The HCT Dust Bowl

          It’s been a while since I’ve written a post and I have a very good excuse. GRS Kimberley turned it way up by running a Skillz Street Holiday Camp and having an HCT (HIV Counseling and Testing) in one week. I went to 4 out of the 5 days of the Skillz Street Camp, which ran from 8am to 3:30pm every day. I wasn’t even teaching the curriculum and I was completely depleted of energy by the end of every day. Each day we did 2-3 Skillz Street practices and play soccer at the end of the day. Skillz Street practice topics range from body changes that occur during puberty to having good self-esteem to what you should do if you’re ever sexually assaulted. The girls were great and really learned a lot. We unfortunately had low numbers but the coaches still gave it their full effort.

Coach Billa hosting the Wara Wara What What Talk Show

A participant showing off her community map that she drew

            One of the things I was disappointed about was that not many of the female coaches really like soccer and they made it very apparent whenever we went outside to play. If we were ever running low on remaining time it was soccer that was cut first. I got very frustrated that the coaches would have all of this great energy inside the classroom and then once we got outside it seemed to evaporate. For being an organization named Grassroots Soccer, there was very little emphasis on the actual ‘soccer’ in the camp. I really think it’s a shame that it’s so easily disregarded and undervalued by the coaches. The girls are split into teams at the very beginning of the week and play on those teams for the whole week. I think if done properly they can really learn about how to be good team players as well as building some serious girl power mentality. I’m definitely biased because I feel like soccer gave me so much, and I just want to see the same effects it had on me for these girls.

            HCT tournament was a great success. We had 8 U-19 boys teams and 4 U-19 girls team registered to play in the tournament. There were a few bumps in the road but in the end we had over 200 participants get tested for HIV. The games were played in Galeshewe, one of the townships in Kimberley, on these two dirt fields with no markings and no nets, just goal posts. It was amazing to watch. I was very fidgety, I wanted to jump in and play so badly! I luckily was given the task of taking photos of the event so I got to watch the games. At one point I went over to talk to the coach of one of the girl’s teams to tell them we were running behind schedule and they would be playing a half hour later. The guy was very upset and told me that GRS was sexist and never gave the girls teams the proper respect they deserve. Whoa there buddy…you’re talking to a gal who’s devoted the majority of her life to soccer and believes in total equality in sports. Side note everyone should definitely check out the 9 for IX series on ESPN. It’s nine documentaries focusing of females in sports, it’s awesome. Anyway, I start explaining to him that everyone has had to wait for their games, both males and females, and it had nothing to do with sex. I did appreciate that he defended his team so adamantly, which I’m sure he has to do quite often, but in this instance it was misplaced feminist rage.

Players still wore cleats on a dirt field

Our CPC Thembi's adorable daughter Warata and a bunch of the coaches watching the finals.

            Our coaches are crazy by the way. They are awesome at doing their jobs but they also are always goofing off. Below is a video of two of the coaches, Big Eyes (pink backpack) and Fire having a dance off. This is also a good example of why I look like an idiot when we go out dancing because the grasshopper dance move, while a showstopper, cannot compete with this level of skill.

            Some personal notes I’ve started to get up at 6 to go running. By 6:30 everyone is on their way to work and I hate having to dodge people, bicyclists and cars, so I get up extra early to avoid to traffic. It’s definitely worth it. Just check out this sunrise I get to look at every morning.  

          I also got in a car accident two weeks ago. It was me and 3 other staff members in the car. I was sitting in the back seat next to one of our CPC’s Christa. We came to a 4 way stop and started rolling through when it was our turn. I look out my window and I see a taxi heading toward us. I’m thinking, ‘he’s gonna stop right? He has to see us. He’s not slowing down. Holy shit’ and then bang, he T-bones our car. My head knocks into Christa and then her head hits the window on her side. I’m pretty sure she got a minor concussion but besides that everyone was fine. Unfortunately we were driving a rental car because the condor was still in the shop.

            Next weekend is the Diamond Cup in Kimberley. It’s a huge skate boarding competition that pro skaters from all over the world come to. Also the Joburg interns will be joining us in Kim!! So excited and I can’t wait to see these guys shred the gnar.

Ting-A-Linga-Ling

So this week has already been a flurry of activity. Both Skillz Street has started as well as our 1-on-1 coach development sessions, meaning a ton of more work on the intern plates, which has been great. It was nice to have a slow start but definitely even better to be busy the whole day. Skillz Street is an all girls program that teaches about life-skills to prevent contracting HIV, how to have good self-esteem, and also having a ton of fun playing soccer and supporting each other girls. Safe to say that I LOVE this program. The first day at the school consisted of the girls being broken up into teams and making a team contract and a team anthem. All the girls are so creative and come up with great songs. Most of the team names also include the word ‘diva’ which super girly for my taste but completely awesome. Especially when one of the anthems included the lyrics from Beyonce, “diva is a female version of a hustler” it was too much swag for me to handle.

            The title of this post refers to how the coaches introduce themselves to the whole group. Skillz Street starts with a large opening circle and fun energizers for everyone to play. One of the energizers is where one at a time, the coaches run into the circle and yell “ting-a-ling-a-ling” and the group say “meh meh”, they repeat this a few times and then the coaches do a short rap about themselves. All of this is done in Swana so I really have no idea what they’re saying. So while I am trying to grasp the basic gist of the game, I get thrown into the circle. Me trying to rap is a sad sad thing. Luckily the girls got a good laugh at me running around and yelling with no rhythm in English. I’m hoping with a few more tries and better preparation I’ll resemble less of a spastic goose. 

            Some bad news on the GRS Kimberley front is that an HCT (HIV Counseling and Testing) we were planning was canceled. What we were prepared to do was set up a soccer tournament but also have testing partners on site for anybody who'd like to get tested. The Department of Education for the Northern Cape, however, decided that we were not allowed to provide testing for the students so close to their exam period. They said it would be inconvenient for the students to find out if they were HIV positive, and would possibly affect their exam scores. First off, we're not forcing people to test, we're just providing a convenient alternative if people would like to be tested. Also, while its most likely true, is there ever a “convenient” time to test for HIV? Wouldn’t the Department of Education want their students to know their own health status? Apparently not, unless they deem it the "appropriate" moment. We're still planning on going to the schools during the weekend and run the tournament as well as some of our Skillz curriculum, but at the moment it seems like a consolation prize at best.

            On an out of the office note, this past weekend we went to a fair that was in the middle of Kimberley. It was a lot of fun with all of the cliché staples of a county fair. It didn’t hold a candle to the Champlain Valley Fair that I’m sadly missing this year. Even more sad since Ke$ha was the headliner, would have loved to let ‘my heart beat to the beat of the drum BOOM BOOM’. Someday…someday. Nick and I did stumble upon an awesome local rapper at the Kimberley fair however, named Jack Parow. All of his lyrics were in Afrikaans but it was still a great concert. We even ran into him at a bar later that night and found out he’s going to be playing at Rocking the Daisies in Cape Town, a music festival that we had both purchased tickets for the week before. 

         

 Here’s a little sample of him, the hat and facial hair combo is clutch…