We’ve been busy over the past couple weeks, trying to input data for our curriculum to meet our goals for the end of this year and organizing holiday camps for the students’ holiday the week of 28th September. In addition to that, we had SKILLZ graduations all over Zwide, New Brighton, and Motherwell that required food runs and transportation of coaches. I’ve been driving coaches to and from schools and running errands for supplies, so I’ve had a chance to get out of the office and know my way around the area.

The graduations are the culmination of the SKILLZ curriculum. Rows of chairs are set up outside or in a classroom and the graduates are encouraged to invite their families to attend, though there is usually only a handful of parents who end up coming. The kids demonstrate one or two of the activities that are part of the curriculum, such as Find the Ball, where two lines of kids face each other standing side to side, hands behind their backs so that the other line can’t see a ball moving side to side behind them. A coach will place a ball in the hands of one participant in each line, and then sing while the kids pass the ball up and down the line. At the end of the song, the coach will ask a participant from one line to name the one holding the ball in the other line. Usually the kids guess wrong, and the game progresses to the ball representing HIV and the child holding it at the end being HIV+. The activity is designed to show participants that you can’t identify an HIV+ individual just by looking at him or her; the only way to know for sure if someone is HIV+ is to get tested. We did this activity during training at Dartmouth, and it’s a lot of fun and does a great job of getting the message across.

The graduates put on skits about stigma and discrimination against HIV+ individuals; they read poems they’ve written for the celebration, and sing and dance. One of the graduations I saw was held outside, with rows and rows of graduates, sprinkled with some parents, and other students lining the perimeter. The kids on the perimeter would creep slowly in toward the performers until one of the coaches had to push them back so the graduates had enough room. The kids who haven’t been through the curriculum yet are clearly eager to be a part of it; an encouraging thing to see. The kids at this particular graduation went up in groups and sang beautiful Xhosa songs accompanied by background singers and dancers. The dancing here is so natural and rhythmic – I don’t dare try it yet because I’ll look so uncoordinated and white. The performances give you chills and really make the more tedious times worth it.

On the 5th of September (first Saturday of the month) we put on a mini-camp for St. Barnabas church in Zwide (I’ve included some pictures of the activities and teams in the tournament). The office staff, along with 5 or 6 coaches and the four interns, spent half the day with a large group doing SKILLZ activities and reffing a mini-tournament at a local sports center. The teams would play one or two games, and then take part in either Find the Ball or another activity called Choices (designed to show people it’s ok to make their own choices, the coach yells “Favorite soccer team!” and the kids get into groups if they have the same favorite, or stand by themselves if they’re the only one who likes the team). The Tuesday before the day with St. Barnabas, Mpumi called us into the office and told us we would be running the SKILLZ activities with the groups – pretty daunting considering we’ve had zero training in teaching the curriculum. On Friday a group of coaches took us outside and helped us run through each activity. They pretended to be the kids, asking questions about each drill, and we would explain the key messages. It was fun – they’re very playful and love to joke so it was easy to laugh at ourselves when we messed something up. It was also great to learn how to teach some of the activities.

Before the St. Barnabas group arrived at the sports center, two little boys (in the picture) came over and watched us setting up. We started playing 2v2: Dom and me on one team with the younger of the two boys in goal, and Mike and VIP (one of our coaches) with the older of the two boys in their net. Our goalie is the boy dribbling on the court where we played. They spent the day with us, the younger of the two staying close to my side for most of the time. I love these random little connections I make with the really young kids. Their English is usually minimal if anything, but they’re still very innocent and love to play. As the kids get older they understand how to hassle us and use our attention to ask for things like pictures and food, sometimes money. The young ones light up when we play with them and it gives us a chance to let loose and act like kids too.

The tournament and activities went really well – we ended up entering a GRS team and tied our opponents. I helped with Find the Ball, and we all participated in Choices with a huge group of older women from the church. Everyone loved the activity – they confused “Favorite Color!” with “Favorite Car!” when Dom yelled out categories and we could hear them yell “Jeep!” and “Yellow…White!” Apparently our accents are confusing.

The day with St. Barnabas was a huge success –the group loved our activities and we loved the opportunity to teach the SKILLZ curriculum with the coaches. This week and last week have been focused more on our holiday camps and Training of Coaches coming up next week. I’m going to be driving Titie and Siya to Alice where the ToC is being held. I’m really excited to see an entire ToC, hoping to get some training myself during the week. Titie and SIya, two of our Head Coaches, are great teachers and I’m excited to see them in action. We’ll be there Sunday through Friday night – my first chunk of time away from PE since I got here. I’ll be sure to write some updates and share photos when I get back.