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.
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!
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