Bloemfontein

This week was a lot different from the last, as we had Chris Barkley, Director of Programs in South Africa visiting us (he’ll be here for this coming week as well). The most helpful part of him being here is that we have a much better understanding of our immediate and long term work roles. Right now, I’m focusing on entering information about the graduates’ attendance and pre and post quiz responses for interventions from December 2008 until present into a GRS database. It will likely keep me busy for another week, but it’s going to be very useful for the office in Cape Town in terms of analyzing the effectiveness of the program. The pre and post quiz responses reveal whether the graduates have improved their knowledge of HIV and AIDS and where there may be weak areas of the curriculum that are not properly conveying key messages. Keeping track of this data is going to be especially important in this coming year since our site is trying to increase its outreach from about 500 graduates last year to 5000 graduates this year. As we expand tenfold, we need to ensure that quality is not compromised by quantity.

On Wednesday, we traveled with Chris to Bloemfontein. Bloemfontein (Bloem) is a site that our office in Kimberley supports. It’s also one of the World Cup sites for 2010, so I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll be able to get tickets through the lottery. From Kimberley, Bloem is an hour and a half drive on a straight, two-lane road through the middle of nowhere. The dry landscape was pretty barren, scattered with a few Acacia trees and tons of massive termite hills. Hooter will be the primary intern supporting the Bloem program, so he’ll be making the drive frequently. I will probably accompany him once a month or every other month to run focus groups and collect “Most Significant Stories” from coaches, which entail coaches sharing powerful moments they’ve had in their Skillz interventions.

Upon arrival, Lindsay and I were invited to watch an intervention. The coaches at this site were awesome. We watched Samitto and a new, young, female coach lead an intervention with a class of boys and girls. They led the curriculum’s second lesson, which focuses on distinguishing between HIV and AIDS myths and facts and sharing a “coach’s story”. A coach’s story involves one of the coach’s revealing a challenge in his or her life and the way it has affected them. It helps to break down barriers between the students and coaches by humanizing the coaches and demonstrating that they have faced their own struggles in life. The female coach shared a story about losing her mother to AIDS. As she spoke, all of the students listened carefully while giving her their full attention. I was impressed by the respect they gave her and the thoughtful questions they asked when she was finished. Overall, the two coaches were really impressive. They had a strong connection with the class even though it was just their second lesson. Samitto had a great gauge for appropriate times for energizers or quick call and responses to maintain their interest while having fun. It makes me happy that we have such great coaches in our program.

The township where GRS works in Bloem is called Mangaung. On Wednesday night, we packed our car with GRS coaches and drove to a Celtics soccer match (professional South African league) in the heart of the Mangaung. As we approached the stadium, there were thousands of fans walking to the game in their green and white striped jerseys. Everyone was excited for the game. We were warned that the Celtics have the best fans in all of South Africa and we were not disappointed. The game was truly unlike anything else I have ever experienced, in the best of ways. Tembi, an energetic and charismatic “Master Coach”, told me that the fans would not stop singing and dancing until the match was over and she was right. At halftime, she led us to rowdier section and taught us some of their cheers and dances. The enthusiasm and energy of the crowd was incredible. I loved being a part of it. We were the only White people in the entire stadium; fans were surprised to see us there. Apparently the local Afrikaners are not huge supporters of the soccer teams. I had a few people ask me in a different language what kind of fan I was since I was White. I thought it was pretty funny. Tembi just told me to keep my hands in my pockets on my money and cellphone and with that one precaution, I was fine the entire time. In the end, the game was a tie, but the entire team, including coach and manager, walked over to the most enthusiastic section of the stands and waved a huge “thank you” to the crowd. I just can’t imagine American teams ever doing the same – I loved it!



This weekend we also had two fellow interns, Anna and Chris, come visit us from Richmond. They’re really living in the middle of nowhere, in a town of just 6,000 people. The highlights of the weekend include making delicious fajitas and apple pie, finally visiting the epic Big Hole, attending a Griekwas rugby game in which our team managed to lose 58-13 at home, and watching the Arsenal v. Manchester United Game at The Halfway House, our favorite bar in town. The fajitas may have been my favorite part since I love Mexican food and thought I wouldn’t be able to have any for a year. I am also starting to enjoy watching the English Premier League (EPL) soccer games with Lindsay and Hooter and I think I might become a pretty good fan this year.

Pictures should be up soon! I’m just waiting on a package from home with the usb cables for my camera.