The following is an article that is yet to be
published in this-coming months version of GRS South Africa's quarterly
newsletter. My readers are very important to me, so I will treat you all to a
sneak peak...Enjoy! I apologize for the strangle format, blogger is being mysterious and temperamental for no reason and the only way I can make it somewhat readable is do format ithe post this way.
Holidays Galore in Khayelitsha
By Eric Barthold
Football for Hope Center has seen
many changes this quarter, most notably the exchanging of the intern guard, as
fellow intern Anna Rayne and I have begun our time as the next generation of
FFHC Khayelitsha programs interns. All of the Cape Argus pundits
predicted the center’s downfall when they saw who was to replace Jessi and Leah,
but FFHC Khay has continued to thrive despite our best efforts and numerous
faults.
After an August that positively
sped by, September saw the Khayelitsha team working on two holiday programs: one
SKILLZ Street Holiday Programme at Sosabenza Primary School, and a freshly
molded Holiday Tournament at the Football for Hope Center. Earlier that month,
a taskforce comprised of Vuyolwethi Kayi, Nokuzula “Poppy” Mathiso, Gcina Mondi, Jeff Devereux and
myself sat down to restructure the center’s community league and build a
holiday program for the center. To that end, we appointed four Community League
Coordinator positions to oversee the league as well as run the holiday tournament
in late September, which included daily soccer technical sessions, tournament
games, and extended Take a Stand discussions. Ten under-15 teams and eight
under-11 teams from the Community League attended, and local club Bafana United
claimed the winners’ trophies for both age groups. Overall, the staff thought
that the week “went really well,” so much so that it “got teams more excited
for the [remainder of the Community] League, even [including] the teams that
were not part of the tournament.”
Meanwhile in Site B at Sosabenza
Primary, a much more established Skillz Street program began to show exactly
why the UN Trust Fund for Women approved GRS’s $515,000 grant for gender
programming (huge kilo to the business development team!). Our coaches and all
90 graduates opened up to each
other more than they ever expected and engaged in conversations about HIV/AIDS, sexual
health, gender based violence, and personal challenges in their day-to-day
lives. One participant even confessed during the Heritage Day themed graduation
that the holiday camp was "the first time that she felt proud to be a
girl." She wasn’t the only person moved by her SKILLZ Street Holiday
experience, either. Ondela Mbambo, one of our first year coaches, said that
"seeing the participants love the camp so much was extremely rewarding and
made me feel proud that I am making a change in my community.” Sending out
another kilo to all the coaches involved and particularly to Mphaki Molele and
Anna for putting together a truly special and exemplary SKILLZ Street Holiday!
We look forward to finishing 2013 on a high note, with plans
in the works for a variety of programs: a MAC AIDS documentary featuring coach
Lucky Mfundisi, multiple SKILLZ graduations, a World AIDS Day HCT, as well as
more holiday programs this December!
Box Scores:
32- GRS coaches
who have now received with Sports Science Institute of South Africa accreditation
as facilitators.
209 – People
tested in the Women’s Day HCT on 9 August.
2 – Victories for
the Site Staff during our first two Post Coach-Development Session Staff vs.
Coaches soccer games of 2013.
