Skillz Holiday

Over the last two weeks we have completed 2 holiday programs known as Skillz Holiday. During the World Cup, Castrol sponsored and raised awareness about these crucial interventions aimed at kids 12 to 14. Below is a promotional video for Skillz Holiday:



I was happy to help plan and implement 2 holiday programs similar to the one above in Kwazakhele and Walmer townships. Needless to say it was not quite like Skillz Holiday leading up to and during the FIFA World Cup when football fever was rife in South Africa and kids were eager to make the most of sponsored equipment and a chance to attend a World Cup game. Indeed post-World Cup Skillz Holiday seemed to suffering from a severe World Cup hangover.

The Holiday programs are a way for GRS to connect with kids during the breaks when they are most at risk to encountering situations that are most likely dangerous or harmful to their health. There is also idle time that kids have to contend with, and in some areas this idle time can end up being filled with all the wrong sort of things. Teenage pregnancy and HIV are major problems in South Africa and across the continent's lower income areas, Skillz Holiday is an opportunity to provide the kids with something to do and valuable information that can be used to empower them to make smarter choices. The intervention is a tweaked version of our Skillz curriculum and it takes place over an intensive 5 day period where kids play games, do activities and Fair Play soccer from 9a.m. to 3p.m..

Our cumulative goal for participants in Walmer and Kwazakhele was approximately 500 kids. We barely scrapped over a hundred at the end of the day. In fact attendances by kids who did come were sporadic and it was rather disappointing to have worked so hard on recruiting kids and planning the event to only get that number of kids. As mentioned prior it was easier to use the carrot of the World Cup to get kids in. This time around I feel that the December holiday conspired against us. One of our coaches informed me that kids usually travel during this break and kids are less likely to commit to something for an extended period of time as long as a week, unless they see it as more beneficial than what they are already doing.

I just wonder if the kids even go as far as making such a calculation or if they simply forget. Next time around we will need to work on a better recruitment strategy - with no World Cup in sight it will need to be a full proof strategy!