Sarah Callaway GrassrootSoccer

Thank you from the USA!

2010-08-17T12:03:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to write a quick note to say that I am safely back in the States, after a year in Port Elizabeth interning for Grassroot Soccer. I arrived home on July 30, and have enjoyed seeing family and friends across New England. I can't wait to see everyone and catch up on a years worth of stories!

Now that I am no longer a Grassroot Soccer intern, I was able to help with the training of the newest Intern Class while they prepared to leave for their internships in Soweto, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Kimberly, Mtubatuba(Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa), Lusaka, Zambia, Lesotho and Lilongwe, Malawi. It was a great way for me to wrap up my intern experience, while also helping the new interns prepare for their new adventure. While it was sad to realize that I was no longer an intern, it was really great to meet all the new guys and help them ease into this insane transition.

Well, now that I am home I will no longer be keeping up with this blog, but I just wanted to say thank you again, from the bottom of my heart for all the love and support that I received this past year. This internship truly would not have been possible without the support of friends and family, so I cannot thank you enough.

I hope that you all are happy and healthy, and enjoying the last few weeks of summer! As always, I love hearing from you, so feel free to send me an email at sjcallaway@gmail.com with any updates or just to say hello!!

All the best and thank you again,

Sarah

Mr. South Africa

2010-06-06T14:09:00.001-07:00

Here is the picture of us with Mr. South Africa, Denver Burns. This picture made us famous!!(just kidding).

Feel It...It is Here!!!

2010-06-06T14:00:00.001-07:00

This picture is of me tearing up the Dance Competition at our Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) Tournament! HA!

Hi Everyone!

So sorry that I haven’t updated my blog sooner, there has been so much going on and lots of updates!

I’ll briefly run through some of the highlights of the past two months:

APRIL: What a great month! We went to a music festival in the Drakensburg Mountains(near Lesotho) over Easter weekend, which was amazing. Camped out, listened to some great music and had a great time with other interns. Great to see another part of the country.

Our second Voluntary Counseling and Testing(VCT) Tournament was on April 27th, Freedom Day in South Africa. It was a really great, successful event, that was near and dear to my heart for numerous reasons: it was hosted in Motherwell, the township that I have been working closely in this entire year, where I know the teachers and children the best, and it was an event that Rosie, myself and Titie, one of our “Master Coaches” had been planning since January. So, this event was the culmination of a lot of hard work and time! Our VCT was a chance for community members and school children to get tested for HIV, while also presenting an opportunity for children to partake in a soccer tournament. Through the help of the Port Elizabeth Municipality and an organization called New Start, we were able to test 289 people, a new record for Grassroot Soccer Port Elizabeth!! We also had the Coca-Cola “waya waya” truck on hand, providing music and entertainment, even holding a dance competition(in which Rosie, Titie and I performed in! The crowd went nuts for our Mulungu(white person) dance moves! It was a very special day, one of the best days that I have had this entire year. Check out the article on the Grassroot Soccer website: http://www.grassrootsoccer.org/2010/05/13/port-elizabeth-hosts-freedom-day-vct/

MAY and JUNE: For the past few months, and since the beginning of 2010, really, we have been working and planning for the very soon to come 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP!! South Africa, as the host country, is an amazing place to be right now. Grassroot Soccer has been lucky enough to be partnering with, and sponsored by companies that are sponsors of the World Cup. Castrol, the well known oil company, is sponsoring Grassroot Soccer holiday programmes throughout South Africa during the World Cup; providing children with a healthy and positive outlet during their school holiday. And, in conjunction with the World Cup, Sony has donated thousands of tickets to Grassroot Soccer through their Sony Ticket fund, allowing underprivileged children to go to World Cup matches. So, with all these wonderful sponsorships and donations, comes quite a great deal of work! But, I think all of Grassroot Soccer is incredibly excited and honored to be given so many opportunities during this huge World event.

In Port Elizabeth, we are hosting 8 holiday programmes throughout the entire World Cup, and taking children(approximately 200!) to two matches here in the city. So, over the past few months we have been securing venues for the camps, doing security checks, determining children and other guests for these tickets, and having them sign and return consent forms. Sometimes it feels like our entire staff is on wild goose chases across the city, but slowly but surely we are making progress. While I know the next month is going to be such a crazy busy whirlwind, I think we are all trying our best to stay present and enjoy every day as it comes, recognizing that we are incredibly lucky to be getting to go to some of these incredible World Cup matches, seeing some of the best players in the world play right here in Port Elizabeth! I cannot wait. I have learned where the Ivory Coast may be eating dinner after their match here(Didier Drogba is one of their strongest players, and a player I have newly started to like), and I also heard that the teams coming through PE will be training and warming up at the gym that I go to, so the month will probably spent doing my fare share of soccer stalking, haha. I cannot wait to see some of these players in person!!

Also, in June, we hosted a really special event called the Nike GameChangers. This event was one that was also near and dear to my heart, as Mpumi, my supervisor, and Rosie and I had worked really hard on, putting it together pretty last minute. The GameChangers award is a term that Nike created, in association with their Nike (Red) Campaign. Nike, as one of our biggest sponsors, created this wonderful idea to reward high school girls who excelled in the Grassroot Soccer Skillz program, as well as in their schools, their communities, and who were aware and working towards an HIV free generation for South Africa. We had girls apply from our three sites in Port Elizabeth: Zwide, Motherwell and New Brighton, and had a top three from each site. Nike donated R15,000(approximately $2,000) towards this event, as well as the prizes: first place received a Red Dell Laptop!! Second and third places received Nike hampers filled with all sorts of Nike gear. We held our event on Friday at the Radisson Blu Hotel, a new, swanky hotel in Port Elizabeth who we have recently partnered with, and who agreed to let us host our event their for quite a cheap price. Holding our event in a swanky bar made it feel even more special for these girls! And, our coaches, as well as their teachers, some of our partner organizations, and Mr. South Africa, Denver Burns( a friend of ours, and another Ambassador for Grassroot Soccer Port Elizabeth) were all in attendance, and helped to make it a special day for these girls. Side note about Denver: he was on a television show the other night called “top billing”, sort of like Entertainment Tonight, and he spoke about his work with Grassroot Soccer, and they showed a picture of Rosie, Dom, another intern Anna, myself and Denver on TV! We freaked out!

Anyways--back to the GameChangers event-- It was so great, as a woman, to help empower and reward other women for their personal strength and dedication to their schooling and their futures. I could tell how excited and overwhelmed these girls were: some were crying, some could not stop smiling, others were speechless; it was really great to get to share this special moment with them. I was talking with one girl afterwards who told me, “I cannot believe I got a computer! Girls like me don’t get computers! I don’t know anyone with a computer!”. She was through the roof with excitement, thinking of all the things she could do with her own computer. I felt really lucky, and grateful, to Nike and Grassroot Soccer, for creating this award, and allowing us to have such a special event along with the prize giving. Even though the World Cup is almost upon us, and as a staff we have a million and one things to do, I am glad that we worked so hard to make this event special, and that our entire staff rallied around this event, and these girls. Many of our coaches are quite close with these girls, so it was great too, to see our coaches sharing and celebrating with these young women. I will never forget the reactions on their faces. It was such a great day, and one I hope they all remember for years to come.

So, that is a bit of a rundown of what is going on in my life. The World Cup kickoff is Friday, Bafana Bafana(South Africa) v. Mexico, and we cannot wait!! As they say here, “Feel it. It is here”. Soccer fever has arrived in South Africa, and in Port Elizabeth, and we are ready. I hope you all will be tuning in to watch some matches on television! If you watch any matches that are being held in the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth, look for me! I’ll try and wear something bright! But, if you don’t see me, at least try and root for the United States. They look good, and I bet Dom(one of my roommates), that if they make it to the semifinals, he has to get a tattoo of the US Soccer logo; so lets hope for some big victories!!

Regardless of what team you are cheering for, I do hope that you will tune in and watch. Enjoy it, and look out for Grassroot Soccer on TV!

Hope you all are doing well. I look forward to seeing you all stateside when I return in August! Thanks for all the love and support. More updates to come soon!

This is a picture of the intern gang at Splashy Fen, the music festival we went to in the Drakensburg Mountains. From left: Dom, Hooter(intern in Kimberley, Northern Cape), Karti(intern in Jo'burg), Chris(intern in Mtubatuba, Kwazulu-Natal), Rosie, Mike, me.

TGIF

2010-03-29T04:17:00.001-07:00

This picture is of all our coaches in front of our office, at Sithembile Primary.

As the end of every week rolls around, I begin to get more relaxed and relieved that the weekend is in sight and that things are calming down at work. Fridays are such a different type of day at our office; so you know that when you have made it through Thursday you have pretty much reached the weekend.

On Fridays, we have what we call Development Sessions; they are a day when all of our Coaches come into the office for a few hours to learn better tactics to deliver the curriculum, to receive payment stipends, to meet in their small groups to plan for the next week, and to do general logistics and spend some time together as a group.

The first day that we arrived in Port Elizabeth, we arrived on a Friday. I will never forget it: totally overwhelmed, exhausted and nervous, we walked into the office and introduced ourselves in front of the entire group, then stood in a line as each of them came by, shook our hands and told us their name. I think I remembered one name, Amy, because her name was one of the only familiar sounding names I heard that day. The four of us were completely out of our element, surrounded by 40 loud energetic individuals, speaking in a language we didn’t understand, using dramatic gestures and expressions: the four of us stood like flies on the wall, suddenly shy and quiet, barely uttering a word to anyone, just forcing smiles on our exhausted faces. “So, this is what every Friday is going to be like”, I thought.

As the weeks went by, and we all became more comfortable in the office and around the coaches, Fridays became like a welcomed habit. The format of Fridays has ranged from running activities outside, playing soccer and netball(in which, with all of my soccer coordination, I kicked a penalty kick into one of our coaches’ head), doing skits, sharing stories from their work with GRS and so much more. I wish I had kept track of what we have done every Friday, because each one has been so different, but so interesting.

Now, we have staff meetings on Thursdays, and part of the meeting is deciding what will be on the agenda for the development session. The four of us have become much more vocal in what we think should be included in these courses, and Dom and I have both had the opportunity to help lead activities for the entire group. One of my favorites was when Dom ran an energizer that involves all of them closing their eyes and walking around like an animal, trying to find their animal twin. I had tears running down my face I was laughing so hard.

Development sessions usually begin around 10 am, but the coaches begin arriving at the office between half past eight and nine, so there really is no time to even get settled in the office before they arrive. On Fridays, I usually never even open my computer before the session is over, or at all. I’ve sat on floors, tables, stood and sat outside during the duration of sessions. In short, these do not follow any sort of traditional format. While there is an agenda, and we stick to a time frame, beyond that these sessions are unlike anything I have ever experienced. It will be weird to go back to the States and a job where I will have to adjust to a more routine schedule on Fridays.

It has been interesting to have other guests and interns visit and come into the office on Fridays. They are completely overwhelmed and thrown off, unsure of how to operate, where to make phone calls or use their computer. We usually stake claim of the small closet in our office as our makeshift office for the day, the four of us eating lunch, doing work and making phone calls in a small closet filled with goals, soccer balls, papers and graduation snacks. I would say the closet is about 10 ft by 10 ft; so it is definitely some close quarters. The four of us are all used to sharing space and not really being able to get things done on Fridays, but it is absolutely entertaining to see the panic and frustration on the faces of others as they try to check their email and print things amidst the chaos of Fridays.

Because of Training workshops, end of the month payments and holiday break, we have not had a development course in over a month, so I am starting to miss Fridays. It is weird not having the coaches in our office all the time, checking in and chatting about their week. But, the next development session that we will have will fall on my birthday, so I am really looking forward to that one! I'll be sure to keep you posted. All the best from South Africa!

Take Me Out To The Cricket Match

2010-03-14T01:15:00.001-08:00

Over the past few months, Rosie, Dom, Mike and myself have been attending cricket matches in Port Elizabeth. There is a 20/20(20 overs) league, similar to the MLB, which plays across the country. The season is pretty short, and we didn’t really catch on to the excitement until later, but we have all gotten more interested and gained a better understanding of the sport.

Now, to the novice, Cricket seems really confusing. I will admit, I had little interest in watching the sport on television, simply because the rules seemed too confusing; I just didn’t have the patience to watch. But, after going to a few games and getting to root for the home team, I was hooked. PE’s team, the Chevrolet Warriors, also proved to be a very strong team. In the three matches we went to, they won every time. One of the matches was incredibly exciting: it came down to the last bowl of the game(a bowl is a pitch). Basically, it was the Bottom of the ninth with two outs and a full count.

Let me just give you a little bit of a description of the scene at these games: they are crazy! The energy and enthusiasm is unreal. And, the best part about Cricket is that the matches are also very social; you can be walking around, chatting with friends or having a picnic on the grass banks while the match is being played. And, the tickets are affordable, so families and all walks of life are able to attend the matches. To put it in prospective: the tickets are about 45 Rand each, which is about 6 dollars. I don’t think you could even get a hotdog at Fenway Park for that price! So, you know that everyone will be at the matches. And, we see everyone. You are constantly running into people you know or have seen around town. Cricket matches bring in people from across the city. And, they are so much fun. The singing and celebrating in the stands is contagious, and it is one of the few times that you see all generations and races all mixed up together cheering for the same team. There was a really amazing moment at a match we went to where the entire section we were sitting in began singing, “Shosholoza”, a song that was sung by miners as they boarded the trains to go off to work. This song was also the song that united the famous 1995 South African World Cup Rugby team at the tail end of Apartheid. So, it was a really special moment to hear everyone belting this song out at the top of their lungs.

Two weeks ago we went to a match and the same night, at the same time there was also a big rugby match going on in the new World Cup Stadium. PE fans were torn between what match to go to. The four of us were just so psyched that there was so much enthusiasm and pride in the city, and that each match brought such a large turnout. A problem we have seen here is that there is a real lack in publicity for events and such. There are so many cool things going on, but it seems like people never know when and where things are happening, so nobody shows up!

This Friday night was the series final of the 20/20 season between the Chevrolet Warriors(our home team) and the Highveld Lions. This was the World Series of 20/20 Cricket, and we were all really looking forward to the game. We usually buy our tickets a few days in advance, and on Wednesday, Mike went to buy some only to discover that the match was sold out. In just a few days the 17,000 tickets had been sold. We were shocked! We had just assumed that most South Africans would buy their tickets at the door or something; we never thought that people would actually plan in advance.

So, we found ourselves in a bit of a pickle: we really wanted to go to the match, but we had no idea how we were going to get tickets. Two other interns, Alex from Cape Town, and Anna from Richmond, were also going to be in town, so getting six tickets seemed nearly impossible.

So, on Friday afternoon, with no plan, only ambition, Dom and I set out for the stadium a few hours before the match was scheduled to begin. Foreign to the scalping world, we thought we would just start asking people for tickets near the stadium. To our surprise, the parking area was already filling up and people were able to enter the stadium hours beforehand. We were torn: do we keep trying to get tickets, hoping we can get six, or should we just go to a bar and watch the game together? After walking and asking people for a bit, one man parked in his car waved us over and told us he had two tickets. We negotiated with him for a bit, looked at the tickets and decided to go for it. Inspired and optimistic, we then decided to divide and conquer: I walked up and down the street and Dom walked along the road asking cars stuck in the traffic. With our charm, American accents and ambition, we were able to get five tickets, and we knew we could get a sixth. As we were celebrating, we decided to examine the tickets again, just to make sure none of them were counterfeit. And, sure enough, the tickets the first man sold us were from 2009. We got scammed! But, luckily, there was still lots of time before the match, so we continued walking and talking, and secured our last few tickets with time to spare. Dom and I were laughing the whole evening about how the fake tickets had been our motivation to get tickets in the first place. But, even though we lost a little money, all of us got tickets to the match and Dom and I met a lot of characters in the process. Having never scalped before, I realized it is much easier than you think, especially in South Africa. As I have said before, Police here are a joke, so cops would walk by us as we were negotiating ticket prices without blinking an eye, so there really wasn’t any issue. It is definitely going to be a big wake up call when I return to the States!

So, we made it into the match and had a great time packed in like sardines into the stadium. The Warriors killed the Lions, and we stayed in our seats long after the match had finished celebrating and dancing with everyone. It was such a great match to watch and a great way to unwind after a long week. And even though the season is over, I have a new appreciation and interest in cricket, a sport I never thought that I would find any interest in, so that is pretty cool. It may not be the Red Sox, but the energy in the stadium and the level of play made for some really exciting Friday nights.

Here is a picture of the four of us with our friend PJ at a cricket match. For this game, we got to sit in box seats for the second part of the game: the view was amazing!

An Inspiring Grassroot Soccer Story

2010-02-25T06:14:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share a story that has been circulating throughout the Grassroot Soccer community over the past few weeks. This story is particularly near and dear to my heart, and to the entire Port Elizabeth team, because this story comes from one of our coaches, and it is one of the experiences he has had working for Grassroot Soccer. Each Friday at our office all of our coaches come in for a Development Session, which involves going over announcements, meeting in their site group to talk about logistics for the week, and as a group they perform various activities which help them to become better at the jobs they do. I'll go into more depth about Fridays soon, because there is so much more to share about that day of the week, but I wanted to say that on a Friday a few weeks back, we did an activity called "most significant story", where coaches shared stories from students they have worked with over the years. We then voted on which story we felt was the most powerful, which was then going to be passed along to Cape Town, and then to potential donors and organizations interested in GRS. I am including this story in my post. If you would like to have this in a word document, please let me know and I am more than happy to pass it along! Thanks for reading, this is an incredible story and Glen is a wonderful person.

Finding Courage Through Skillz

As told by Grassroot Soccer Skillz Coach Siyabonga Glen Mgwadleni, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

I’ll never forget our first intervention at W.B. Tshume Primary School in Zwide, Port Elizabeth in August 2009. Coaches Mendisto, Amy, Nkadi and I were working with sixth grade boys and girls. When we began, it was clear that some students did not want to participate. The down-turned faces, the curious glances and the hushed whispers all said the same thing: the kids were uncomfortable. We learned later that they thought Grassroot Soccer was for little kids because they saw students just running around, and others did not want to participate because they knew we talk about HIV and AIDS and they feared being stigmatized.

The teacher at W.B. Tshume told us not to pressure those that did not want to participate and mentioned that several kids had personal/behavior problems. We felt like outsiders as we began to run Skillz practices with shy, reluctant kids. It was a monumental challenge. Some kids were absent for days at a time. It was difficult to tell if we were reaching anyone with our messages. One 17 year-old girl named Ntombi always caught my eye. She would just sit in the back, never speaking or participating in games. She was often absent too. When we did Team Talk she did not even look or listen to the other kids in her group. I feared that we were not reaching her and that we were letting her down.

The turning point of the intervention came during Practice 8, the final Skillz practice, which features an activity called “My Coach’s Story.” During the activity, we asked volunteers to come to the front of the class and share an experience that challenged them and explain how they triumphed in the face of adversity. “Volunteers only,” we repeated. There would be no pressure to perform. A young boy, one of our most enthusiastic participants, was the first to step forward. When his story concluded, he sat down, leaving the stage for a new presenter. As silence descended upon the room, I scanned the classroom for signs of life. No one could have predicated what happened next.

In the back corner of the room sat Ntombi, who had not spoken all week. Without lifting her gaze, she quietly got up from her chair and walked slowly down the aisle toward the front of the class. Her quiet confidence mirrored the class’s stunned silence.

In a soft but steady voice, she told the group that her mother was HIV positive and had been bedridden at Dora Nginza Hospital for the past six months. Because her mother had fallen ill, she had moved in with her aunt. But rather than love and support, Ntombi was met with scorn and disapproval. Ashamed of her sister’s “condition,” her aunt was determined to take it out on her young niece. She gained confidence with every word and slowly gained the courage to confess something she had never shared with anyone before.

In May 2009, one day after school, Ntombi went to Greenacres Mall with her brother’s friend. On the way back, he raped her. Despite the fear and pain that consumed her, Ntombi knew what she had to do. Ntombi went to the Dora Nginza Rape Crisis Centre, where one of the diagnostics is an HIV test. There she learned that she had, indeed, been infected with HIV. Shocked and confused, she didn’t know how to handle the situation. Without a strong support base at home, she chose to run away to live with a friend in Motherwell. This was why she had missed so many school days.

She didn’t have anyone. There was no one to protect her and no one to turn to. Although weakened by the experience, she was not broken. She still had the courage to confide in us, her Grassroot Soccer Coaches and fellow participants, to seek help from those who cared for her. She told us her story, and we connected her with the Ubuntu Education Fund, a long-standing partner of GRS that provides long-term counseling and support for youth in Port Elizabeth.

It has been four months since we completed our first intervention at W.B. Tshume Primary School. Ntombi is now attending counseling and is ready to disclose her status to her mother and her aunt. She said that things are much better in her life after sharing and telling other people about her story.

This year, when we went to her school, she was friendly and open and shared with us that she really liked the My Coach’s Story activity because she got to share what she was feeling inside. Now she is working toward the completion of grade seven. This time, when we were doing Team Talk, Ntombi told her friends the story of being raped by her brother’s friend. “Be careful,” she warned, “because even if people know you and offer you things you should not completely trust them.” She also participated in Risk Field and talked to the class about the danger of sugar daddies. Ntombi’s transformation from shy and reclusive to a classroom leader demonstrates the impact our program can have.

Now when we head to W.B. Tshume, students ask us to come early so they can tell us about their friends who also need help accessing counseling services, HIV testing, and rape victim support. These were the same students who wouldn’t even talk to us before, and now they are open to share and even help recruit kids for Grassroot Soccer programs. I am proud that, since 2006, our team in Port Elizabeth has touched the lives of more than 7000 youth like Ntombi. With the support of the Red Ribbon Foundation and others, we will continue to grow and expand our impact on the lives of South African youth.

This story was selected by GRS Coaches in Port Elizabeth using the Most Significant Change method of qualitative data collection, in which Coaches share stories with the group in response to a particular question/theme and vote on the story demonstrating the most significant impact.

Diamond City!

2010-02-16T05:57:00.000-08:00

This is a group shot of the four of us on our visit to Kimberly, another GRS site in The Northern Cape. Kimberly is a huge mining city where three other interns are, so we went up there for the weekend to visit them. This picture was taken near "The Big Hole", Kim's biggest attraction, the place where thousands of diamonds were mined.

Cool pictures

2010-02-11T06:05:00.000-08:00

Just some cool pictures I thought you all would enjoy...

This is a picture of a lion that we got up close and personal with on Safari, apparently lions love hanging out in trees. Really cool to see these animals face to face in their natural habitat.

This one is of an epic sunset in the Serengeti

Safety and Security in South Africa

2010-02-11T05:44:00.000-08:00

This picture is of Rosie, Anna and I on our holiday trip to Tanzania. This picture is from the rim of the Ngorogoro Crater, a huge mecca for animals. Probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.

Hey Everyone,

Well, things in Port Elizabeth are certainly better than they were last time I wrote. The four of us are very relieved to have the month of January behind us, and we are looking forward to the rest of 2010. The end of January consisted of us being herded from motel, to holiday flat, to our Boss, Mpumi’s house, before we finally found and confirmed the lease on our new home. After numerous negotiations and complications with our Cape Town office, we were able to solidify our new place, and even though it was a nightmare of an experience, it all worked out well in the end. Our new house was probably the best of all the homes we were looking at: four bedrooms, incredibly safe(alarm system both up and downstairs, a beeping system for every time that you open a door or a window, and keys and bars for every window and door). It is a FORTRESS! Literally. And, we live 2 doors down from our boss, which is pretty hilarious as well. Our home is spacious and comfortable, we have a pool and tennis court in the complex, and we are within walking distance to the gym as well as the beach, so we are all getting back into our active lifestyles. January put a damper on everything: our routine, enthusiasm, fitness and energy level, so it’s nice to get back into a healthy and happy routine. Plus, summer is finally upon us in Port Elizabeth, so we are psyched to be out in the gorgeous sunshine every day!

While January was stressful, and something to put behind us, we certainly learned a lot of things along the bumpy journey, and we as interns are optimistic about getting to help create a new Grassroot Soccer protocol for emergencies. Heaven forbid a situation like this ever occurs again, but if something were to happen, it would be incredibly effective to have a plan, and money set aside. We were working with minimal amounts of money during the month of January for our housing(which resulted in us living with our boss for ten days), so simple logistics and financial issues like that could be avoided in the future.

The other day, Rosie and I were talking about what we have learned throughout the six months that we have been living in South Africa, and while I have learned so many things, one thing that we both agreed upon is that we have learned to appreciate America. Sure, one of our most famous athletes is involved in a giant sex scandal and our former President has a less than perfect track record, and our obesity rates are through the roof, but the US has so many incredible opportunities and freedoms, many of which are a given for every citizen, that I have to step back sometimes and thank my lucky stars that I was born in America, as corny as that sounds.

To give you an example, we had our friend, Meg, a South African over the other night to see our new place. As she was walking around looking at the windows in our living room(all of which have bars on them), she commented that she was looking at pictures from her cousins home in Australia, and she noticed that there weren’t any bars on the windows. “The windows looked so naked and bare, I had never seen anything like it!” While in the States, many people certainly have gates and alarm systems, it is a rareity to find bars on the windows, especially on the second floor. Here, in South Africa, that is a reality. Along with that, you NEVER leave your windows open at night. There are so many ways of life here that are so common to South Africans, but become such a burden and frustration to foreigners. And, while now we are beginning to adjust and accept these habits into our daily routine, we are by no means perfect. There are times where we forget to hide our possesions, leave a window open, or forget to close curtains. All these little details are things that I would certainly stress to any visitors to South Africa before they visit. Obviously, visiting any country you have to take certain precautions, but many of them are just more extreme here.

The other night, Dom and Mike met some Americans who have only been in Port Elizabeth for a week, and already three girls within the group of twenty have been mugged. The reason being that they walked alone at night. Huge Red Flag, and as soon as Rosie and I heard this story, our reaction was, “You never do that here”. But, I can remember back to our intern training in Cape Town when we first arrived here, and most nights were spent dancing and enjoying ourselves on Long Street and downtown, where none of us were hyperactively aware of the fact that we needed to walk in large groups and be mindful of our wallets. While there were a few close calls, as a group we were incredibly lucky that nothing bad happened. All these lessons, along with so many more, are just daily reminders that life is different in South Africa, and this is a constant learning experience. The best solution is to try and keep as open of a mind as possible, and to accept that things here will never be as they are in the States, so there is simply no point in comparing the two. I must say, in the month of January I have never longed for home so much, which is ironic because January is usually the month in New England when everyone wants out!

When we talk about life lessons, many of those come from our life outside of work, but we have also learned an incredible amount as interns for Grassroot Soccer. Every day at work tries your patience and work ethic in one sense or another: whether it is dealing with the inconsistent internet, persistently calling someone for a price quote on something, conversing with teachers and principals who are hard to track down or negotiating schedules with our peer educators, there are constantly moments of humor and frustration. As we are slowly becoming GRS ‘veterans’, we are learning more and more tricks of the trade, and how to navigate these systems. While in a sense I feel like many of these systems have made us lazier, I think that in reality it is just learning, and accepting that things are done differentely, here than in the States. While work has its moments of frustration, 2010 has only been exciting and positive, and there is so much to look forward to in the upcoming months. Work was actually the driving force for all of us during our low points in January. The amazing people that we work with were helping us to maintain our sanity and sense of humor, and they were the only constant that we were able to find in our disorganized lives.

But, I’ll get into more specifics of work in the next post, so look out for that! I hope you all are doing well, thanks for taking the time to read my blog. As always, please reach out to me at any point(sjcallaway@gmail.com) with questions or an update on things in your life, I always love hearing from people!

ps. I am including a few pictures from my holiday trip to Tanzania, enjoy!

This is a picture of us with our guide and cook from our safari in Tanzania. From left: Gamba, me, Rosie, Anna and Tuma.

2010-01-21T06:26:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010 all, hope this year finds you happy and healthy, and your new years resolutions are going strong in January!

Sorry for the delay in blogging, life here has actually been beyond hectic. You know those moments where you are stressed out and believe that things cannot get any more stressful than they are, and then they do? Well, that is pretty much how I am feeling now. The good thing is that I am attempting to maintain a sense of sanity and humor throughout this roller coaster that 2010 has served up to us here in Port Elizabeth.

To begin with, the night before we left for vacation, we had a third (and hopefully FINAL) break in...yes, our THIRD! And this time, they were determined little dudes, they hauled a sketchy, homemade ladder down to the end of the complex(where we live) and climbed up the ladder into our upstairs bathroom! These guys definitely had our number. Here is the craziest part, they did the unthinkable(or at least what we thought was unthinkable), they came into our rooms. This Thursday night, Austin, another intern from Norwich, was visiting with his girlfriend, Caitlin, one of my good friends from home. They were both sleeping in my room on my floor. Neddie, one of Dom’s friends from home, was sleeping downstairs in Dom’s room...needless to say, we had a very full house and we thought that anyone would be CRAZY to attempt to break into our house with that many people. Well, guess they are full on crazy. What they did was, one climbed up the ladder, into our tiny bathroom window, proceeded to leave the bathroom and venture into Rosie’s room, and into Dom’s room downstairs. Mike and I heard everything, and both knew from our respective rooms that something was going on. Caitlin got up to use the bathroom, and as soon as she closed the door, I leapt out of my bed and immediately checked for my belongings hidden throughout my room, knowing that something was up. The second that I sat back in my bed, I heard my door open, and in walked a tall man, dressed in all black. Our eyes met, my stomach dropped, I let out a gasp, and before I could blink, he was racing down the stairs, leaving me standing in the hallway rubbing my eyes in disbelief. Did I really just see a man in my room?! Thank goodness he was as scared of me as I was of him. After a few minutes had passed, I went to Mike’s room, and he and I spoke briefly about what we had heard before waking up the others and calling the Police. Thankfully, the police actually took this report seriously, and were at our house in less than an hour.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur, between giving statements to the police, getting things fingerprinted, going into the office and packing for our vacation, but by the afternoon Rosie and I were off to Johannesburg, and Dom, Mike and Neddie were on their way up the wild coast. All of us were hoping to just put aside this stress and anxiety and enjoy a relaxing holiday vacation.

In brief, our holiday was great. Rosie, myself and Anna(who went to Dartmouth), an intern living in the Northern Cape of South Africa, went to Zanzibar(an island off the coast of the capital, Dar es Salaam) and then on Safari in the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater. Zanzibar was gorgeous; we kept comparing it to those classic beach screensaver backgrounds, or a Corona advertisement: it was heavenly and a much needed break. We did lots of reading, swimming, sunbathing, journal writing and just general relaxing, enjoying delicious fish and fresh fruit. The experience flying to Zanzibar was absolutely classic: we arrived at the “airport”, an office next to the international airport, where they wrote out paper tickets for us after we paid(in american dollars, no less), went through “security”, which consisted of a broken conveyor belt that we rolled our suitcases on, then we sat in the waiting area to board our flight. After about thirty minutes, some man in a orange vest came in and told us that we could head out to the tarmac, and he took our bags and stowed them underneath the plane. We walked out to see a tiny plane awaiting us. The plane had about 6 rows, including the pilot and co-pilot(who was actually just a passenger), so it was quite the cozy ride! But, it was awesome, I love flying in planes so I was psyched to get to watch the pilot navigate the skies. And, it was gorgeous to see the ocean and the island from the sky. In twenty minutes we had landed, and an hour later we were sitting by the beach relaxing.

After Zanzibar, we flew up to the Kilimanjaro International Airport in Moshi, where we explored the town where climbers begin their ascent. Then, we embarked on our safari. For five days and four nights we were taken by our driver, Tuma, and cook, Gamba, throughout Lake Manyara, Ngorogoro Crater and The Serengeti Plain. We saw all “The Big Five”(the animals that hunters used to target because they could sell them for large amounts of money). The big five includes buffalo, leopard, elephant, lion, and black rhino. It was so awesome! Look for some pictures to come. The Serengeti was actually so amazing, vast and beautiful, as was Ngorogoro. Tanzania is an amazing country: the people are so friendly, the culture is amazing and it was so great to visit another country completely different from South Africa. It was a much welcomed change!

So, upon returning home to Port Elizabeth, after a great New Years with Dom and his entire family who was visiting from the states, we learned that we were going to be moving from our house, that we needed to find a safe and secure new place as soon as possible. Long story short, the logistical mess of finding a new place within our budget, communicating with Cape Town about our findings and frustrations, and starting up at work again has been incredibly stressful and exhausting. We are trying to stay as optimistic as possible, but the entire process has actually been like a perfect storm: all the stars have aligned in every area to create a huge mess. But, the one blessing that has come of this is that it is has made all four of us much stronger, and we have grown closer because of the situation. I am just hoping that this will all end soon and we will be settled in a new place that is safe and secure. It is looking like that will all be settled out in the next few days, so I will certainly keep all of you updated on that process.

As always, keep in touch(sjcallaway@gmail.com)! All the best,

Sarah

'Tis the Season

2009-12-13T07:42:00.000-08:00

The holiday season always seems to be a time when we all give thanks for the great things in our lives: family and friends, roofs over our head, our health and all the blessings that we have. I have been thinking about what I am thankful for a lot lately, especially because my life and my work here has helped me to prioritize and appreciate what I have even more.

There are two things that I wanted to briefly write about, to highlight some of the frustrations, and common practices in South Africa, which I have been thinking about a lot lately.

About a month and a half ago, much to our surprise, we had two break ins at our house. We live in suburbia, comparable to Southern California, a place that you would not expect to have break ins. But, what we have learned is that you cannot expect anything here. Life is different, and South Africa is a completely different world. Just because it looks like America does not mean that it is comparable to the States. At any rate, one morning we awoke to find our back sliding door unlocked and open, and things strewn about on the floor of our living room. A robber managed to steal computers, iphones, ipods, sneakers, money and a door key while we were all asleep. Then, a week later, another(or the same) robber returned and while we were eating dinner downstairs, climbed onto our upstairs porch, opened a window and stole sneakers, a camera, a wallet and some soccer jerseys. It was such a mess, and certainly a huge wake up call for all of us. We learned that just because a place looks safe does not mean that it is safe. What is the most disappointing thing to learn is that in all honestly, people don’t really care about these things. Petty theft is so common here, it’s almost a rite of passage. Everyone we have spoken do has experienced a similar(or worse) situation, and the police here barely even bother with reports. They don’t really care, so they don’t even bother trying to help. It’s completely jarring to think that this event which impacted our lives so much is just another day in South Africa to most people. While these experiences have made us grow and we have learned a lot from them, it also makes me wonder if I could ever actually live in a place where events like this are common practice, and having your guard up is just part of life. Who knows. One thing that we have to be incredibly thankful for is that the robbers were only looking for things, not for us.

Another thing that I wanted to touch on briefly is one part of my week that always humbles me. Usually once or twice a week, one of the interns brings the trash from the office out. Where we bring the garbage is to a large pile of trash, mixed with twigs and branches. This pile sits right behind the Primary school where we work, and often you will see kids rummaging through the trash. And, the common practice with the garbage is to simply light it on fire, rather than disposing of it any other way. I mean, in all honestly, with the other things to worry about in the township, why would anyone be concerned with where their trash is going, or that they are releasing harmful toxins into the air every day? Either way, every time that I throw our black trash bags onto the pile, I always have to step back and think about things. As small of a thing as it is, that is one thing that I still have yet to fully accept. We see a lot of things on a daily basis that are quite shocking, but that we are learning to accept as part of the scene. But this garbage pile is something that I can never really get over. It makes me think about the frustrations over lack of recycling and compost in the States, and in comparison to garbage situations in most countries, we are extremely progressive. As I said, although small in the scale of concerns that South Africa faces, this small act that I am contributing to always makes me stop and think, and appreciate the every day novelties we are blessed to have in America.

So, in between holiday parties, gift shopping, skiing, skating, shoveling snow, baking and celebrating, try and remember all the great gifts that we all have every day. It’s easy to forget all that we have to be thankful for, and even seeing such hardship here sometimes I get so wrapped up in my own world that I forget to step back and appreciate all the wonderful things in life. I hope that these two small glimpses into life in South Africa help you to appreciate and recognize the gifts of life in America.

Well after work this week I am off to Tanzania with Rosie and Anna for Christmas, leaving this Friday, so I will have lots of stories and photographs to share when I return. I hope you all have wonderful holidays, and happy new year!

Voluntary Counseling and Testing

2009-12-13T07:39:00.000-08:00

On November 28th, in conjunction with December 1, World Aids Day, we had our annual Voluntary Counseling and Testing(VCT) Tournament. This is an event sponsored by Grassroot Soccer that allows high school teams from three of the townships in Port Elizabeth to participate in a soccer tournament, as well as have an opportunity to get tested for HIV. The event is also open to the public, so community members can come, watch some soccer, enjoy some live music and know their HIV status. The events are always a huge success, and this year in particular Grassroot Soccer has been breaking testing records across Southern Africa at these events. So, we were really excited to help out and see our first VCT.

The 28th also happened to be right after Thanksgiving, so after enjoying a delicious feast on the 26th with friends and co-workers, we got down to business to prepare final logistics for the big day. Dom had been working on this event for months, facing challenges, budget cuts and other frustrations along the way, but the day of the event everything went incredibly smoothly, and everyone had a lot of fun. We tested 188 people, which was a huge success. And, for the first time ever, we had every team show up to participate in the soccer tournament, which was a huge accomplishment. Everyone had a great time. All of our staff and coaches were there, helping out in various areas, like coaching the teams and ensuring that the day ran smoothly. We had prizes and giveaways as well, like cool vuvuzelas, a plastic horn that are like the South African national instrument, used at any soccer match. We also had a signed Bafana(the South African national soccer team) jersey as a prize, which a student won, so that was very exciting.

All in all, the day was really really fun, probably one of the best days that I have had in South Africa. It was a great bonding experience for our entire staff as well. The highlight of my day was at the end, we all were dancing and goofing around, then we decided to all go and get a beer together to celebrate the end of the VCT. So, Dom, Mike, Rosie, Anna(another intern who was visiting for the week) and I, along with about twenty of our coaches piled into various cars to head to a bar near the field where we held the tournament. Anna had brought her truck down for the week, so I jumped in the back along with about fifteen other coaches. We were dancing, singing and playing vuvuzelas, in a euphoric and adrenaline filled state in the back of the truck. I have rode around in trucks before, but usually on back roads in Vermont, so riding around in the back on some major roads in the township probably wasn’t the smartest move that I could have made, but I jumped on board in the excitement and energy of the moment. So, we were all packed in the truck bed, singing and jumping around, waiting for the other cars to catch up, and we see a cop come crawling towards us. My heart sank. Immediately, my gut reaction was, “If the cop sees a white girl here, in the back of a truck, he’s going to fine me”. I held my breath and tried not to make eye contact with the close approaching police vehicle. Dom, Mike and Rosie in the cars behind me watched nervously. The cop car approached us slowly, then accelerated while driving up on a grassy embankment on the side of the road, zooming past us without as much as an acknowledgment of our cars. I was in shock. While most of the time, our thoughts towards the cops here are that of frustration and resentment, at this moment, I loved the cops here, and I loved South Africa! That would NEVER happen in the States. I breathed a sigh of relief, and let out a huge laugh. We were on our way, cheering and singing songs again. That is a moment that I will never forget.

The picture above is of Mike, Dom and I with a bunch of coaches and DJ Slyso(in front), a well known radio DJ who performed at the VCT.

BAFANA FUN

2009-11-15T23:46:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went to a Bafana Bafana Match(translates to "The boys, the boys") versus Japan. Bafana is the name for the South African National team, and we got to see them play in the new world cup stadium built in Port Elizabeth. The stadium was awesome, although the game ended in a 0-0 draw, which was a bit frustrating. The energy and the fans however, made the day. It was so awesome to see people rallying behind their team, people know much more about the national soccer team here than most Americans do about our own team! The flags, the colors, the chants and the music made the viewing experience unlike any other game I have ever attended. But, you could still feel that unified comraderie leaving the stadium just like it feels when you leave Fenway Park. We all had a great time. Here is a photograph of the four of us with a bunch of our coaches who attended the game as well. Did I mention we sat five rows up from the field?! Don't think that will be happening for the World Cup!

Graduation Time

2009-11-12T13:24:00.001-08:00

So, in between having my brother visit, hosting about 10 other interns at our house for Halloween, our office has been really really busy planning for our upcoming event that coincides with World Aids Day on December 1st. Every year, the Port Elizabeth office has a VCT Tournament. VCT stands for Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV, and we combine that with a soccer tournament for local high school teams. So, teams compete in the tournament, as well as have the opportunity to know their status. The event is also open to the community and is one of the biggest events that Grassroot Soccer performs across South Africa. So, we have all been working on that, Dom in particular, and it has been quite stressful, in large part because most tasks are just incredibly difficult here.

Along with working on the VCT, it is also Graduation season. Graduations are held at at each school we work with once all the students participating in our Skillz Curriculum complete the eight practices, or graduate. It is an event that parents are invited to, as well as teachers, and the principal usually attends and speaks. Graduates are given an opportunity to share something as well, either a song, dance, poem, skit or any type of performance. They are wonderful moments of coaches and students coming together one last time to celebrate the achievements of the children during their time with Grassroot Soccer. Grassroot Soccer also provides snacks for the children and guests, which is one of the highlights of our jobs as interns(not really). We get to venture to a place called “Sweet Connection” which is a warehouse of junk food, where we buy packages of Beef flavored chips, Fruit Chutney, Nik Naks(think cheetos), and more for the people attending the graduation. This pretty much goes against all that GRS stands for, as we are trying to teach kids to be healthy and active, but if we brought them apples and oranges there would probably be a riot, so it’s best to just give them some treats on this special day.

This round of graduations in particular meant a lot to me, as it was all the schools that Dom, Siya and I visited when we first arrived in PE. I have gotten to know the principals and teachers in these schools, as well as some of the students, so I feel really connected to these places, and it is weird to think that we will not be going back to them, or else at least not until next year. It makes me think about how strong of relationships the coaches must be developing with these kids, and how hard it must be for them to say goodbye. On Tuesday, Cingani High School(pronounced Thing-ah-ni), had their graduation, where approximately 230 children graduated from our Skillz Curriculum. I was particularly excited for this graduation, because the coaches had told me these children were all really intelligent and passionate about Grassroot Soccer, and because I have gotten to know one student at Cingani quite well. Wisdom, a 14 year old girl was at the holiday camp in Motherwell as well, so I got to talk a lot with her there, and she is such a motivated, inspiring girl who is intelligent beyond her years. We talked about life goals and dreams, as well as HIV/AIDS and the pressures that girls face in South Africa. She recited a beautiful poem to me about HIV, and I encouraged her to recite it at the graduation, which she did. I have decided to include it in my blog, because I think it is so beautiful:
AIDS

I am here today with a big bag
I'm ready to produce my seeds
Spread them and plant them

Seeds with no future
Seeds with no life

Ready to wipe the nation
So you better watch out

The only thing I am after it's you. You cannot run you
cannot hide

But the only thing you can do is
to protect yourself not for one minute
but for your whole life

So be aware and be wise
Use protection before
I get you!!

She is quite the amazing girl. It meant so much to her to get to perform this poem in front of so many of her classmates. She is just one example of the many, many children that Grassroot Soccer touches in such amazing ways. Before beginning the Skillz Curriculum, Wisdom barely knew anything about HIV/AIDS, and she actually refused to partake in the activities. It was only after talking with the coaches more, and learning more about Grassroot Soccer, that she agreed to participate, and after that, she was hooked.

I hope that her story and poem will continue to inspire and touch you all, as it did for me. She has made a big impact on me and my life, and seeing how affected she was by GRS was a reminder to me about just how amazing and powerful this organization truly is.

Much more to come in the next few days, this weekend we are going to see Bafana Bafana (the South African national team) play Japan in a Friendly World Cup match in the new World Cup stadium in Port Elizabeth. It should be nuts, I cannot wait.

Hope you all are doing well, thank you for the continued love and support.

Ben's Visit to South Africa

2009-11-12T12:56:00.000-08:00

My apologies for not posting in a month...the time is flying and things keep getting busier and busier! I thought I would include a photo from my brother, Ben's recent trip to South Africa. He came and spent a few days in Port Elizabeth, went to work with me, got to meet a bunch of other interns for Halloween, and then we drove from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town along the Garden Route. It was a great week with Ben, and it was so sad to have him leave. It was such a nice feeling to have family come and visit. This is a photograph of the two of us petting an elephant, which we got to ride afterwards. It was such an awesome experience, although not very comfortable!

BUNGEE!

2009-10-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

Thought I should include a picture of the group after we went Bungee Jumping! Yes, Sarah went bungee jumping, shocking, I know. This is picture of the four of us with Fergus, the other guy who jumped with us and our bungee crew. We jumped off at a place called Bloukrans, the world's highest bungee jump off a bridge. We jumped at 216m, equivalent to the height of the Met Life building in New York! Craziness. Never again, but quite the rush!

Braai with the Coaches

2009-10-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had a “Braai” (BBQ) with all forty of the coaches at our house. It was really exciting to have them over in a non work setting, but I don’t think any of us realized how many people forty truly is! It was a little bit chaotic, but a lot of fun, and great to spend time getting to know all of the coaches outside of a work setting. There was lots of incredible food that they cooked for us, as well as lots of dancing and playing games. I don’t think I have ever met forty people as loud and crazy as these coaches-when they all come into the office everything stops because they are so ridiculously loud, yelling and dancing around, it’s hysterical, but easy to max out on it after awhile. If you think that I am loud, you have not seen ANYTHING! The four of us pretty much stop working once they all roll in for meetings and sessions on Fridays, because there really is no way to get anything done with them all here. Certainly a really different work dynamic, but I have grown to love it, and I miss the coaches when they are not in the office, because they bring so much fun and good energy to the office. It’s nice to get to joke around and laugh with them to break you from the stress and hectic office environment.

So, after a busy week, it’s nice to have a bit of a relaxing, rainy Sunday to relax and catch up on things before work begins again tomorrow. This week will be another busy one, preparing for an evaluation we have of some coaches in two weeks, and this week the coaches are going through psycho-social and basic counseling training, so there will be a fair amount of things going on in the office.

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying baseball playoffs, the start of the NFL season and all the other great things that fall has to offer in the states! Thank you again for all the love and support, it’s so great to hear from you all!

This is a photograph of me at the holiday camp with some Motherwell Coaches: Lavista, Sindi, Nikza, V.I.P, Spakes, Voete and Mhama. It has been great to get so close to all of them, they are teaching me so much.

2009-10-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

Holiday Program

2009-10-11T08:55:00.001-07:00

Last week was quite the hectic week, as we ran holiday camps in all three of the townships that we work in. These camps, sponsored by Castrol, were a great way to keep kids active and off the streets during one of their school holidays. The idea was to recruit students from each township through local soccer and netball coaches, as well as teachers in the township schools. The students were given four hours per day to play games and participate in our curriculum. By the end of the week, students who attended camp every day were given Certificates proving that they had graduated through our Skillz Curriculum, just like their peers in school, which is the area that we normally target.

The week of the holiday program was really hectic, but also a lot of fun. We only had one car to get us between three sites, as Rosie was at a Training of new coaches in a town a few hours northeast of Port Elizabeth. It made for quite a lot of driving and waiting in between sites, but we worked it all out. Our car was packed with mini goals, coaches and supplies as we darted in between the three sites every day.

We also were lucky enough to have Bill Miles, our COO, and a Norwich resident, in town visiting with his family. It was great to see them and catch up on things in the Upper Valley, as well as in Cape Town. Also, two Cape Town interns were up for the week: Phil, who works with Bill, was around to help us out for the week and observe the camps, and Corey went to the Training of Coaches with Rosie. It was great to see other interns and show them around PE, as we are really proud of the city and the places that we work.

Siya, my supervisor who has taken me under his wing training me in all things Programs, was at the Training of Coaches for the week as well, so a lot of responsibility was placed on me, which was both exciting and overwhelming! It was pretty cool to be the only GRS worker at the camps, besides the coaches. It made me feel like the office really trusted me, and that gave me more confidence to step it up. Because the camp was sponsored by Castrol, there was a lot of extra work that had to be done, taking pictures, interviewing kids, observing and taking data, so the week was exhausting, but rewarding. It meant so much to me when I spoke with kids and they talked about the impact that the camp had on their life, and what it had taught them. It kept kids out of trouble, even for a few hours, and taught them a great deal of valuable information about themselves, HIV/AIDs and respecting others. Getting to be out, in the field for the entire week watching the coaches work also gave me much more respect for them as people and for what they do. The work that they do is truly amazing. They inspire and motivate children in ways that I have never seen before. It’s funny, sometimes the coaches just look like quiet, average people, and once they are in front of a group of children, they light it up and are completely different people.

Working at the camp really made me appreciate Grassroot Soccer and the amazing work that is being done by the organization across southern Africa. If this is happening in one site, I cannot imagine what great work is being done across all sites. Working in the NGO world, you get to see a lot of other NGOs and talk with people who work for them, so you begin to realize how much GRS really has their act together, and what we are doing is light years beyond many of the other partner NGOs that we work with.

After an exhausting week for everyone, the PE crew along with Corey and Phil, the two Cape Town interns visiting for the week, went up to Hogsback, a mountain town about two hours away. It was beautiful, and reminded me so much of Vermont. We saw pictures of it in the fall and winter and it looked just like New England. It was cool to go on a long hike and explore the town, I definitely want to go back there. A great, relaxed atmosphere, and it was so nice to get away after our busy week.

Now that the camps are over, the office has been hectic collecting all the data from the camps: the quizzes we give the kids before and after the camp, (which helps us to see how much the kids are learning), as well as the focus groups we have to run with campers(participants) and the coaches, about what went well, what we need to work on, and any feedback that they have. The work is never done! Things are really starting to pick up in the office, and I think from here on out we are going to be really busy. There is a lot of exciting work being done, so I am pumped to get started with more projects. All of the interns as well as the assistant site coordinators have a lot of ideas and side projects, as well as the day to day work, so things are certainly picking up.

2009-10-09T03:06:00.000-07:00

This is a group photograph taken at Tsitsikamma, a gorgeous national park that we went to for a weekend.

Please Vote for Ethan!

2009-09-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

If you have a minute, please vote for Ethan Zohn in this competition. If he wins, half of the proceeds($5,000) will be donated to GRS! Former Survivor: Africa winner and co-founder of Grassroot Soccer, Ethan is an amazing man, so please show him support!

http://www.thegentlemensfund.com/final_vote.asp

2009-09-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of me hanging out watching a Street League soccer match behind our office with some of our amazing coaches.

Coach's Story and Development Session

2009-09-19T07:52:00.001-07:00

Happy Fall everyone! I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the changing of the seasons(for most of you). Things are moving along really well in Port Elizabeth, work at the office is becoming more and more hectic with ongoing projects and upcoming events, so the atmosphere is great and quite high energy most of the time!

In a previous blog I mentioned what my work for Grassroot Soccer entails this year, but I wanted to expand on it further and go into more detail about some specifics. In Port Elizabeth I work in Programs, an element of which involves implementing our curriculum that we have created, called Skillz, into the schools that we work with. Skillz is an intensive 8 session(each session(“practice”) is 45 minutes long) run by our “coaches”(role models from the community) which encompasses games, team building activities, group discussions(“team talk”), and assignments to work on before the next session(“micro-move”). There is a TON of lingo within the Skillz curriculum, so I won’t overwhelm you just yet with all of that. In the time that I have been here, I have already grown really familiar with the practices, and I have even gotten to help facilitate a few(with the help of coaches) at various times, which has been really cool, and something that I never actually imagined would happen. I have also had the chance to go out “in the field” many times to schools in the townships that we work in to see coaches in action running through practices. Really cool stuff. The picture I posted before of the kids playing “find the ball” is just one example of an activity played in a practice.

So, on Fridays at our office we have what are called Development Sessions. Development Sessions involve all 40 of our Coaches coming to our office from 9:30 to 11:30, or later, usually. Sessions vary in length and style, but all sessions involve time for each township specific group to meet and talk about highs and lows for the week, goals for the next week and general logistics about how work is going. Yesterday our development session was Session 8 of the Skillz Curriculum. Two relatively new coaches ran the practice, so that they had an opportunity to perfect their presentation and receive feedback from more experienced coaches. So, Lidz(“God”) one of our coaches, and Nkiza, led the session. Dom, Mike and I were in the office so we got to participate. When the coaches come for Development sessions, everything else comes to a halt in the office, so Fridays are both fun and really hectic. Imagine 40 loud, goofy, outgoing people all shoved into one room--it gets crazy! So, the practice began with the group breaking into three smaller groups so that we all could share our “Coach’s Story”. The coach’s story is part of the Skillz Curriculum, and it is a story or memory of a defining moment in the coach’s life which they share with the children they are working with. It is a moment for the children to connect with the coach’s better, seeing their struggles and being able to compare their life and relate to the coach on another level. The coach’s story doesn’t have to be HIV/AIDS related, but most of the coaches have stories about the effect of HIV/AIDS on their life.

In my group of about 15 coaches, each person had a few minutes to share their story. I was really excited and interested to hear these coaches tell such an intimate story, and I also was not sure what I was going to talk about, fearful that my stories would not compare to anything that these people have been through. The stories that these coaches told were incredible: beyond what I could have imagined. I was blown away with how easily they were able to share these stories, and also in shock at what these people have experienced at such an early age. Helen Epstein, author of the book The Invisible Cure, one that I highly recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa, spoke to the predicament in South Africa. She said that here in particular, not everyone is infected, but everyone is affected. The only problem is that in general, here people do not talk about it. So, getting to hear coaches, role models and young people around my age, talk about how this virus has affected their lives was not only inspiring but also quite intense. To give you a sense of what some of the stories were like, one girl(she is literally a girl, about 18 years old), told the story of how her best friend went out drinking one night, was raped and the assailant was HIV+, thus infecting her. This coach said that working for GRS was her way to help make it up to her friend. Another coach spoke about his sister passing away from HIV, and yet another spoke about her father having an affair, getting diagnosed with HIV and never telling her mother. These are only a few of the stories, and I have not even done them justice with my brief description of what was said. There were tears, lots of hugs and at the end I felt closer to these coaches than I had before, and I also had a better understanding of who they are and why they are so passionate about working for this organization.

An activity like that stays with you, and I knew that I wanted to share this with everyone because these stories are ones that I find myself continually thinking about. Dom and I began talking about the coach’s story, and formulating our own, which led to a great conversation between the two of us, and I immediately felt more connected to him. It’s remarkable how, when given the right venue, people can open up so easily.

Friday night, we were lucky enough to have two surprise guests from Cape Town staying with us! Zak(the Monitoring and Evaluating MASTER of GRS),and Elise(who works closely with Bill Miles, our COO in Business and Development), both Dartmouth graduates who now work for GRS and live in Cape Town came through PE on a surprise, unplanned visit. They were on vacation and missed their flight so we got to show them around the city and spend time with them, and it was wonderful! Getting to see familiar (American!) faces, talk about GRS news and updates, and laugh it up was a wonderful feeling; the four of us were giddy with excitement and happiness! I think that talking with them, and hearing about what is in store for the upcoming year, for GRS and in Port Elizabeth in particular, made me all the more excited and enthused about what is to come. It was a very pleasant surprise, and a great start to our weekend!

Something that I also wanted to briefly highlight about what makes Grassroot Soccer so great is that every voice matters. Tommy Clark, one of the founders, is constantly corresponding within the GRS community, emailing the interns and checking in with everyone. And, even lowly interns like myself feel that we truly have a voice and make an impact. Ideas that I have had and mentioned are now becoming a reality-all it takes is speaking up to any superior and most likely, if feasible, your goals can be met. It’s a really empowering, and inspiring feeling to know that your ideas(“nuggets” as they are called in the GRS world) actually can make a difference. With an NGO such as GRS which is constantly evolving and changing, sometimes it is overwhelming to think of adding in other suggestions or ideas to the mix, but it is reassuring and inspiring to know that our feedback is greatly appreciated and taken into consideration. It certainly helps to light that fire within me to think of more constructive methods of approaching aspects of our work and other things that could be done to help GRS out overall.

If you have a free minute, check out the new GRS website: www.grassrootsoccer.org. They just updated it and it looks great! If you go to the page: Who we are, scroll down to Interns, you can see photos and read bios about the other interns who are working for GRS this year. It’s really cool to read about all the employees as well, and how they got involved with GRS. And, the website has a lot of great information about what is new with GRS as well as information, history and videos. Lots of cool stuff to see!

In other, more light-hearted news, this weekend we went to Addo National Park, about a 40 minute drive from Port Elizabeth, and one of the most well known Elephant Parks in Africa. We went on a 6am safari, which was really cool. We didn’t actually get to see a lot of animals(one elephant, warthogs, kudu(like antelope), and a few others) just being in the park and checking out the scene was awesome. Afterwards, we went to this cool private zoo where we got to play with baby lions! It was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done, really crazy to get to hold and pet and play with little lions, don’t think that would fly in the states!

Looking forward to the upcoming weeks, we have Holiday Programs starting September 28th, which is a week of “camp” style activities for students while they are on school holiday, so I should have lots of photos and updates from that. Dom, Mike and I will pretty much be the coordinators of the camps in each township. And, Rosie is going to help with a week long training for new coaches, so lots will be happening! I’ll be sure to keep you all posted.

Again, I hope you all are doing well. It has been great to hear from people and to know that people are enjoying the blog! Please keep in touch and let me know how you are doing, it is always great to hear from people, even a quick e-mail. Thanks for all the love and support.

Skillz Event with Saint Barnabas Church

2009-09-07T01:53:00.000-07:00

This photo is of a group of boys participating in the activity called, "Find the ball". In this game, there are two lines of people standing side by side, hands behind their backs, facing the other group. The leaders of the activity walk behind each line and put the ball in someone's hand, and they pass it down the line until the leader tells them to stop. Then, it is up to the other team to guess who has the tennis ball in the line across from them. We use tennis balls that have "HIV" written on them to teach the children that you cannot tell who has HIV just by looking at them, and the only way you know your status is by getting tested. It's a really fun game that children enjoy and learn a lot from as well. Our coaches do a fantastic job of presenting the game in an energetic and positive matter, it is amazing to watch. We have also been lucky enough to get to help out with these activities and presenting them, which is a bit nerve wracking but also really fun!

2009-09-07T01:48:00.000-07:00

This photo is from an event we had this past weekend at Saint Barnabas Church in Zwide, one of the townships that we work in. We had an informal soccer tournament, some netball(like basketball, but worse) and did some of the activities from our Skillz Curriculum. This is a picture of three of us (Rosie, Mike and myself) with some of the coaches and our supervisor, Mpumi(lower right). The event was a great success and a lot of fun!

Port Elizabeth is like Detroit

2009-09-03T03:15:00.000-07:00

When I am asked to describe Port Elizabeth, the first thing that comes to mind is that PE is like the Detroit of South Africa. An immediate reaction to that statement would probably be one of repulsion, but Port Elizabeth has a lot more beauty than one would expect, and I think that it is an overlooked city. I compare it to Detroit because PE is a struggling industrial city, with smokestacks and a large conglomerate of the South African automotive industry based here. We pass GM, Volkswagen and others frequently, as their centers are based in PE.

But, there is so much more to PE, in fact that is just what you see initially. We have been able to run on trails near our house, called the snake trails, which remind me so much of Southern California. The wafting smell of Eucalyptus, the dry heat, small branches and twigs and palm trees make me feel as though I am in Laguna Beach. Even the road to enter Port Elizabeth reminds me of the curving entrance to Laguna or other southern California towns. At the top of a hill on this run, you can look out over the city, see the ocean and see mountains in the distance. We literally have the best of all worlds.

When we drove out to Jeffrey’s Bay last weekend, about a 40 km drive west towards Cape Town, it felt like I was in the countryside of Europe. Every place we go has a different feel, the valleys and winding roads, along with gorgeous pastures and amazing mountains in the distance had such a European feel, then we would pass a hugely deserted plot of land, with dry, dead looking trees interspersed, and I would remember that I am in South Africa. The variety is quite incredible.

I have gone running down by the beach, and the feeling there is also reminiscent of California: large homes decorate the edges of the sand, and the beach seems to go on forever. It also feels a bit like Delaware beaches, with the tall homes right along the road, looking out onto the channel that drops the water into the ocean. It’s hard to believe that I can see all of this within two minutes from my house.
 Then, if we drive for about 15 minutes we are taken to the townships. The township where I will be working this year, Motherwell, is in the opposite direction from where our office is, in a township called Zwide. Motherwell sits on a hill looking over PE, and is much more organized, clean and wealthier than Zwide. It doesn’t feel as much like a township, although all it takes is a cow crossing the road for you to remember where you are. Tonight, for example, even in our swanky neighborhood of Blue water Bay(we live in a nice, suburban part of town, but we call it the ghetto compared to some of our neighboring homes), two donkeys ran across the road in front of us! Donkeys! Near the gas station! It was hysterical.

I think what has surprised me the most, and also frustrated me when talking with other interns who are scattered about in Zambia, Namibia and Malawi, is that South Africa is a developed country. While I was well aware of this upon arriving, I was still excited and waiting in anticipation to see what Cape Town looked like outside of the airport when I arrived. Interestingly enough, we did get to drive through the townships of Cape Town, some of the biggest in the world, before we entered the city, but I was surprised at the infrastructure. After all, the only other experience I have had in Africa was the trip that I took to Senegal while studying abroad in France. Senegal and South Africa are two completely different countries, so expecting to see what I saw in Senegal in South Africa was a bit of a leap. I was talking with another intern who studied in Senegal about the differences between the two, we both remarked that Cape Town did not really feel like Africa, it had more of a European feel. In Senegal, a still developing country, there are is no real order on the roads, many roads are not paved(or if so it is a poor job); in short, there is no infrastructure. In South Africa, driving down the street to the grocery store feels the same as in New York, California or Vermont. However, the townships in South Africa make me feel as though I am not at home. On our drive to work, we pass miles upon miles of tin roof shacks scattered across the landscape as far as the eye can see, every different color. These house families of eight to nine, and sometimes more, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents all living together under one roof at a time. On rainy, cold days I stop and think about what it must be like in those small shacks, with little insolation or protection from the outside. The roads in the townships are dirt, lined with garbage and sewage, stray dogs and goats milling about, mixed with children running around and women selling fruit along the streets. People are, as I have so often found, so friendly, outgoing and optimistic considering the obstacles they face on a daily basis. The other day we were leaving the townships and we saw a man get tackled on the street by security officers as well as locals, because he was trying to steal from a woman’s fruit stand. So, it’s nice to know that people are still looking out for one and other, when you could so easily be consumed with looking out for yourself.

I think that the combination of lives that I am living is one of the best experiences about living in Port Elizabeth, because myself and the other interns whom I live with are all experiencing so many different worlds. We get to interact and meet Afrikaners in our neighborhood(I will get into more detail about the segregation still present), we get to mingle with tourists down by the beaches, and we get to work and spend majority of our time with blacks in the townships. I still cannot get over the feeling of walking into schools in the townships to the stares of hundreds of kids, fascinated by your color, your clothes, your accent. Having the respect of the people in the townships is the most important thing to me, because they look at most white people with such distain and hatred, so once they know that we are a. trying to learn xhosa, and b. not an Afrikaner, they usually treat us much more in a kinder and more civil manner.

Let me give you an example of our split lives: Last Friday, we finished work at about one thirty, after meeting with all of the coaches(there are 40 in PE), discussing the upcoming week and making sure of all them were paid correctly. So, after work, the three people that I live with were famished, so we decided to go to our favorite braai(BBQ) place just down the road in Zwide, the township where we work. They have the most incredible meat that I have ever tasted. What you do is you walk in to this little deli/store, order the meat that you want(we always chose beef and lamb), they pour their spice concoction on it, you buy whatever else you want to buy(we choose cokes and a loaf of whole wheat bread, in an attempt to feel a bit healthier), then you bring the meat around to the back of the building where grills and outdoor seating is set up, and the men back there grill your meat to perfection and bring it over to you, on thick brown paper, and you gnaw, rip and chew at the meat in any fashion you want, as long as it does not involve silverware or napkins. It’s a riot. And, it’s great to be in the thick of it all, we have already become friends with the grill men! So, we ate there, went home, hung out for a bit, then went down to the boardwalk by the water for the evening. There were a few soccer games on that we wanted to see, so we decided to have dinner down there as well. The boardwalk has a casino, a movie theater, bowling alley and lots of cute little tourist shops, it feels very much like florida or any resort spot. We ate at this cool little restaurant with house music blasting all night, and sipped on wine and mixed drinks while watching the game. One of my house mates commented on the drastic difference between our two meals that day, one in the township and one in the city: literally like night and day. It’s a great combination though, because not only do you get to experience both worlds, but it is nice to have a place to come back to that can bring you out of the intensity of the townships, as thinking about it over time gets me incredibly overwhelmed and sad.

Before I forget, I guess I should give a more proper introduction of the people whom I live with. I live with two guys, Mike and Dominic(Dom), and Rosie. Mike is from New Jersey, is 23 and just graduated from Boston University with his masters in Public Health. Super laid back, funny, surfer dude with a great attitude, he is going to be working in Monitoring and Evaluation in our Port Elizabeth office, which basically means he will be running focus groups talking to children, monitoring data and running his own sort of “experiments” here out in the field. He is responsible for recording a ton of data and the quizzes that every graduate must fill out, so as we are expanding,his work is going to get heftier and heftier. But, he has a lot of great ideas and he is beyond competent, so I know that he will rock at what he is doing.
Dom is from Massachusetts, and is also one of the nicest people that I have ever met. Really, the group of people whom I live with is unreal! We all click really well and each bring a different outlook and perspective to the group dynamic. Dom just graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine, and is good friends with my friend from home who also went to Bowdoin, Lindsey Schickner. So, we immediately had that connection. He played soccer at Bowdoin and is super funny, positive and such a daredevil! Also a big sox and pats fan(everyone in my house is, so that’s great). Dom is working in Programs with me, which entails working closely with our coaches who implement the curriculum at schools, coordinating their schedules at schools, making sure they are paid on time, but also helping with logistics like our new street league, which is a tournament style league for kids to play in after school, and getting other things up and running. The two of us have been driving around to schools a lot, seeing graduations, participating in some of the activities in our Skillz curriculum and doing other random things. It’s been really awesome, and it is so cool to get to know the coaches and see them in action.
Rosie is from Maine and just graduated from Colby College in Maine. She also played soccer there and is a riot! Subtle humor, positive energy, this girl cracks us all up. She is a little bit more quiet than I am(shocking, I know), but once you get her going there is no stopping her! She and I get along really well, and it’s a nice balance to have two guys and two girls, so the guys can go and have “guy time” while the girls can also go and have “girl time”. We played Pictionary the other night, girls v. boys, and we won by almost ten points...just goes to show that girls rule! ha.

Well, I hope that everyone is doing well, it is great to hear from people about what is going on in their lives, so please e-mail me(sjcallaway@gmail.com) at any point to check and or just say hi! I would love to hear from you. Much more to come, I have a few other blogs in the works.

All my best!

Sarah

First week of work

2009-08-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

Sisonke!

Well I am settling into life in Port Elizabeth slowly but surely, the biggest hurdle so far being learning how to drive on the opposite side of the road in a standard! Things are going well, we just had our first weekend here where we got settled in, had a braai, a barbeque with the staff in the office and Ro, an intern who is living in our house and moving out tomorrow. I am beginning to learn the real definition of “Africa Time”, a hard lesson to learn coming from the States where everything is go, go go! Just to give you some examples: for our braai we told people to arrive at noon, and they arrived around 130 or 2. Then, at work, they told us to be at work at 8, we arrived at 815, they didn’t begin doing anything until probably 930...it’s quite a different world. But, it’s a lot of fun too! Today is my first official day of work, where the internet is down so we are scrambling around trying to get as much done as we can without internet. I have spent majority of the time so far sitting around, and calling the Cape Town office speaking with another intern about ordering some guides for a “Training of Coaches”, a four day training session Siya, my boss, runs to teach new coaches how to implement our curriculum in the schools. They said to expect the unexpected, and a lot of down time mixed with really crazy busy times, so I am now seeing what they mean. You have to be comfortable asking people for work, but also comfortable sitting around when there is no work. So, it’s a lot of cultural lessons. At times I do feel like I have just been thrown into this mix and this world without having a chance to get my bearings, but I think it will all work out soon.

I thought that it would be important at some point to give you all more of a background on GRS and their sponsors, and how we are able to do what we do. GRS is sponsored by a number of organizations, like USAID, PEPFAR(President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief) Established by President Bush, who actually did a number of great things for International HIV/AIDS awareness), Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, Nike, FIFA and more. The amount of partners and organizations working with GRS is astounding, and quite surprising. To have an organization that is so new(GRS was founded in 2003) having so many globally respected organizations backing them up is pretty incredible. During our training we learned about these organizations and their sponsorships, as well as some overarching initiatives, like F4, which stands for Football for an HIV free generation. Our Skillz program, the curriculum that we teach kids about HIV/AIDS and confidence building is one of the programs which falls under F4, which is like the overarching HIV/Soccer initiative(confusing, I know. I am still trying to figure it all out!). The amount of balls GRS is juggling is pretty ridiculous.

Some of the new plans that GRS has going on include The Football for Hope Center, a center that they are opening in December in Khayelitsha, a township outside of Cape Town. This is a center with a football pitch out in front, which will also have offices and classroom type space to teach children, run after school programs, and basically serve as a venue for students to get off the streets and to be doing something productive. Part of this Football for Hope Center is the idea of 20 centers by 2010, they are hoping to establish 20 centers like the one in Khayelitsha across the country. Along with this and many other programs, it seems like everyone at GRS has other side projects that they are working on to help continue the GRS mission. It’s really remarkable. I am inspired every day by these people and the work that they are doing. It’s great to be around this incredible energy, the organization is growing by the day and it’s exciting to be a part of it! The staff has expanded in huge numbers, and they are also trying to hire only South Africans, hopefully making GRS a South African organization, with GRS Global that will include other nationalities in other offices across the globe.

That is sort of generally speaking what the Cape Town Headquarters is working on, they are the point person for all of the offices across South Africa. Beyond South Africa, interns are placed in Nambibia, Masiena(near the border of Zimbabwe), Lesotho, Malawi and Zambia. The interns who are not in S. Africa are working on similar projects, or helping to establish GRS in other locations. In Lesotho for example, the two interns there are working on a program called Kick 4Life, which works hand in hand with GRS, so they are not working specifically for GRS, but with a similar organization. In Malawi, they are working with Baylor to help set up a GRS office in Lilongwe. For us in Port Elizabeth, we are doing more of the traditional Grassroot Soccer work. Port Elizabeth is the hub of Grassroot Soccer, probably the second biggest office and the most important for graduating students through our curriculum. The curriculum that we used, called Skillz curriculum, has been adapted and altered over the years and now is a combination of games, activities and sessions for the children to work together, discuss issues, and hear stories from their coaches (peer mentors). Grassroot Soccer as a whole is hoping to graduate 26,000 students through their curriculum from October 1 of 2009 through September 31 of 2010. And, for Port Elizabeth, we are hoping to graduate 16,000 out of that 26,000 in schools in the neighboring townships--well over half of the estimated graduates are expected to come from PE! So, we certainly have a lot of work to do.

This week, I have been going with my boss, Siya, a dynamic little jokester, and Dom, a fellow intern, to schools in townships surrounding Port Elizabeth. The township I will be working closely with this year is Motherwell, which is on the outskirts of the city. We have been going to new schools and pitching our curriculum to principals and Life Orientation Teachers(sort of like Health/phys. ed teachers), in hopes that they will agree to have us established in their schools, working with 6, 7, 8 and 9th graders. Tough ages to follow and target, but also some of the best as at that age children are most vulnerable to peer pressure, and are beginning to think about sexual relationships, but hopefully have not started yet. The reason why we target this age group is because GRS hopes that we can prevent these kids from making the wrong choices before they start veering off track. It has been really interesting going into these schools and talking with the administration, and also very intimidating! Siya had me explaining all on my own what we do and why we do it, which was really scary at first, but also so cool. I am really starting to feel connected to the organization, and even more passionate about what we do and what makes GRS such an amazing organization. Also, while we were visiting schools we got to stop by a school that already has GRS working there, and we got to see some coaches in the middle of a session with 6th graders, which was really fun. We did some energizers with them, which involve dancing in the middle of the circle, a take on head, shoulders, knees and toes and some others. And, it is always a great time to learn some more Xhosa, one of the languages spoken here, and the most prevalent language in the Townships. It has a lot of clicks, so it’s pretty challenging, but all of us are confident that we will learn/pick up a good amount by the end of the year. Then, we got to watch the children perform an activity, called Risk Field, where children have to dribble around cones that represent obstacles that they face in life: HIV/AIDS, unprotected sex, rape, drugs, alcohol, violence, etc. If they hit a cone, they have to do pushups. They line up in teams and have to race each other through the cones. Dom and I got to play along with them today, and it was such a riot. The kids are super energetic and excited, participating a ton and working really well with each other. And, they are also really respectful of the coaches, who become huge role models for them as they live in the townships and connect with each of the students. The only thing that’s still becoming hard to adjust to is being white, as we are the only white people around usually, so we get a lot of stares and kids yell, “Mulungo”, which means white person in Xhosa.

So far, things are going great. It’s been really rewarding to see what work is being done in the townships, and getting to play with children and interact with the locals has by far been the biggest highlight for me. Yesterday I had a moment of realization, as I was sitting outside on the soccer pitch behind our office, watching some street league play. I was talking with a few of the female coaches from Zwide, one of the townships, while I was looking around at the scene: us, on a soccer field, in the middle of a township, and it really hit me what I am doing and where I am living. Sometimes I forget where I am, and moments like that bring me back to reality. It’s so eye opening working in a township and seeing what people endure on a daily basis. Certainly makes you appreciate what you have, and how lucky we truly are. And, it shows the strength and resiliency of the human spirit. I have been amazed by everyone that I have met so far, and I know this is only the beginning. Thank you to everyone for your support and emails, it is so wonderful to hear from people. I miss you all and hope that everyone is doing well. I hope to have more to update you all on soon!

All my best and much love,

Sarah

2009-08-18T15:21:00.001-07:00

The video below shows a bit of our office and all of us working very seriously...we have to get used to having down time in the office as things move a bit more slowly here. But, I am quite confident work will start picking up! This picture is of the entire group of interns(except Dom, one of the guys I am living with, has been cut out a bit). This shot was taken on the turf field that was built in honor of a soccer player at Franklin & Marshall who passed away due to heart complications a few years ago. The field is in Khayelitsha, a township outside of Cape Town. It was pretty awesome to get to play a huge, Grassroot Soccer-wide soccer tournament on this field(even our COO played!), in the thick of the township. We all had jerseys and team names, and balls were flying all over the place, over the fences, everywhere! The highlight of my playing was when one of the founders, Kirk Friedrich(who played on the Zimbabwean National Team), kicked a midfield shot that was going into goal, and I intercepted it, hoping to help with the goal, instead blocking his shot completely. I heard a lot of "Way to go, Scal!" after that, haha. My nickname has stuck even here!

First day of work!

2009-08-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

2009-08-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.worldmapper.org/images/largepng/227.png

Check this out, this is what the world would like if HIV prevalence determined territory size. Crazy, isn't it?

Also, check out this video of the Cape Town staff of Grassroot Soccer welcoming all of the interns on our second night in Cape Town! Quite the welcome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VwJXy-LKzI

If you are feeling particularly ambitious, there is a part two of this, haha.

More updates to come! I am finishing up my next blog entry, look for it in the next few days. In the mean time, I love getting emails, so feel free to email me at sjcallaway@gmail.com! Also, check out grassrootsoccer.org for more information on what we do/are doing, our sponsors, etc. Lots of exciting things going on!

KILO

2009-08-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hello to all!

Greetings from South Africa, my home for the past two weeks and for the next year! I arrived in Cape Town on August 2nd with a group of other interns, and we had training in Cape Town at our hotel for the first week-packed days going over forms, learning about the history of S. Africa and more of the biology of HIV, and also getting to play soccer with local children, go on some amazing hikes and explore the city. It was an amazing, incredibly busy week. I think the best activity that we did was on the first day we arrived we had a Cape Town resilency race, where in groups of three or four we had to run around the city looking for monuments and random things, and ask(while filming) people about the provinces, languages and more. It was really fun, but exhausting! My group ran around the city from 8am until 2pm, literally running. A lot of people thought that we were on the show, The Amazing Race! One of the tasks in the Resilency race was to get tested for HIV, which was a really good thing for all of us to experience, as this will be something that we will be dealing with throughout the next year. While I knew that there was no way I could be HIV positive, I was still completely nervous/terrified/anxious as I awaited the results. And, seeing the conditions of the clinic made me appreciate all that we have in the States. I am sure that was the first time of many that I will take and observe this year, but it was a really humbling experience and helped me to remember what I am doing here this year.
With the soccer playing, s most of you know, I am not the most talented, but I had a great time goofing off with the other 26 interns, most of whom are division I or III soccer players. But they were all patient and we had some good laughs. And we got to play with children near our hotel who flocked in droves to come and show us their moves. On Friday, they announced are placements for the year at Bill Miles’s house, the COO of Grassroot(GRS), and a Norwich resident. He and his family are living in Cape Town for the year, which isn’t such a terrible gig! Before the placement we played some casual games of soccer as a huge group: staff, coaches, and interns-there were about 5 differenct games going on! And, we played right as the sunset overlooking the city. We had to climb up this ridiculously steep hill and then up a ladder into his backyard where we all huddled together and learned of our placements. We had all been really nervous and worked up about where we were going, so it was great to play some soccer to take the edge off. Before our placements, the interns did our best to thank the Cape Town staff by singing our own version of “Bye, Bye, Bye” (which I co-wrote), as they had re-written “Thriller”, “wonderwall” and “wagon wheel” in our honor on our first night in C.T. The song didn’t go as well as we had hoped, but they got a kick out of it and we had some great laughs.
So, then they announced our placements in team style, and I am going to be in Port Elizabeth, S. Africa for the next year! I am already moved into my house which is awesome, we live in a gated community near the township where we iwll be working. And, we live about 2 minutes from the beach! I am living with two guys and a girl, and all three of them are awesome. Although I am a bit biased, I think we have the best crew of all the sites. Everyone is funny, laid back and hard working, so it should be a great year. I am really excited, and also really nervous for work to begin. We arrived in Port Elizabeth this morning, after driving six hours last night and three this morning PACKED into a little car, and now we are all just unpacking and organizing ourselves. Only one of us knows how to drive a standard, so it’s going to be entertaining for the first few weeks as we orient ourselves and get a feel for driving on the other side of the road and the city.
Another really cool thing about Port Elizabeth is that we get to work in the townships, which is pretty incredible. Our office is in a primary school, so every day we are exposed to the devastating poverty in South Africa. One reason why I am so thrilled about being here is that I will get to interact with the locals and children more than people staying in Cape Town. I think this is going to be a fantastic year. Again, thank you all for your generosity, encouragement and motivation. I would not be here if it were not for all of you: everything that you have given to me has helped me to get to where I am now. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

One Week and Counting!

2009-07-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Thank you again to all the followers and supporters for your help and encouragement, none of this would be possible without all of you! I just wanted to write briefly as I am preparing to leave next Friday, July 31st-crazy!! I had my Grassroot Training last weekend, and it was great. I got to meet all of the other interns, learn more about the programs and play some ridiculous bonding games. You know you are going to fit in just fine/like a group when everyone is crawling around on the ground making animal noises! Needless to say, that training got me even more excited for the upcoming year.

In other news, due to various donations and fundraisers, I have reached the $10,000 mark and I am on my way to $12,000! It is just remarkable. This is further encouragement to me and to everyone that if you believe in something, you can do it. I really would not be able to do this year internship without the support and family and friends, so thank you from the bottom of my heart.

More updates to come soon and I am learning how to add links/photos/all of that cool stuff, so hopefully this blog will start looking more snazzy soon!!

Thank you again for all the support, and please e-mail me at any point, I would love to hear from you! sjcallaway@gmail.com.

All my best and Kilo as they say in South Africa!

Sarah

Yard Sale Success!

2009-06-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone!

Thank you to the generous donors who have been supporting online, through checks to me, checks to GrassrootSoccer, and those supporting through kind words, connections and advice. It all means so much to me! I am starting to get increasingly excited and nervous for my next adventure, since I leave in approximately 1 month! Lots to do! I am so happy to report that this weekend I had a great yard sale, and with the help of great friends and the generous Barr-Harris family who allowed us to use their lawn, we raised over $1,000!! That certainly exceeded all expectations by far! We sold clothes, knick knacks, household products and had Grassroot Soccer information as well as gear to sell. Generous donations and good publicity helped to make this event such a great success. My overall fundraising is now up to approximately $4,000, although with the online donations it is difficult to say how much exactly, since those take a bit longer to process. But, I am well on my way! And, with a month left until leave, there is still much to be done! Please continue to help spread the word to friends, family, whomever this may appeal to, every bit helps!! Thank you again to everyone for supporting and believing in me and this cause, without you this literally would not be possible. Much love and keep in touch!

2009-06-24T08:26:00.000-07:00

I have already been getting wonderful support and donations from friends, family and even people whom I have never gotten to meet, so thank you!! Your support means the world to me, and this experience truly would not be possible without all of you. I am so grateful. Please continue to pass the word on about Grassroot Soccer and my internship, every little bit helps!! I have some great ideas and suggestions going from the Grassroot Soccer office, as well as friends and family in my hometown. We had a great article published in our newspaper, the Norwich Times, about GRS and what we do, with a great little blurb about me and Austin Haynes, another local intern. This weekend I have a yard sale benefit, and Austin and I are in the process of writing foundations, going to businesses and local organizations, and continuing to write letters to family and friends. It is a slow process and lots of work, but I so believe in this cause and I am confident that my goal will be attained. At the moment, I have raised about $3,000, so there is much work to be done, but lots of great fundraisers planned! So, if you have any ideas or suggestions(as always), please keep them coming! But again, THANK you from the bottom of my heart for your support.

An interesting Link

2009-06-14T08:23:00.001-07:00

If you have a minute, I suggest you watch this video, it gives some good insight into GrassrootSoccer. Pretty powerful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyplef2Hi6Y

2009-06-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

I figured I should let you all know exactly what Grassroot Soccer, Inc. is, and what I will be doing for the next year!!

I have recently been selected to serve as an Intern for Grassroot Soccer, an organization based out of Norwich, VT, joining their fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Grassroot Soccer, Inc. (GRS) is an international non-profit organization that is using the power of soccer and community role models to empower African youth with the knowledge, skills and support to live HIV-free. This August, I will begin 12 months of service in one of the following sites in which Grassroot Soccer operates – Zambia, Malawi, and South Africa. As an Intern, I will be involved with all aspects of the successful delivery of the GRS program – training professional soccer players and other community leaders in the GRS Curriculum; building relationships with private, non-profit, and governmental organizations; designing, monitoring, and evaluating program implementation; fulfilling key operational and administrative duties in GRS offices. I am very excited to use my passion and dedication to inspire and move to action many youth in Africa.

Because this is a volunteer position with a non-profit organization, I will not receive any compensation for my time of service. With the exception of housing, GRS is unable to provide financial assistance or services for its Field Interns. Therefore, I am asking for your support in covering my expenses while I am in Africa. This includes travel to and from Africa, local transportation, food, health insurance, required immunizations and medications, and even everyday items such as toiletries. My fundraising goal to support my 12 months of service is $12,000. With the support of my family and friends, I am certain that I will reach my target and be able to serve this worthy cause.

While the HIV/AIDS epidemic is devastating and desperate, it is entirely preventable and treatable. If humankind is going to conquer this epidemic and other issues of poverty and infectious disease we must invest in our youth; children are the future and Grassroot Soccer is helping them make the difference! I want to extend this invitation for you to join my mission and journey in fighting the spread of this preventable disease. I will keep an active blog with stories and photos to share my work and experiences with you.

Having just graduated from St. Lawrence University on May 17th, I am both excited and daunted by this upcoming experience. But, I am hoping that this year will help me to find my passions, challenge myself and allow me to look at the world and myself in a completely different manner. I am confident that this year will propel me forward in my life and towards a future career.

Any contribution that you can make is greatly appreciated, just knowing that I have the support of family and friends means so much to me as I venture forward with this journey.

Thank you so much for your continued love, interest and support. Again, if you have any questions, please contact me at any point! I would love to hear from you.

DONATE NOW!

2009-05-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

On the right hand side of the Blog, you can donate towards my fundraising efforts for my year long internship with GrassrootSoccer in Africa. Please join me in helping to work towards an HIV/AIDS free world! If you have any questions about what I will be doing or how to help, please feel free to e-mail me at sjcallaway@gmail.com. Thank you again for all of your support and well wishes already!

Welcome!

2009-05-26T19:42:00.001-07:00

Hello and welcome to my GrassrootSoccer Blog!! I am still a little new to the blog-world, so this may not be the most high tech site ever, but it will be a great resource for updates and a great way to keep in touch! Thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement!!