Updates

Here's what I've been working on:

Skillz Street: The last few weeks have been hectic to say the least. We managed to secure the Red Location museum as a location for Skillz Street which commences next week! This week we will be making sure our coaches are up to speed with the new curriculum, and getting ready to introduce approximately 100 girls to a curriculum that focuses on empowering them through recreational sport after school.

The Red Location museum front lawn will serve as our center of operations, the museum will be some back drop considering its historical significance. The museum honors the resistance movement to apartheid, with Port Elizabeth and New Brighton in particular (where the museum is) serving as an important hub of operations as the black majority sought to overcome the oppressive apartheid regime. Our work is very different to this, but hopefully this new curriculum will serve the community just as well. The importance of empowering and educating young girls in the community is especially important since research has shown that there are health benefits to recreational participation in sports for girls and the fact that HIV is disproportionally concentrated among women and girls.

HCT: We have secured a venue for the December 4th HIV Counseling and Testing soccer tournament, and now we're working on recruiting kids 14 to 17 to play in it. this time around the HCT is being run by myself and the 3 other interns. The responsibilities have increased significantly compared to the last one.

Skillz Holiday: An abridged version of our full Skillz curriculum, Skillz holiday reaches kids we haven't reached during the school year. All 9 Skillz lessons are delivered in a 5 day period as opposed to a few weeks. Skill holiday has its own feel and vibe, the kids get o play more soccer and the sessions are longer per day compared to the normal Skillz curriculum. Along with my direct supervisor, Titie I will be helping facilitate the delivery if the curriculum by our coaches in Walmer and Kwazakhele communities. The forst one will happen the week of December 26th and the second one will begin the week of December 6th. Each holiday program is anticipated to accomodate 300 kids - wow!

I'm enjoying the fact that I have been assigned much more responsibility. The opportunities to learn and grow are part of the reason I am doing this internship. The next few weeks will be enthralling, let's go!