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