T (Volunteer Counseling and Testing) Tournament that we hosted in honor of World AIDS Day: We invited 16 local boys and girls teams from Galeshewe to compete in a futbol festival while also having the chance to play some fun educational games to learn some HIV/AIDS facts.

The teams were also encouraged to go for HIV-testing. Testing and “knowing your status” is probably one of the most important messages that we try to deliver to the community. A lot of logistics went into planning this event and we devoted a good chunk of November contacting testing partners to test participants on this day. Everything about the day went pretty well and according to plan except the most vital component – The testing. More than half of the testing partners we had confirmed to come for the event dropped out last minute or left shortly after arriving. It was a huge disappointment not only to all of us organizing the event but also to all the kids and community members who were willing to test that day. Frustration behind the testing aspect put a big damper on the day but on the bright side, we still had a great soccer tournament and brought some HIV awareness to the community.

A day later, we had to brush off our frustrations and set out to put on another big event. This time we organized another Holiday Skillz camp for kids before their Christmas vacations. This camp was a much more complicated than the first one we put on in October: we were focusing primarily on hosting OVC participants (orphans and vulnerable children). The camp was held at a soccer field shared by the Lerato Place of Safety (LPS) and the Mohele Mampe Secure Care Center (MM). LPS is a safe house for boys and girls who come from broken homes or families that just can’t provide for them. MM is basically a juvenile detention center for boys under the age of 18. We didn’t find out until after the camp that some of these boys had committed very serious crimes (i.e. armed robbery and murder). We had about 50 kids from these two centers and another 50 from local schools and orphanages within walking distance.

It was an intense and eclectic group of children which made for many, many interesting moments during the week. A couple fights needed to be broken up and lots of disputes needed to be quickly resolved. The camp had a 2010 World Cup theme and each participant was assigned to a World Cup team and Skillz Coach. I wasn’t sure how these particular kids would take to our program but for the most part these kids were just so dam excited to be outside, having fun and learning some important things. More than any group of kids we have worked with so far, these kids really needed the education and life skillz we gave them. They reveled in the opportunity to just be kids and have somebody new who cared about what was going on in their lives. I met some of the most amazing and resilient kids of my life during that week and they left a lasting impression on all of us working the camp.

Kimberley Katch-up

Happy Halloween everybody!!! It is a little bit “spooky” how time seems to disappear when your living next to the biggest man-made hole in the world. I will do my best to recover some of my latest happenings here in the city that sparkles:

This month started off with a bang. Probably the biggest event I have been apart of since my time in Kimberley: The Castrol Holiday Skills Camp!!! We got a big chunk of change from this wonderful oil company (Castrol) to host camps all over South Africa for their schools’ “spring break”. There were camps in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and don’t forget good ol KIM! We had two camps in Kim; 100+ kids at each camp and 10 smooth SKILLZ coaches to help lead them through the SKILLZ curriculum. I was in charge of running one of these camps with my good buddy Thuso Jones: The camp was held at St. Peters school in Galeshewe (the Kim Township). The days consisted of 2 Skillz lessons and lots of soccer in between the lessons. The soccer games were played with “fifa fair play rules”. The kids would come up with a couple fun rules before the games (i.e. both teams must celebrate when one team scores; if someone falls down someone from the other team must help him/her up). It was pretty amazing to see both boys and girls playing soccer together and trying to keep good sportsmanship in mind. More than anything the games were about fair play, showing respect and having a boat load of fun. I really think the kids hit all of these standards. At the end of the fourth day, the participants had officially finished all the SKILLZ lessons and were ready for the Friday graduation festivity.

Friday was an awesomely special day: In the morning, we created a World Cup style soccer tournament, 10 teams competing for the title of SKILLZ Champion. The games were certainly much more heated than before with this illustrious title on the line but to the kid’s credit they tried hard to maintain some degree of sportsmanship. We also hired a local DJ to come blast some sick South African vibes throughout the day; it is always incredible to see these kids dance. When they start to groove you can’t help from smiling and wanting to shake a leg with them. I will never be able to move like the African can, but I always get a bunch of laughs when I bust out some of my white-boy steps. After lunch, a partner organization of ours called “New Start” came to the camp to do some sex education (how to use a condom, where you can go for help in your community, and some science of HIV/AIDS). They also provided volunteer counseling and testing (VCT) for the kids that were over 14 (you have to be over 14 in order to be test in South Africa). We encouraged the kids in our camp who were old enough to get tested and know their status. We had a little over 20 kids in camp volunteer to be tested.  I was super proud of all the kids who got tested; it takes a ton of courage for anyone to find out their status here, let alone 14 & 15 year old kids. I found out later that one kid in our camp did test positive for HIV. I didn’t really know how to react; it is obviously a horribly sad situation that somebody that young is infected. I’ve spent the last few months learning the stats and hearing so many sad, sad stories but when it finally happened that I knew someone with HIV I was simply stunned. The crazy thing is you can’t do much after this. I can check up with New Start on weather or not the kid has begun treatment but other than that there is really nothing I can do. It feels like a helpless situation and some very unfortunate kids have to face this exact struggle (probably on their own) for the rest their lives. As much as this all sucks, you have to think that each kid we reach with this curriculum has a better chance on avoiding the disease. All depends on how you want to look at it.   

After the New Start lessons we had the Championship game and Graduation ceremony. I haven’t refereed a lot in my soccer days but I was asked by some of the kids and coaches to be an honorary ref for the finale. It was an intense match; all the kids of the camp gathered around the pitch and picked a side to support. One of teams in the final had just one boy and a bunch of very tough girls. Although I made some unpopular decisions for both sides the focus remained on the game: A 3-1 thriller that brought the whole camp to life.

There was nothing but smiles, laughs and made up cheers from the week as the kids were finally called up to receive their SKILLZ certificates of graduation!!! One by one, the teams proudly sported their new Castrol hats and sweet SKILLZ certificates for a team picture. It was nearly impossible to get them to leave after the ceremony. They had made bonds with their coaches, friends from new schools and hopefully picked up some really important life-skillz along the way. I too even struggled to lock up St. Peters School that day. It was so amazing to finally have some real connections with the kids here, to feel that I had a part in them learning something that could eventually save their lives. It was a week filled with precious moments I had hoped I would experience when deciding to come here….

Kim Dribble-a-thon 2009

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by my former employer, The Greenwich Country Day School, about an all-school fundraising event called the “GCDS Walk-a-thon.” This walk-a-thon is an event that raises money for two NGOs every fall—one domestic and one international. Students, faculty and staff spend an entire day walking laps around the school campus and earn donations per miles completed. This year the GCDS community selected Teach for America and GrassrootSoccer as the organizations to support. The event was a great success, raising over $5,000 for GRS, and in a notable departure from the traditional GCDS walk-a-thon, participants embraced the GRS vision and dribbled the majority of their miles.

Somewhere over 6,000 miles away, on a different continent, in the opposite hemisphere, on a seemingly sunny October afternoon, me and a small group of fellow GRS interns embarked upon a similar expedition. This adventure unfolded in the sparkling city of Kimberley, South Africa. The four interns, me, Kristin Fladseth, Anna Barrett, and Lindsay Rotherham, were outfitted with only our strong wills and two Nike soccer balls. Our goal: to dribble approximately 15 km from our home, throughout the heavily trafficked roads and lively neighborhoods of Galeshewe, the nearby township, and finally looping back to return home.

Excitement was in the air with a fast approaching storm in the distance and many kilometers to be traveled. We started strong on some of the quieter and well-maintained streets of the city. As they neared the township limits, however, the atmosphere changed, and we were greeted by honking cars and enthusiastic bystanders. Interest mounted as we, clad in bright yellow GrassrootSoccer t-shirts, dribbled toward a local park and called out to people in the native Setswana. Slowly but surely kids emerged from their homes to join in the football festivities, including participants from the most recent Skillz Holiday Programmes.

A left hand turn took us onto the busiest road of Galeshewe, where we were ambushed by horde of intrigued and ecstatic kids. It took only a few passes and dribbles amongst the group of twenty plus children before they were totally hooked to us strange yellow-shirt foreigners. Together, we continued on down the road into the heart of Galeshewe, laughing, dribbling, dancing and generally loving this bizarre experience. When we reached the round-about in town center, storm clouds had fully formed and rain began to fall upon this unlikely group. Grabbing as many of the small boys and girls into our arms as we could we headed for shelter into a local school. After several minutes of soccer drills underneath an overhang, lightning moved us once again, this time into a classroom. Amazingly, there were still a few biscuits available to give the brave soccer soldiers who ran barefoot through the rain and muck to this location. The lightning provided an opportunity for some familiar American games. Heads up, seven up was a big hit as the kids struggled to guess which Intern had selected them. Eventually the sky’s cleared and the group began their long journey back home. A joyous yet sad goodbye was said to the young, shivering troopers as the wet, deflated soccer balls rolled on their proverbial path through Galeshewe Park and back onto the wide, soggy road home!

BAFANA BAFANA!

There was quite a little soccer buzz going about Kim this last week. The South Africa National Team made its first, only and possibly last visit to the Kim-City for a friendly match against Madagascar. Everybody we talked to in town was talking soccer and couldn’t wait to see “The boys, The boys” (BAFANA, BAFANA is the name of the National Side). Kimberley is predominately a rugby town and it was amazing to see some excitement around the national side. While standing in line for tickets a few days before the match I heard a man behind me say “I need to buy 500 tickets, there better be 500 tickets…everyone I know is coming and wants to see BAFANA!!!” Luckily I was in line in front of him and scored some of the last tickets for me and some of my friends to see the Boys! Kimberley’s Rugby Stadium holds about 20,000 fans and it was completely packed for the occasion. We spent a little too much time tailgating with some friendly locals and the only seats we could find were standing up right behind the Madagascar goal. In my eyes these were the best seats in the house. 15 feet from the goalie! It was like I was heckling him at a high school or college game. Within several minutes of us really getting into the game (and into their keeper’s head) there was a penalty for BAFANA!!! We nearly broke the screen behind the goal…so much pressure right in front of us…I couldn’t handle it. I was sure our persistent heckling would pay-off but to my dismay he made an incredible save diving to his left. Oh snap…we sadly walked away, our tail between our legs as security ushered us to find a little more legitimate seat. Bafana, ended up winning the game 1-0 as we watched the rest from the mid-field. Just a tiny taste of how amazing the World Cup will be!!!
In Grassroot Soccer news we have been working hard preparing for a SKILLZ Holiday Program. Castrol, the oil conglomerate has sponsored Grassroot to run 8 camps throughout South Africa and 2 of them are in Kimberley!!! It is a really exciting opportunity for us because we have the funding to take over 200 hundred kids around Kim through our HIV/AIDS curriculum. Check in for the full story in next weeks blogs. SALA SENKLE!!!

Hooter

LIVIN LESOTHO

Happy Heritage Day! Today is a South African celebration; everyone has the day off to Braii (BBQ) and honor their Heritage. I thought I would celebrate by catching you all up with a little of my life over the last couple weeks. Things have been a bit hectic and it seems like there is almost too much information for one blog entry but alas, here we go:
Last weekend I was able to get out of the country for a few days and travel to the sky kingdom of Lesotho. Lesotho is a small land-locked country completely surrounded by South Africa. It’s about 150 miles from Kimberley. Lesotho is a dry and mountainous land filled with some of the most outrageously friendly people ever! It is amazing how different they seemed compared to the average South African. Lesothoians are extremely proud people and have managed to avoid some of the painful history that affects most South Africans. Two of my colleagues work in Lesotho for an organization called “Kick 4 Life” the British equivalent of GrassrootSoccer. We had a chance to help them run a “VCT” Tournament (Volunteer, Counseling and Testing). These tournaments are friendly competitions (although they rarely end this way) where co-ed teams compete in soccer matches as well as attend several HIV/AIDS activities. The goal is to have a fun soccer atmosphere where the participants can learn a bit about HIV/AIDS as well as fell comfortable enough to get tested for it. As you can image it can be a very scary thing for teenagers to test but it is so important that we encourage them to know their status. We have some pretty amazing testing partners that do the testing and counseling of the kids before and after their test. Testing is a daunting task here, but if it is done well it can make a huge impact on these communities.

Outside of the testing event our Lesotho friends lead us to some of the beautiful mountains outside the city. We made it to a small village named, Malealea. Malealea is famous for its pony trekking around the mountains. While we didn’t make it onto any pony backs we did traverse some gorgeous land by foot. The landscape reminded me so much of New Mexico; the hike ended overlooking some bright pink mountains from a bumpy dirt soccer field. How fitting for a Soccer lovin’ New Mexican! It was a little sad to leave these somehow familiar mountains and make the long flat drive back to Kimberley. Alas, Kim is home and it felt good to get back into the city that sparkles!

ISIBINDI INSIGHTS

Happy September everybody! I hope everyone had a great summer and is pumped for the fall! This is the first fall in my life that I am not going back to school; either to learn or to teach. WOW! However, I am still finding myself in a lot of different school settings and working/playing with some pretty cool kids. This week I had a chance to check in on a partner-program that is running at a “Safe Park” near the center of Galeshewe (the largest Township in Kimberley). This “Safe Park” is called Isibindi and it is open to any age children to come at anytime of day. They can come to Isibindi to play, learn, eat or assitance in other aspect of their lives. Grassroot Soccer has trained some of the Isibindi employees in our "SKILLZ" curriculum in the hope that they can give some life-skillz lessons to regular visitors between the ages of 11 and 16. It is really fascinating to see some of the kids at Isibindi Safe Park. My understanding is that most kids here have some serious hardships in the lives; lack of parents, malnutrition, neglect, etc. They come to Isibindi to escape some of these problems. Most of the kids are really young (also super-cute); about 4 to 10 years old but there are a handful of young teenagers. This group was in their 4th SKILLZ lesson and learning a little about some HIV/AIDS facts and myths. The lesson is called “Fact vs. Nonsense”. The kids are paired up and start all together in the center circle of a small soccer field. They are read some statements about HIV/AIDS i.e. “HIV/AIDS is spread by holding hands, sharing food and water”. The kids then have a few seconds to confer with their partner and then must run to the goal they think is right. One goal says “FACT” while the other goal says “NONSENSE”. Skillz coaches read about 10 statements and discuss the reasons for them being fact or nonsense after the kids have chosen their side. It is often very surprising what side they end up on; many kids (and adults) here know very little about HIV/AIDS. There are a lot of very horrible myths and stigmas ingrained in the South African culture about the disease. A prominent one being that if you become infected with HIV/AIDS you can cure yourself by sleeping with a virgin. These types of myths and lies are huge issues in the fight against HIV/AIDS. It is essential that these kids have a chance to hear some of these myths and then talk about the facts so they can better understanding of the disease. After the lesson, the children had some extra time (and a lot of extra energy) before dinner. I got to play the most intense game of red-rover, red-rover of all time. About 50 kids ranging from ages 4 to 16 all holding hands and screaming to be the next one “sent-ova” there were a lot of laughs, tumbles and luckily only a few tears when they couldn't break through the "wall". Just amazing to see these kids play with such joy with all the adversity they endure. Okay, more next week. Caliboha (Thanks),

PG