Out in Khayelitsha

Over the past week I have watched my interweb world ever so slowly fill with more and more pictures of friends reuniting back at JMU and citing "back at the best place in the world", "reunited with my best friends" or the like. I admit it struck me hard. It is weird to be thousands of miles away from somewhere that holds so many great memories but then at the perfect moments I am reminded why I'm here, writing from Africa.

My team was out of the office all last week so I was left with very little to do after only being in the office for 2 days. Maybe a blessing in disguise because I was able to spend two days out at site in the township of Khayelitsha. On Thursday, I got to observe and take part in my very first GRS intervention!!!!! I wish everyone reading this could have been there with me-it was incredible. The intervention was our utshintsho curriculum for grade 10 learners. Utshintsho means change in xhosa. It is the curriculum that follows our Generation SKILLZ for grade 9 learners. It is geared more toward changing power relationships and gender stereotypes. 

Coaches getting ready for the intervention

I went to a high school down the street from the center with 3 coaches, Eric and Anna, and Bulweka. We walked in to a crowded classroom filled with students ranging in ages from maybe 15 to 25 dressed in their matching red uniforms. After several whispers and stares we were given seats in the back of classroom as students got up and squished in their friend's desk to accommodate us.  The intervention required students to break up in to groups and of course the coaches pushed each of us into a group. I was greeted by several hellos/molos, some phrases in xhosa, and a wink from the boy I sat down next to. The groups were asked to discuss what they learned from Utshintsho (it was the last day of the curriculum).  I missed most responses due to a very large language barrier-my vocabulary remains at hello, thank you, and how are you- but luckily the boy sitting next me would give me a run down every now and then. The answer I got most was "how to say no". They tried to speak English as much as they could for me but it was hard. I was even asked to respond to the questions we were discussing and give my opinion. They made sure I expanded on my responses and never forgot me in the group. The second class had even more learners and again my group was great at trying their best to include me and make sure I knew what was going on. After the interventions when school was out, we were walking out of the school and we passed several students from my group in the first class. They smiled and waved as if we hadn't just met. As always I am amazed at how friendly people are. What amazed me more was hearing the responses from students about how they can say no, how to respect a woman, and how to break down power relationships. It may be only a small start and may be only words and not action from the students but at least it is there in some space. 

Coaches doing an activity on giving feedback

On Friday, I was able to sit in on a coach development session. GRS coaches are as important as our program participants. They are the young adults that are giving their time to implement the curriculum, being role models for their communities, and directly changing lives. Coaches are only with GRS for two-years and in that time we hope to equip them with professional and life skills as well as to empower them to be great facilitators and educators in their future. These development sessions are just a small part of the opportunities for coaches to expand their skills. 

SONI!

The topic of this Friday's session was constructive feedback. The coaches were broken up into groups for several activities that included walking through scenarios and creating constructive feedback situations. Now mind you that this is a group of about 30 young adults (ages 18-25) that are all high energy and very outgoing. It made for several times of outburst laughter and few of frustration from Buntu-the group leader. The session ended with coaches breaking up into groups of 5 to discuss their 'most significant story'. They were then asked to share their stories with the group at large. The stories that were told were those that you might read in magazines. We would be here for a while if I recounted all of them but as discussion spurred after coaches told stories and experiences one coach chimed in with something that almost put tears in my eyes. And I quote this from Scott's blog--he was taking notes on the session:

“The choice to change is on the participant. We have already made the choice to change ourselves, to be the change we want to see.” Everyone smiled, easily recognizing the paraphrase of Ghandi. “The most we can do is give others the opportunity to do the same. That is why we are coaches. With GRS we can give these young people a chance to choose. We should not be so critical on ourselves if some decide not to make that choice.”

These coaches are amazing

The session ended on that note. Heads nodding in agreement. A smile from ear to ear appeared on my face as if I just been handed the key to life.

After these two days I can't help but smile and know exactly why I'm not at JMU. It's not so that I can change the world but so I can share the stories of the truly amazing people already changing their communities every day. 

God bless the rain down in Africa

There's something exhilarating about being in a new place for me. The possibility of new sights, smells, sounds, feelings, knowledge, you name it.  I think that's why I love traveling. The adrenaline you get when you go to a new place and know not what to expect next is indescribable. Being in Cape Town has proved no different and I love it. Some snidbits:

HCT in Khayelitsha

The sight, smell, and sound of the largest township in South Africa, Khayelitsha, during an HCT (HIV testing and counseling) tournament last Friday. The sight was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of houses right next to each other, a lot of them purely shacks, others with shacks attached to the back of the house, and some stereotypical houses. As more sights came to view there were children running and playing, people dancing, women and girls playing games, and soccer fields. The sound was that of people laughing, talking, and dancing to the music playing loudly across the speakers. This sight put with these sounds in one of my favorites. It may not be the most breathtaking sight but it's a sight that reminds me that people everywhere are "rich" in different terms (shout-out to Don Jose for that life lesson).

Office pick-up on Sundays 

The second sight is that of my desk (or someone else's that I'm occupying for the time being) at the GRS office. The sight where most of my time over the next year will spent working on M&E related projects. In an office that is filled with energy, passion and opportunity. An office filled with sounds of a juggling soccer ball, people chatting, and if were lucky some kilos or some grunts from office wide push-ups and squats. Work started this past Tuesday and so far it's been great!






The third is more of a day-wide feeling of giddiness, happiness, and adventure. It starts with a stop at The Old Biscuit Mill. The new favorite Saturday morning routine. A food, drink, and hipster clothing market-spot marks the smell of a delicious ostrich burger that this vegetarian proudly bought and ate! Don't worry the second time here I went back to my vegetarian ways and bought an amazing falafel pita and some sangria. The second spot is Muizenberg beach spotted with colorful changing houses, possible sharks, a ton of surfers and a longing feeling of a warm sunny day. Hopefully the sight of a new hobby of surfing/wind surfing? I think so. The third new sight on this day was the African penguin at Boulders beach. The adorable little things hung out in shrubbery and changed my idea that penguins are smart when it comes to crossing from one rock to the other. Yes, we watched two penguins wipe out and get stuck trying to cross--maybe not the highest IQ animal. The picture speaks for itself on that comment. The third and final sight gave the most excitement to this day. It was found at the most south western point of Africa- Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope. It's where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans begin to meet. If one is lucky, it's also where you can see baboons roaming and/or stealing people's lunches. After we ran to the top of Cape Point in some serious wind and a little bit of rain we weren't lucky enough to find any baboons. We piled back in the car about to accept defeat in seeing any wildlife until we turned down a road toward the cape of good hope and boom there were all the animals! Insert lots of excitement-WHAHHH EEEE AHHHH YESSS! clearly it was the cape of good hope. Or the cape of the feeling of almost being blown over or off the cliff by some forceful hurricane worthy winds while standing above crashing powerful waves.

Muizenberg beach

This week will only bring new adventures, sights, smells, sounds, and probably more rain. I neglected to mentioned why this post was named this....it has rained a lot. So I will leave you again with another long blog post to hold you over and a huge I MISS YOU ALL!




 

All things GRS

Soccer is a universal language. No questions asked. I came to understand this the first time I was in Honduras and stepped out the field with the Hondurans. Immediately it was something we had in common when language and culture similarities seemed to separate us.  Soccer has the power to bring people of all ages together on a field, in a school yard, on a piece of dirt, with a ball or a rock or some balled up string, goals or no goals, barefoot or in cleats. No matter what, the game is played, enjoyed, celebrated, and understood as if a common language. This game holds so much potential for global development. Grassroot Soccer is based around that idea. The power of soccer can be harnessed to "educate, inspire, mobilize, and prevent HIV/AIDS".

Breaking this up again for easy understanding. I obviously like bullet points and numbers.

The Problem

• Nearly 70% of all people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS live in sub-Saharan Africa. 
• In sub-Saharan Africa young women ages 15-24 years old are as much as four times more likely than young meant to be HIV positive

The Solution

• Young people--they are the hardest hit by HIV/AIDS yet are the greatest force for change through safe behaviors and empowerment. 
• SOCCER! 

Where GRS comes in:

• It was started in 2002 in Zimbabwe and currently has its curriculum in 23 countries. The GRS affiliate sites with direct offices are in South Africa-Cape Town, Kimberely, Alexandra, Soweto, Orange Farm, and Port Elizabeth; Zambia- Lusaka; and Zimbabwe. The other countries are developed through partnership organizations as well as the growing number of Peace Corps members implementing the GRS curriculum in their sites (GO ALL YOU PCVs!)
• GRS trains community leaders, local professional soccer players, and other role models as coaches who lead the SKILLZ programmes 
• SKILLZ programs "focus on building basic life skills that help boys and girls adopt healthy behaviors and live risk-free through a series of interactive activities and discussions"

1. SKILLZ Core
1. the basic curriculum. co-ed for ages 11-14
2. SKILLZ Generation
1. co-ed for ages 15-19
3. SKILLZ Street
1. girls only
4. SKILLZ Holiday
1. held over 5 days during school breaks

The Goal

• To educate 1 million young people on living AIDS-free, healthy, and productive lives by the 2014 World Cup!

I wish I could write more on all the great things about GRS but always feel free to contact me if you want more information. 

Settled In Cape Town

Today is the one week mark since I left the states. I am feeling very settled in my new home on Gordon Street. These next few posts are geared toward prefacing a little about life here and GRS so upcoming posts will make sense. I apologize if they are long but hopefully you find them somewhat interesting!

[1] Living situation: I live on Gordon Street in downtown Cape Town with 5 other interns- Jeff (operations intern), Katie (business development), Kat (curriculum and training), and Ali (comm and marketing). We each have our own room and we have enough different doors with locks for security. The other 5 interns are in a house about a 15 minute walk away called Kloof.  Living there is Eric and Anna (programs in Khayelitsha), Caitlin (programs at HQ), Scott (my fellow M&E buddy), and Kelsey (Peace Corps partnerships). Everyone is fantastic and it's been so fun to get to know everyone.

Some of the Cape Town interns on lunch break

[2] Food: Is delicious! Lots of burgers, meat, avos, pesto, cheese-especially gouda, coffee and tea. Anything really. Besides box macaroni (good thing I learned to make a cheese sauce before leaving) and Cheez-its. You can find an ostrich burger at a market here as well. Being a vegetarian you would think I would never eat it but I've been challenged by a friend to never say no to any-type of food in the first month of being here (this means I can't be vegetarian), I stepped up and bought the burger on Saturday. Surprising really good-leanness of turkey but had more flavor like a hamburger.

The ostrich burger :)

[3] Weather: It's winter right now. Well more like fall. Upper 50s. Rainy and windy. Great scarf and boots weather! This will not help my scarf obsession. Summer will be here soon which means two summers in a row basically. yippie

[4] Language: There are 11 main languages in South Africa. Where we are in downtown Cape Town English is fine for communication if not used very widely. Xhosa, Zulu and Afrikaans are also used widely. I've been learning some Xhosa from a few local volunteer/interns. It has clicks for a a few letters so i'm horrible at it but getting there! Molo-hello; Unjani-how are you; wamkilikile- you're welcome; Engosi-thank you. That's all i've got. A long way to go but hopefully I'll be taking some language lessons from someone soon so I can learn more.
         Interesting difference in words here: stoplight=robot; lightbulb=globe; call you=phone you; shame; now=now, now now=soon; just now=never.

[5] A short background on South Africa: The history of the country goes back about 3 million years. For the sake of your time and attention this post will skip all the rock and skeleton history. South Africa was settled by the both the Dutch and English. The Dutch discovered the Cape in 1488 with the discovery of diamonds in the 1830's bringing in more colonial competition. In Boer War the English unified South Africa and took control. South Africa broke from British rule in 1961.

South Africa is mostly known for its apartheid history. During British rule as well as after independence the government created laws restricting the privileges of non-white citizens. It wasn't until 1994 when South Africa held its first democratic election. Nelson Mandela was elected president and that is when injustices started being erased nationally. The separation and effects of apartheid is still widely known and I cant speak on the topic much because I don't know anything yet. It is something that I want to explore more while I'm here by talking to people firsthand and really diving in to it.
   --> by the way to expel anything you might have thought: Afrikaners are white Africans not a tribe from Africa. I admit I thought this and am very glad I learned quickly.
--> The history of South Africa and politics will come up in more posts throughout the year and more will be explained each time. But if you're interested I encourage you to read up on it.


So far this place is magical and I am falling in love it. Sorry Mom and Dad I might stay here longer.

Can I get a KILO?!

I'm going to apologize in advance for any and all grammatical or spelling mistakes in this blog. Everyone knows I probably shouldn't have passed the 5th grade in those subjects. But hang with me maybe I'll get better? One can wish, right!

So first and foremost I want to send a huge "THANK-YOU KILO" to everyone who has supported getting me thus far--especially the parental units. Note: if you see mama Kaeberle walking around give her a hug and kiss for me :) I wouldn't be able to do this without each of you and it means so much to me! I'll explain what a kilo is later, so hang tight.

6 months of waiting and preparing finally ended last Wednesday when I said my goodbyes headed to Vermont for intern orientation. I anxiously lugged my two large two suitcases and a fully stuffed backpack through the airport to the bus terminal in Boston. It didn't hit me until that 3 hour bus ride that this was really happening. It had been 6 months since I had found out that I would be heading to Africa and the day had finally come. It was a dream come true. A once in a lifetime chance with endless opportunities awaiting. All of the interns met at the GRS headquarters for some snacks and mingling before we headed out to Harris Cabin. A hike through the woods to a gorgeous log cabin with no electricity and an outhouse. The best place to bond 21 interns. No, but really after day 2 I felt like I had been with the group for at least a month. It might have helped too that the people leading orientation were a riot (Hooter, Leah, Sarah, and Austin) and now took over the top of my list for great people on Earth.

The cabin! 

So the time at the cabin reminded me so much of FRoG week. The days were filled with energizers (way better ice breakers), GRS activity examples and KILOS---My favorite part. But a little hard to explain. A kilo is a pumped up show of praise/cheer/really hard to explain. There are a lot of different types of kilo's. The standard goes a little like the following: Leader: "Can I get a kilo?"  Everyone else: clap, clap, clap pause clap clap clap, WHOOH!". The fun part are the variations. But I REALLY can't explain those. I'll try to get a video of one for demonstration purposes later on. After our stay at the cabin we shuttled back to Pierce's Inn where we spent the next two nights. These days were filled with more energizers, activities, and kilos. There was a BBQ Friday night and 3 of the 4 founders were there-- Tommy Clark, Ethan Zohn (from Survivor) and Methembe, along with board members and long-time supporters. Talking to people and seeing their passion for the cause throughout the night got me so pumped to get work here! Which leads me to the departure to SA!! WHOOHOOO! After what I'm going to say was 36 hours of travel, losing an entire day in an airplane (literally, an 18 hour flight with a 6 hr time change) I was to my new home.  We finally made it Cape Town last night and made it to our house-Gordon street house! We went to the office this morning and got to met everyone.Again the excitement and passion is really contagious and the second you walk in the office you immediately have to smile.

P.S: For everyone who knows me this is important information: they have AVOCADOS! and lucky for me my housemates love them as well. so guac will be stalked on the reg :)

That's all for now. Beyond excited to continue to explore the city and country, get to know the other interns (11 of us are in CT),  and dive into a great organization! If you want more information on GRS I encourage you to check out their website and follow all the amazing things they are doing!

Ready to rock out this year