The days here are flying and it’s hard to keep track of how quickly time goes by. We went to Jeffrey’s Bay on last Saturday, which is one of the top surf sites in the world. Mike, my surfer roommate, was like a kid on Christmas when we pulled up to the beach. The waves were around 8-10 feet and they would break perfectly all the way down this massive stretch of sandy beach. The boys went out to try some of the bigger waves and Sarah and I stuck to some small ones that ended up being really choppy and I got completely owned. On a side note, as I was putting my arms into my wetsuit I realized I had it on inside out. Go figure. We rented from a Billabong shop across the road from the beach and the guy was trying to sell us on surf lessons with some short surfer bro with super-blue eyes and I was thinking “Psh, I can handle this myself.” Then I put the wetsuit on inside out, grabbed my board, and hit the waves. Awesome.
We called it quits after about 45 minutes, but we walked down the beach to see the boys. Dom found us and pointed out which little speck was Mike in the water. We could see dolphins swimming in the swells with the surfers. So cool. Mike came running down the beach 15 minutes later with his face lit up, telling us about riding the waves with the dolphins – he said it was awesome after he realized they weren’t sharks. One thing I didn’t really think about was the sharks – they’re definitely around but it sounds like surfers are pretty safe as long as they don’t go at prime feeding hours.
Our head coaches travelled to Somerset East, about two hours drive from PE, to a Training of Coaches (ToC), where they train new coaches in the SKILLZ curriculum so they can deliver the curriculum to kids at new sites. They took Big Momma, so we were stuck at the house for most of Sunday through Tuesday. We worked from home for a couple days and I got a chance to sleep and catch up on some reading, and spend some time down at the beach where I run. Tuesday was beautiful – sunny and hot. I ran to the beach, and attempted to run down it, but the wind picks up around midday so the sand was blowing across the beach in waves. I just about collapsed from the dry air, which is taking some time to adjust to.
The rest of the week went by quickly, just doing odd jobs around the office and getting supplies for SKILLZ graduations, where the kids complete the curriculum and finish with the GRS program. This is still something GRS is working on in terms of engaging the kids once they finish SKILLZ. The Snap project (cameras and kids) that I’m hoping to help with is one idea, but it’s something we all know is essential to develop and implement in the near future. A lot of the kids ask that SKILLZ be taught every day at their school, so there is definitely demand for some kind of post-SKILLZ program.
The last couple of days have been pretty relaxed. Friday night we went out for dinner at the boardwalk and watched Barcelona play a UEFA Cup match. They won in OT on a great goal by Pedro, assisted by Messi. Mike’s a huge Barca fan, so we get caught up in the excitement. Saturday was also laid back: surfboard shopping (I’m still hunting but I have an idea of what I want) and brunch at a fantastic café downtown called Vovo Telo. I tried on some wetsuits, both of which kind of bombed. The first fit well, but I realized once I had it on that it was a men’s suit and I walked out of the changing room asking the guys if there was supposed to be a huge pouch at the crotch. Obviously yes. Then I tried a women’s suit and the chest was cut so that it was somewhat like a cone bra. Not a great look for me.
Vovo Telo is my new favorite spot for food and coffee. It’s located in a side neighborhood in a shady part of town, but the atmosphere was great and the waiters were hilarious. I ordered mueseli, yogurt, and honey with fresh fruit and our waiter looked at me like I was crazy not to order the pizza he just recommended. I also had two cappuccinos that finally tasted like espresso. The coffee has been pretty weak so far and I was starting to worry that I’d be going for a year without a good shot of caffeine. We ended up at the pub where we sang karaoke a couple weeks ago for dinner and to watch Man U vs. Arsenal. What a game. We were sitting with a bunch of Arsenal fans and the energy was great.
Sunday morning we got up early and headed downtown to surf for a few hours. I managed to stand up a couple times and even caught a pretty big wave at one point. I didn’t stand up completely on that one, but managed to ride it for a while. It’s so addicting, and is one of those things that hook me in because I get so competitive with myself. I wanted to try bigger waves once I stood up, and I got pretty close. After surfing we walked down to an outdoor market where people sell everything from clothes to baked goods to wood carvings and paintings. We bought this incredible painting of a Cape Town township with Table Mountain and Lions Head in the background to hang in our living room. I also got a couple paintings and a beautifully carved wooden piece of elephants. Needless to say I’m wiped and my face is completely sunburned.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Making ourselves at home in PE
It’s been a crazy week, so try to keep up.
First, there’s a video of the night the GRS staff sang to us at the office on YouTube and it’s worth checking it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VwJXy-LKzI (watch parts 1 and 2).
Our final days with the group were awesome. On Monday we had specific training for our positions, which means I got to go to Kyelitsha with the Programs Interns where there was a SKILLZ tournament going on. We met some of the coaches and their teams and watched them go through one of the SKILLZ activities. The activity dealt with having multiple sexual partners and the consequences of not using condoms in those relationships if one or more of the partners is HIV+. We joined in, and we had to dribble through a line of cones and then pass back to the next person in line. In the first round, if the person dribbling hit a cone, he/she had to do 2 pushups, representing what happens if you have sex with someone without “condomizing.” In the second round, if the person dribbled into a cone, everyone had to drop and do 2 pushups to represent the effects HIV has on the person who contracts the virus, but also their family, friends, and community. The coaches talked with the kids afterwards, asking them different questions about the drill and then how it applied to their lives. Many of them made the comment that they don’t feel comfortable talking to their parents about HIV, so we discussed ways to make that easier for them.
South Africans celebrate Women’s Day on August 9, paying tribute to the women who marched against the ruling in the 1950s that black and colored women were required to carry passbooks like their male counterparts. Monday night was spent at a bar called Dubliner’s, where we went the previous Monday and listened to this guy sing. He played the usual Sweet Home Alabama and Sweet Caroline, but we told him it was one of our birthdays (a guy named Corey), so he sang this ridiculous version of the song that ended up being our anthem for the entire week. It being the day after Women’s Day, a group of men came into the bar dressed in drag – shocker for sure (these guys were not built like Nadal or Daniel Craig). Combine that image with the Corey Happy Birthday song (played at our screaming requests not once but twice). There is a video available, so I’ll post it when I get my hands on it.
On Tuesday we had a tour of Kyelitsha by a local youth group who serve as role models for the young kids in the township. We got to see a new turf field that was donated by friends of one of the interns, located at a primary school in the township, and then we walked around and saw some local sites and landmarks. I felt very invasive and uncomfortable when I first heard we were going for a township tour, but the group who led the tour assured us that people don’t get offended when they see outsiders walking around. I’m not sure how much I believe it, but I did feel comfortable walking with people who were actually from Kyelitsha, who knew the culture and people of the community.
Following the tour, we met up with most of the Cape Town staff (both from the office and coaches) back at the turf field where we were split into teams and played a round robin tournament. Team Supersport made it to the final only to lose 2-1. It was so much fun to play with the coaches, especially once they realized I can really play. I had a few assists and almost scored a goal, but the ball went just wide.
Our plan was to leave for PE at 6 am on Wednesday morning, but that got pushed back to the early afternoon. We were waiting for a new car to be delivered, which took until 4 that afternoon. Mpumi (our site coordinator) came to the Best Western to pick us up, and it started pouring just as we started to pack the car. We acquired a maroon Toyota Avanza, fondly nicknamed “Big Momma”, that’s a cross between a minivan and small SUV. She’s pretty badass.
Our trunk was filled to absolute maximum capacity, and then we had three seated in the back with bags under our feet and on our laps, and Mike Zales Mike Zales (one of my infamous roommates who became a legend during training) rode shotgun with two suitcases on his lap. Mpumi drove us through the driving rain Wednesday night to Knysna, a tourist beach town about 2 hours from PE, where we spent the night. We finished the drive on Thursday morning, driving straight to the office to meet the management. There are three Head Coaches, Siya, Titie, and Ngwenya, who run programs manage coaches at our three sites In Motherwell, New Brighton, and Zwide, respectively. The house was the next stop and it felt so good to finally be there. We live in a development of condo-esque houses, where we have a full kitchen and living room, 4 huge bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a walled-in yard with a grill and clothing line. It’s pretty amazing. The grocery store, Laundromat, and gym are around the corner, and the beach is 3 blocks down the road. Not too shabby.
We have an extra roommate until tomorrow, Rowena, who has been here since the end of May working on a project for her MPH. She’s been really amazing showing us around town and introducing us to a whole network of locals. PE is tourist destination for South Africans and Europeans, so there is a definite touristy area near the water called The Boardwalk…it reminds us of Disney World a bit. There are some pretty cool little shops but it’ll get pretty mobbed in a couple months when the tourists invade.
On Saturday we had a braai at the house to say goodbye to Ro and the Head Coaches and Mpumi came to hang out for the day. I’m starting to adjust to African time, which essentially means nothing ever starts on time and no one ever gets anywhere one time, except for football and rugby matches, which they make sure to be early for. Dom and Mike grilled lamb, chicken, and boer woers (sausages) and we had salad, pap (corn meal), chakalaka (spicy vegetable mix in sauce), and avocado. We also went into downtown PE to an area called Central where there’s an English-style pub to watch some matches on Saturday. We met another American who became friends with the interns from last year. He worked on Wall Street for a while, and then picked up and moved here last September to work for an NGO that goes into the township schools and helps tutor and support them. In addition to all of that, Ro took us to meet Vassie last night, an Indian woman from Durban who cooks and serves food out of her garage. She literally lives 2 blocks down, and last year’s interns spent a ridiculous amount of time at her house learning to cook curries and watching Bollywood movies. No question this year will be the same. We got “bunny chows”, apparently a South African style of serving curries in a bread bowl, and samosas. The food was unreal.
Today was our first “real” day of work, and it consisted of me stuffing folders with new coaches’ information sheets and then re-formatting a Coaches Code of Conduct sheet. That took us from 9-3:30, with about an hour long lunch break at a local braai where we bought meat at the front of the store and they grilled it for us out back. We ate the meat with a loaf of bread and a liter of Coke. Livin’ the life. I could only think of Eben and Dad when I was sitting there gnawing on animal bones.
In other news, I went driving for the first time yesterday. Learning stick on the left side of the road isn’t too bad, except when I stayed too far to the left and ran up onto the curb. Dom (the only experienced manual driver among the four of us) was very patient and made me stop so he could make sure I didn’t do any damage to Big Momma. No harm done, so I’ll probably take her out for a spin tomorrow. Our gym is awesome – think 80s-style writing on the wall, somewhat dated machines, and a 2 lane heated swimming pool planted next to the weights. Hell yes.
That should do it for now. Send me questions and emails, because I’d love to hear from you all!!!
-Rosie
First, there’s a video of the night the GRS staff sang to us at the office on YouTube and it’s worth checking it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VwJXy-LKzI (watch parts 1 and 2).
Our final days with the group were awesome. On Monday we had specific training for our positions, which means I got to go to Kyelitsha with the Programs Interns where there was a SKILLZ tournament going on. We met some of the coaches and their teams and watched them go through one of the SKILLZ activities. The activity dealt with having multiple sexual partners and the consequences of not using condoms in those relationships if one or more of the partners is HIV+. We joined in, and we had to dribble through a line of cones and then pass back to the next person in line. In the first round, if the person dribbling hit a cone, he/she had to do 2 pushups, representing what happens if you have sex with someone without “condomizing.” In the second round, if the person dribbled into a cone, everyone had to drop and do 2 pushups to represent the effects HIV has on the person who contracts the virus, but also their family, friends, and community. The coaches talked with the kids afterwards, asking them different questions about the drill and then how it applied to their lives. Many of them made the comment that they don’t feel comfortable talking to their parents about HIV, so we discussed ways to make that easier for them.
South Africans celebrate Women’s Day on August 9, paying tribute to the women who marched against the ruling in the 1950s that black and colored women were required to carry passbooks like their male counterparts. Monday night was spent at a bar called Dubliner’s, where we went the previous Monday and listened to this guy sing. He played the usual Sweet Home Alabama and Sweet Caroline, but we told him it was one of our birthdays (a guy named Corey), so he sang this ridiculous version of the song that ended up being our anthem for the entire week. It being the day after Women’s Day, a group of men came into the bar dressed in drag – shocker for sure (these guys were not built like Nadal or Daniel Craig). Combine that image with the Corey Happy Birthday song (played at our screaming requests not once but twice). There is a video available, so I’ll post it when I get my hands on it.
On Tuesday we had a tour of Kyelitsha by a local youth group who serve as role models for the young kids in the township. We got to see a new turf field that was donated by friends of one of the interns, located at a primary school in the township, and then we walked around and saw some local sites and landmarks. I felt very invasive and uncomfortable when I first heard we were going for a township tour, but the group who led the tour assured us that people don’t get offended when they see outsiders walking around. I’m not sure how much I believe it, but I did feel comfortable walking with people who were actually from Kyelitsha, who knew the culture and people of the community.
Following the tour, we met up with most of the Cape Town staff (both from the office and coaches) back at the turf field where we were split into teams and played a round robin tournament. Team Supersport made it to the final only to lose 2-1. It was so much fun to play with the coaches, especially once they realized I can really play. I had a few assists and almost scored a goal, but the ball went just wide.
Our plan was to leave for PE at 6 am on Wednesday morning, but that got pushed back to the early afternoon. We were waiting for a new car to be delivered, which took until 4 that afternoon. Mpumi (our site coordinator) came to the Best Western to pick us up, and it started pouring just as we started to pack the car. We acquired a maroon Toyota Avanza, fondly nicknamed “Big Momma”, that’s a cross between a minivan and small SUV. She’s pretty badass.
Our trunk was filled to absolute maximum capacity, and then we had three seated in the back with bags under our feet and on our laps, and Mike Zales Mike Zales (one of my infamous roommates who became a legend during training) rode shotgun with two suitcases on his lap. Mpumi drove us through the driving rain Wednesday night to Knysna, a tourist beach town about 2 hours from PE, where we spent the night. We finished the drive on Thursday morning, driving straight to the office to meet the management. There are three Head Coaches, Siya, Titie, and Ngwenya, who run programs manage coaches at our three sites In Motherwell, New Brighton, and Zwide, respectively. The house was the next stop and it felt so good to finally be there. We live in a development of condo-esque houses, where we have a full kitchen and living room, 4 huge bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a walled-in yard with a grill and clothing line. It’s pretty amazing. The grocery store, Laundromat, and gym are around the corner, and the beach is 3 blocks down the road. Not too shabby.
We have an extra roommate until tomorrow, Rowena, who has been here since the end of May working on a project for her MPH. She’s been really amazing showing us around town and introducing us to a whole network of locals. PE is tourist destination for South Africans and Europeans, so there is a definite touristy area near the water called The Boardwalk…it reminds us of Disney World a bit. There are some pretty cool little shops but it’ll get pretty mobbed in a couple months when the tourists invade.
On Saturday we had a braai at the house to say goodbye to Ro and the Head Coaches and Mpumi came to hang out for the day. I’m starting to adjust to African time, which essentially means nothing ever starts on time and no one ever gets anywhere one time, except for football and rugby matches, which they make sure to be early for. Dom and Mike grilled lamb, chicken, and boer woers (sausages) and we had salad, pap (corn meal), chakalaka (spicy vegetable mix in sauce), and avocado. We also went into downtown PE to an area called Central where there’s an English-style pub to watch some matches on Saturday. We met another American who became friends with the interns from last year. He worked on Wall Street for a while, and then picked up and moved here last September to work for an NGO that goes into the township schools and helps tutor and support them. In addition to all of that, Ro took us to meet Vassie last night, an Indian woman from Durban who cooks and serves food out of her garage. She literally lives 2 blocks down, and last year’s interns spent a ridiculous amount of time at her house learning to cook curries and watching Bollywood movies. No question this year will be the same. We got “bunny chows”, apparently a South African style of serving curries in a bread bowl, and samosas. The food was unreal.
Today was our first “real” day of work, and it consisted of me stuffing folders with new coaches’ information sheets and then re-formatting a Coaches Code of Conduct sheet. That took us from 9-3:30, with about an hour long lunch break at a local braai where we bought meat at the front of the store and they grilled it for us out back. We ate the meat with a loaf of bread and a liter of Coke. Livin’ the life. I could only think of Eben and Dad when I was sitting there gnawing on animal bones.
In other news, I went driving for the first time yesterday. Learning stick on the left side of the road isn’t too bad, except when I stayed too far to the left and ran up onto the curb. Dom (the only experienced manual driver among the four of us) was very patient and made me stop so he could make sure I didn’t do any damage to Big Momma. No harm done, so I’ll probably take her out for a spin tomorrow. Our gym is awesome – think 80s-style writing on the wall, somewhat dated machines, and a 2 lane heated swimming pool planted next to the weights. Hell yes.
That should do it for now. Send me questions and emails, because I’d love to hear from you all!!!
-Rosie
Sunday, August 9, 2009
And my site assignment is...
Port Elizabeth, here I come!
We got our site assignments last night, and I’ll be going to Port Elizabeth, about 700 km east of Cape Town, along the seaboard. I was pretty attached to being in Cape Town because of the program one of the staff is piloting with kids in townships using cameras – the Snaps Project – so it was a little bit of a shock when I was placed in PE.
The announcements were made at Grassroot’s COO’s house in Cape Town. He has this incredible place that looks out on Table Mountain. The sun had just set and one of the staff, a college intern who had been in Cape Town for the summer and was leaving the next morning, made the announcements. She would list the names of people at one site and we would go stand together and then we would get a “Welcome to Team ______.” At this point we were all so anxious to know where we were placed that the drama of the moment wasn’t totally appreciated. Earlier in the day we had made fantasy site picks, getting into groups of 3 or 4 and picking who we thought would go to each site, so it added some comedy to a pretty intense evening. I didn’t hear when my name was called for PE, partly because I was so set on being in Cape Town and partly due to the adrenaline pumping in my ears, so I stood there for a second not realizing people were waiting for me to go join my group. Obviously.
I’ll admit that I was pretty disappointed for about half a minute – I figured since I’d be in PE, I wouldn’t be able to work on the project I had gotten myself so excited about. But then I realized how incredible our group is going to be. There are 4 of us, 2 girls and 2 guys. I don’t think I could have picked 3 better people to live with for a year. PE is also GRS’s most productive site in that we graduate the most kids out of any other site from PE’s SKILLZ programs. We’re all going to get to organize tournaments and coaches’ trainings, work with curriculum development and evaluation, and numerous other projects. We met our Site Coordinator, Mpumi, and one of the Master Coaches, Siya (see-yah), and we’re going to dinner with them on Monday to get to know each other and hear about PE in more detail.
Following that drama-fest, we all went back to the hotel to change and then went out for the night. We were all in this great bar on Long Street and the intern who read our assignments was there along with some other people from the staff. I was talking with her and somehow the snaps project came up, and she told me that I will in fact be working on the project, among other things, but from PE. I can’t describe how happy I was to hear that. I don’t know exactly what I’ll be working on, but I’m so ready to get going on it. I think there’s a lot of potential in PE for piloting this program and getting some preliminary research going.
So that was all Friday night – pretty big night. Saturday morning a big group of us when to Muisenberg to surf. This was my first time surfing and the little toe is technically not supposed to be getting much of a workout yet, but I figured since I’ve been walking and running around Cape Town for a week, it can handle a day surfing. The area we went to was beautiful. It’s a bay that is surrounded by mountains and has this long white-sand beach. The waves were 1-2 feet high and 7 of us rented suits and boards from a surf shop. One of the guys with us (also one of my roommates) is a surf instructor at home, so he taught us the basics and helped us out in the water (side note: I’m also so pumped about PE because it’s an hour away from Jeffries Bay, which is one of the top surf sites in the world and my roommate has offered to teach us all to surf). It took a while, but I did manage to get up on my board twice. I was so shocked about standing up that I promptly fell over backwards. The little toe survived…kind of sore but it was totally worth it. The after-effects of surfing are also great – so tired, hungry, and sore, but completely satisfied with what you just did. I was smiling like an idiot for the rest of the day.
We have two more days of training, and then Wednesday we depart for PE. We’re taking the scenic route, stopping to see what I’ve heard is some of the prettiest sites along the coast as we go. Hope you enjoyed, and I’ll be in touch when I get to PE!
We got our site assignments last night, and I’ll be going to Port Elizabeth, about 700 km east of Cape Town, along the seaboard. I was pretty attached to being in Cape Town because of the program one of the staff is piloting with kids in townships using cameras – the Snaps Project – so it was a little bit of a shock when I was placed in PE.
The announcements were made at Grassroot’s COO’s house in Cape Town. He has this incredible place that looks out on Table Mountain. The sun had just set and one of the staff, a college intern who had been in Cape Town for the summer and was leaving the next morning, made the announcements. She would list the names of people at one site and we would go stand together and then we would get a “Welcome to Team ______.” At this point we were all so anxious to know where we were placed that the drama of the moment wasn’t totally appreciated. Earlier in the day we had made fantasy site picks, getting into groups of 3 or 4 and picking who we thought would go to each site, so it added some comedy to a pretty intense evening. I didn’t hear when my name was called for PE, partly because I was so set on being in Cape Town and partly due to the adrenaline pumping in my ears, so I stood there for a second not realizing people were waiting for me to go join my group. Obviously.
I’ll admit that I was pretty disappointed for about half a minute – I figured since I’d be in PE, I wouldn’t be able to work on the project I had gotten myself so excited about. But then I realized how incredible our group is going to be. There are 4 of us, 2 girls and 2 guys. I don’t think I could have picked 3 better people to live with for a year. PE is also GRS’s most productive site in that we graduate the most kids out of any other site from PE’s SKILLZ programs. We’re all going to get to organize tournaments and coaches’ trainings, work with curriculum development and evaluation, and numerous other projects. We met our Site Coordinator, Mpumi, and one of the Master Coaches, Siya (see-yah), and we’re going to dinner with them on Monday to get to know each other and hear about PE in more detail.
Following that drama-fest, we all went back to the hotel to change and then went out for the night. We were all in this great bar on Long Street and the intern who read our assignments was there along with some other people from the staff. I was talking with her and somehow the snaps project came up, and she told me that I will in fact be working on the project, among other things, but from PE. I can’t describe how happy I was to hear that. I don’t know exactly what I’ll be working on, but I’m so ready to get going on it. I think there’s a lot of potential in PE for piloting this program and getting some preliminary research going.
So that was all Friday night – pretty big night. Saturday morning a big group of us when to Muisenberg to surf. This was my first time surfing and the little toe is technically not supposed to be getting much of a workout yet, but I figured since I’ve been walking and running around Cape Town for a week, it can handle a day surfing. The area we went to was beautiful. It’s a bay that is surrounded by mountains and has this long white-sand beach. The waves were 1-2 feet high and 7 of us rented suits and boards from a surf shop. One of the guys with us (also one of my roommates) is a surf instructor at home, so he taught us the basics and helped us out in the water (side note: I’m also so pumped about PE because it’s an hour away from Jeffries Bay, which is one of the top surf sites in the world and my roommate has offered to teach us all to surf). It took a while, but I did manage to get up on my board twice. I was so shocked about standing up that I promptly fell over backwards. The little toe survived…kind of sore but it was totally worth it. The after-effects of surfing are also great – so tired, hungry, and sore, but completely satisfied with what you just did. I was smiling like an idiot for the rest of the day.
We have two more days of training, and then Wednesday we depart for PE. We’re taking the scenic route, stopping to see what I’ve heard is some of the prettiest sites along the coast as we go. Hope you enjoyed, and I’ll be in touch when I get to PE!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
First Post from Cape Town
Wow! So much to share, so bear with me (this will probably be done in 2 posts).
First, know that I’m sitting here writing to you all while everyone else is out playing soccer. Reason? The little toe. Enough said.
My last week in Maine was incredibly laid back, considering I was getting ready to move half-way around the world and couldn’t walk due to said little toe. I spent Tuesday-Thursday shopping and gathering supplies with Nance basically morning to night. Thursday night was spent laying out everything I planned to bring and shoving it all in bags with the mindset that I may lose one or more of the bags in the process of flying to SA (DWPJR was the leading force in that project). Amazingly I didn’t explode or cry or yell at anyone in my family during this whole process…signs of personal growth.
I left Boston on Friday night with two other interns and we arrived in London Saturday morning, meeting a wave of interns who had just arrived from JFK. We all went into the city to meet a GRS staff member, Nik Haigh, who works in business development on his own in London. We saw Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace, and passed out in the park for a while until it started to rain. He also disclosed that Hillary Clinton is coming to Cape Town this week to see the Football For Hope Center in Kayelitsha (the township in Cape Town where we operate) AND Zinedine Zidane is coming to its official opening on Dec. 5, the day after the World Cup draw in Cape Town. YES!
The flight to Cape Town was 11 hours, overnight. By the end I was pretty delirious and it really didn’t register when we finally landed in Africa that it was AFRICA. Though, my first sighting was out the window as we landed and the mountains were silhouetted by an orangey sunrise – The Power of One came immediately to mind. Taxis took us to the Best Western Cape Suites (Whit, I think of you every time I see the sign at the entrance…the Worst Bestern for some).
Sunday was mostly settling in and Monday began bright and early. We were split into groups of 3 or 4 and sent on a “Resiliency Race” across Cape Town. We had a list of tasks, terms, and items that we had to find and document throughout the day with a budget of 100 Rand (a little over $12) each. My group immediately made our way downtown where we met some fruit vendors who lacked a few teeth but more than made up for it in conversation. One man in particular, Faisel, helped us out with some of our list items, like “Name the 11 official languages of SA” and “Name the 9 provinces of SA”, though he did tell me Congolese and Zimbabwean were official languages. I was later called out on this in front of the group and thoroughly laughed at. Faisel called a friend who took us around in his “minibus”, a taxi van seen all over the city.
Adie was our minibus driver and he was fantastic. He helped us map out exactly where we wanted to go and how to do it quickly. We got down to the beach and the hospital, both items on our to-do list, and he helped us translate some Afrikaaner and Xhosa terms into English. From there we walked to the 2010 World Cup Site, the Green Point Stadium, which is still under construction. It will seat 60,000 and is situated downtown on the water. From the stadium we walked up a long hill and ended up in a wealthier end of town, from which we made our way back into the center of the city following one long road. Along the way we met our third local acquaintance, Marcillino, a statistician who happened to be walking in the same direction. Among other things, Marcillino helped us find an HIV testing center that was free and willing to test us (Getting tested and videotaping someone sharing a personal story about how HIV has affected them was a big point-getter on our task list).
Getting tested was a really nerve-wracking, but great thing I did that day – definitely wasn’t expecting to be positive but when I was called in to have my results read, the nurse asked me to read my own test. She had explained that one line meant negative, two positive, but I wasn’t really paying attention and when I saw the one line I was really nervous to ask “Negative?” She could totally tell too. I feel better having tested, not only knowing my status according to an official test, but also knowing that I’ll be preaching the importance of testing for the next year and I’d be a complete hypocrite if I didn’t do it myself.
We all met back at the hotel for a quick sandwich and then we had an hour to prepare a PowerPoint on our day with the pictures and video we took. Each presentation was great and we all feel pretty competent finding our ways around the city now. It’s much less intimidating and I’m already recognizing certain areas and streets when I’m out.
Immediately after presentations we walked into town to the GRS office (so cool) for a Sexual Harassment meeting. Gross. We were all dreading it. Jet lag + running through a city all day + extreme dehydration = not in the mood. Kirk, one of the founders of GRS, was there to meet us in the darkened office where we sat on the floor and signed an alcohol/drugs policy. Just as he was opening the binder to read the policy, a guy came out of the dark wearing a black fedora, followed by a line of people walking to the beat of Thriller. I had no idea what was going on. It progressed to a full-fledged concert by the entire staff who were hiding in the darkened rooms (separated by glass-window walls) and up in the rafters. They had re-written the lyrics to Thriller, We Didn’t Start the Fire, Escape, and Wonderwall and they put on an intense performance for us. Every one of us was smiling ear to ear. It was hilarious. I’ve never felt so excited to meet so many people at once. I feel like I finally understand how lucky I am to be part of this organization and I’m so ready to get going.
Tuesday was our first day of training and consisted of introductions to some of the staff and the GRS mission, our F4 Initiative (Football for an HIV-Free Generation), and a brief overview of the curriculum we implement (SKILLZ) by some local coaches. I also found out we’ll be getting our site assignments on FRIDAY!!! Definitely nervous/ excited about that. One staff member in particular is working on developing a project in Khayelitsha where kids are given small cameras and are asked to go into their communities and document what they see as important, after having been through the SKILLZ curriculum and learning about HIV transmission/prevention/etc. I got really excited about this idea, especially after experiencing the kids with cameras in India. He also worked on the “11forHealth” initiative that is FIFA’s step toward health education programs. Also something I’m really excited about watching develop with FIFA’s Football For Hope Center in Kayelitsha.
Today was some more of the same with other staffers. Intros to our partners, business development, SKILLZ magazine, brand and marketing, etc. Basically an overview of everything so we can get an idea of what each department works on. The best thing I’ve taken away from the past two days is that everything is connected here. No one department operates alone and there is plenty of opportunity to work with numerous people on multiple interesting projects at the same time.
Personally, I’m feeling more confident and assured that I made the right choice coming here. The first couple days definitely rocked me and it caught up to me yesterday in a moment where I really just wanted to go to my room and cry. I held it together and we ended up having a great night. Ordered pizzas in and 20 of us played charades in our suite for three hours.
If you’re still with I’m impressed and hope you enjoyed. I have some more info in regards to partners and projects GRS is working on, but I’ll save it for another blog. It’s pretty interesting stuff, so you’ll see it soon.
Love to you all,
Rosie
First, know that I’m sitting here writing to you all while everyone else is out playing soccer. Reason? The little toe. Enough said.
My last week in Maine was incredibly laid back, considering I was getting ready to move half-way around the world and couldn’t walk due to said little toe. I spent Tuesday-Thursday shopping and gathering supplies with Nance basically morning to night. Thursday night was spent laying out everything I planned to bring and shoving it all in bags with the mindset that I may lose one or more of the bags in the process of flying to SA (DWPJR was the leading force in that project). Amazingly I didn’t explode or cry or yell at anyone in my family during this whole process…signs of personal growth.
I left Boston on Friday night with two other interns and we arrived in London Saturday morning, meeting a wave of interns who had just arrived from JFK. We all went into the city to meet a GRS staff member, Nik Haigh, who works in business development on his own in London. We saw Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace, and passed out in the park for a while until it started to rain. He also disclosed that Hillary Clinton is coming to Cape Town this week to see the Football For Hope Center in Kayelitsha (the township in Cape Town where we operate) AND Zinedine Zidane is coming to its official opening on Dec. 5, the day after the World Cup draw in Cape Town. YES!
The flight to Cape Town was 11 hours, overnight. By the end I was pretty delirious and it really didn’t register when we finally landed in Africa that it was AFRICA. Though, my first sighting was out the window as we landed and the mountains were silhouetted by an orangey sunrise – The Power of One came immediately to mind. Taxis took us to the Best Western Cape Suites (Whit, I think of you every time I see the sign at the entrance…the Worst Bestern for some).
Sunday was mostly settling in and Monday began bright and early. We were split into groups of 3 or 4 and sent on a “Resiliency Race” across Cape Town. We had a list of tasks, terms, and items that we had to find and document throughout the day with a budget of 100 Rand (a little over $12) each. My group immediately made our way downtown where we met some fruit vendors who lacked a few teeth but more than made up for it in conversation. One man in particular, Faisel, helped us out with some of our list items, like “Name the 11 official languages of SA” and “Name the 9 provinces of SA”, though he did tell me Congolese and Zimbabwean were official languages. I was later called out on this in front of the group and thoroughly laughed at. Faisel called a friend who took us around in his “minibus”, a taxi van seen all over the city.
Adie was our minibus driver and he was fantastic. He helped us map out exactly where we wanted to go and how to do it quickly. We got down to the beach and the hospital, both items on our to-do list, and he helped us translate some Afrikaaner and Xhosa terms into English. From there we walked to the 2010 World Cup Site, the Green Point Stadium, which is still under construction. It will seat 60,000 and is situated downtown on the water. From the stadium we walked up a long hill and ended up in a wealthier end of town, from which we made our way back into the center of the city following one long road. Along the way we met our third local acquaintance, Marcillino, a statistician who happened to be walking in the same direction. Among other things, Marcillino helped us find an HIV testing center that was free and willing to test us (Getting tested and videotaping someone sharing a personal story about how HIV has affected them was a big point-getter on our task list).
Getting tested was a really nerve-wracking, but great thing I did that day – definitely wasn’t expecting to be positive but when I was called in to have my results read, the nurse asked me to read my own test. She had explained that one line meant negative, two positive, but I wasn’t really paying attention and when I saw the one line I was really nervous to ask “Negative?” She could totally tell too. I feel better having tested, not only knowing my status according to an official test, but also knowing that I’ll be preaching the importance of testing for the next year and I’d be a complete hypocrite if I didn’t do it myself.
We all met back at the hotel for a quick sandwich and then we had an hour to prepare a PowerPoint on our day with the pictures and video we took. Each presentation was great and we all feel pretty competent finding our ways around the city now. It’s much less intimidating and I’m already recognizing certain areas and streets when I’m out.
Immediately after presentations we walked into town to the GRS office (so cool) for a Sexual Harassment meeting. Gross. We were all dreading it. Jet lag + running through a city all day + extreme dehydration = not in the mood. Kirk, one of the founders of GRS, was there to meet us in the darkened office where we sat on the floor and signed an alcohol/drugs policy. Just as he was opening the binder to read the policy, a guy came out of the dark wearing a black fedora, followed by a line of people walking to the beat of Thriller. I had no idea what was going on. It progressed to a full-fledged concert by the entire staff who were hiding in the darkened rooms (separated by glass-window walls) and up in the rafters. They had re-written the lyrics to Thriller, We Didn’t Start the Fire, Escape, and Wonderwall and they put on an intense performance for us. Every one of us was smiling ear to ear. It was hilarious. I’ve never felt so excited to meet so many people at once. I feel like I finally understand how lucky I am to be part of this organization and I’m so ready to get going.
Tuesday was our first day of training and consisted of introductions to some of the staff and the GRS mission, our F4 Initiative (Football for an HIV-Free Generation), and a brief overview of the curriculum we implement (SKILLZ) by some local coaches. I also found out we’ll be getting our site assignments on FRIDAY!!! Definitely nervous/ excited about that. One staff member in particular is working on developing a project in Khayelitsha where kids are given small cameras and are asked to go into their communities and document what they see as important, after having been through the SKILLZ curriculum and learning about HIV transmission/prevention/etc. I got really excited about this idea, especially after experiencing the kids with cameras in India. He also worked on the “11forHealth” initiative that is FIFA’s step toward health education programs. Also something I’m really excited about watching develop with FIFA’s Football For Hope Center in Kayelitsha.
Today was some more of the same with other staffers. Intros to our partners, business development, SKILLZ magazine, brand and marketing, etc. Basically an overview of everything so we can get an idea of what each department works on. The best thing I’ve taken away from the past two days is that everything is connected here. No one department operates alone and there is plenty of opportunity to work with numerous people on multiple interesting projects at the same time.
Personally, I’m feeling more confident and assured that I made the right choice coming here. The first couple days definitely rocked me and it caught up to me yesterday in a moment where I really just wanted to go to my room and cry. I held it together and we ended up having a great night. Ordered pizzas in and 20 of us played charades in our suite for three hours.
If you’re still with I’m impressed and hope you enjoyed. I have some more info in regards to partners and projects GRS is working on, but I’ll save it for another blog. It’s pretty interesting stuff, so you’ll see it soon.
Love to you all,
Rosie
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