Site Visits

I thought I would start this entry with a short story from a coach, describing a Skillz Intervention near Durban. It really conveys the power of GRS:

"The Skillz program, after a very hectic but very successful first day, is a huge hit with teachers and students. Our team ran 5 different sessions today, reaching the entire 8th grade (we registered and "pre-tested" approximately 200 students).
The period after lunch was cut short because the students were late returning from break, so we only got through about half of what we got through with the other classes. The students were so disappointed that they organized a sit-in on the soccer pitch and refused to leave. Seriously. But, after our coaches convinced them that we'll be back every week, they finally followed their teachers' instructions and moved on to their next period."

This anecdote is great because it illustrates how passionate the kids are about soccer and their eagerness to learn. It also demonstrates the power of soccer in GRS's curriculum. I only wish I had been there to see it!


Last week, we were able to visit two other sites that we support, Danielskuil and Lime Acres. Danielskuil and Lime Acres are both about an hour and a half drive from Kimberley and about 20 minutes from one another. They are much smaller communities than we have previously seen, but like Kimberley, their main industry is mining. Our assistant site coordinator, Thuso, is from Danielskuil, so it was nice to see his family and where had grown up. We also held a meeting with the coaches at both sites. I was again impressed by the number of women in the groups - they outnumbered the men at both sites. Equally impressive, was that one of the coaches, who looked about nineteen or twenty, was just fourteen. I was excited to see interest in GRS from someone so young. She's likely a huge asset to the team in Danielskuil, as she she is the same age or slightly older than the kids enrolled in the program. Since she is part of their peer group, I imagine that the kids can relate to her and the lessons she teaches more easily. She and the other female coaches there were also really fun and friendly. Besides GRS, they are involved in theater and dance. Like most people here, they love playing music out of their cellphones. But they added to the music by showing us some of their dance moves. I loved how they weren't shy and instantly became friends with us. Instead of handshakes, hugs were used and they told neighbors that we were their sisters. We had only been there an hour, but already I felt so comfortable and couldn't wait to come back. Lindsay will be supporting Danielskuil and Lime Acres. Since we both have an interest in starting a Skillz Street league that is focused particularly on girls, we may be working there a lot to get the first program up and running.

The other interesting part about Danielskuil was its drastic racial segregation. The road that leads into town clearly separates the White population from the Black population. On the right, shacks made from scrap metal and wood line the landscape. Further ahead, on the left, are the wealthier neighborhoods of the White population that resemble typical American neighborhoods. Thuso told us that Blacks have to be very careful about staying on the correct side of the highway or they could wind up in trouble very easily. Even in the short time we were visiting our coaches in the township of Danielskuil, an elderly woman walked by and was upset that the coaches were associating with us since we are White. She wanted to know what we were doing there because we apparently didn't belong. The coaches laughed and walked the woman home, but I still found it bothersome. We talked to the female coaches a little more about it and they explained that they live on this side of the road, while the White population lives on the other, and they do not socialize with one another. I've never seen segregation like this and I don't think I'll ever get over how appalling it is.

Every morning, I run before work and I'm always in awe of the masses of Black people walking long distances from the townships, to work in my neighborhood. It's before 7am and all of them have probably walked miles to get to their informal jobs, working in the homes and yards of White Afrikaners. And these are the lucky people - they have a reliable income, whereas the majority of people living in the township do not. It's disheartening to constantly see this glaring disparity among the people who live here.


In other, lighter news, I have now driven stick shift twice (on the left-hand side of the road and on the right side of the car). Luckily, no one was injured in the process. Still, most cars sped past me in frustration.

Hopefully I'll watch a few more Skillz inteventions this week and start working on a proposal for my independent research project. Right now, I'm leaning towards researching something related to gender and the role that multiple concurrent partnerships or "Sugar Daddies" play in spreading HIV. Hopefully my research will influence the curriculum for Skillz 2, which is currently in the works and aimed at high schoolers (the current Skillz 1 targets middle schoolers).

TTFN