New faces in PE

The last 2 weeks have seen the Port Elizabeth management team (including interns) building up to what we hope to be a very productive and meaningful year for the site. This included a one week training of twenty new coaches (peer educators) in our Skillz curriculum. The week prior I was part of the team that conducted interviews and I was thoroughly impressed by the coaches we recruited. As active role models in their community we learnt about their past and their hopes as they take up this new position in Grassroot Soccer. Our goal this year is to graduate 10,000 kids n our curriculum, therefore the need for more hands to the pump! I am excited to work with the new and old coaches as we get ready to begin interventions in schools next week!

Monthly newsletters

Over the last few months I have produced newsletters to document my experience here in Port Elizabeth. These have gone to family, friends, supporters and donors on a monthly basis. Here is a link to the ones I have written so far. Please feel free to have a look.

If you would like to be added to the email list please email me at tchitongo@grassrootsoocer.org. The next newsletter will cover December and January and I expect to send it out in early February.

Best wishes in 2011!!

2011 - Expansion plans

Happy to be back in Port Elizabeth again after going back to Zimbabwe for 3 weeks. Our office is getting straight back into the swing of things, as we prepare to hire 20 new peer educators to work in Motherwell, New Brighton and Zwide.

There is a commitment in Grassroot Soccer to expand our work throughout the shools, and there is no reater signal of these intentions than the hiring of new coaches. Interviews begin tomorrow and the Training of Coaches will be next week.

Skillz Street in review

Skillz Street (pictures here) came to Port Elizabeth on November 15^th 2010 as a pilot intervention for girls on the back of research that points to health benefits from participation in recreational sport and the need to reach young girls who are disproportionately affected by HIV. I was delighted to be part of the team that set up a relationship with the Red location museum, an important cultural centre in Port Elizabeth in the heart of the Red location area of New Brighton. The Intervention happened over an intensive 3 week period where we met 3 times a week with the girls.

Recruiting was done in surrounding schools and on Day 1 we got over a hundred kids and the sessions following saw numbers fluctuate around the 90 mark. I personally learned a lot during this time, having never been part of anything like this. The idea was to test a curriculum in its development stage and send feedback to the Curriculum development team. 

The pillars of Skillz Street are HIV prevention & Life Skills education (taking most of its content from our established curricula), Community Outreach and Fair Play Soccer. 

Fluctuating attendance was a major challenge for us. At any given practice we had at least 80 to 100 girls, but the thing is there would be new kids at almost every one of them, with the new girls replacing the ones who had chosen not to come. Overall 154 girls participated in the intervention for at least two out of the 9 practices. In order for a participant to graduate in any of our interventions they must complete at least 6 practices, 84 girls did so and the rest attended several practices but not enough to graduate. As noted in Skillz holiday below the timing of the intervention coinciding with the end of year holidays is likely to be a major reason why some girls could not complete the required number of practices. Most of the girls live in the surrounding communities, but for a certain few the distance became an issue and they stopped attending. 

It was a pleasure to see the level of enthusiasm that the girls had for activities, discussions and Fairplay soccer. In the end I think we came out with a solid amount of feedback and I look forward to the establishment of Skillz Street alongside other GRS curricula.

At every session/practice we had there was always a group of 15 to 20 odd boys on the sidelines watching the girls play and participate in activities. It felt a bit weird to have excluded them but I understand the need to reach out to girls who frankly do not get as many opportunities to for example play football socially after school. One of our coaches suggested that we do Skillz Street for boys, but perhaps this would defeat the purpose of what we are doing? A tricky questions because in whatever issues, problems or life dilemma young girls may face, there is another side to it, and perhaps bringing boys in would not be such a bad idea? Perhaps not, maybe the emphasis could be placed on separating the sexes but dealing with the hot topics affecting both sides and the kids would equally be more comfortable in a setting where the other sex is not present. Things to think about and suggestions/discussions I will be bringing forward in the new year.

 

Unfortunately we were not able to fully fulfill the community service component of the intervention in the way we would have liked to. The idea was to get the girls involved in some sort of community service or get familiar with a facility in the community. Because we were stretched to the max as an office, we never took the time to really look into what community agents were available, this is something I hope to get done properly at the next Skillz STreet whih will hopefully happen again in February.  

These are exciting times at Grassroot Soccer and within the AIDS response movement. Progress is tangible and the momentum needs to be maintained!

4 months in, and going strong

Yesterday I celebrated 4 months in South Africa with Grassroot Soccer, what an experience and what a time! I head home to Harare tomorrow on the back of a whirlwind 2 month period that has allowed me to learn and grow within the organization. It was a trial by fire one could say, at one point we had 4 programs (1 in its planning stage and 3 in operation - an HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) Soccer tournament, Skillz Street and 2 holiday programs) going on at the same time!

Needless to say the office and the field had their fair share of highs and lows, but we managed to get through it and I trust that we made an impact in the lives of hundreds of kids while we were at it. I am excited for the year ahead, and the new and exciting opportunities that the year will bring. I want to thank you for your support and I ask that you continue to follow the blog, there is more to come!

Donation Update

2010 is almost over and I am delighted to be looking back on a year to remember. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported my internship. From encouraging messages pushing me to take this on, to financial donations that have ensured that I can actually sustain myself here in South Africa, I am truly grateful.

Next week I head home to Harare, excited to see family and friends and to get the chance to share the experiences that have defined the last 4 months of my life. In early January I hope to return and continue playing my part in the AIDS response movement through Grassroot Soccer. I would like to revise my initial fund raising target (set by the organization as $10,000). Looking at my spending so far, I will need to raise $2,000 (making a total of $5,000 for the year) in order to complete my year in South Africa. Monthly costs for health insurance and other living expenses (mostly food) are $250, GRS covers all utilities and rent. The remaining amount covers travel costs back to ZImbabwe at the end of the internship ($200).

I would like to take this opportunity to seek your assistance in reaching my new fund raising target either through donations of your own, referrals to potential donors or any other suggestions you may have. I would truly appreciate it, and I promise to make the most of the opportunity of being here.

I also write a monthly newsletter that goes out every month, if you would like to receive the first three issues and subsequesnt issues going forward please let me know and I will add you to the email list. I hope all is well with you and thanks in advance for your help!

Happy holidays

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!