in it

There's no doubting it - I really am in it now. This week has kept me extremely busy and I think it is a good example of what my internship will be like for the next year. I spent a lot of time driving on the wrong side of the road, a lot of time getting lost, a good amount of time working on finances and figuring out South African money (the Rand), a good amount of time trying to speak Afrikaans (with a terrible accent apparently) and a little bit of time playing soccer. 

Most of my driving was for cost-share purposes. Cost-share is a pretty cool thing. In order to show our corporate funders (i.e. USAID/NPI, Nike, the Elton John Foundation) that GRS is conscious about the amount of money we are spending, GRS agrees to “share the cost” of running out programs with our founders. GRS does this through fundraising (getting money from individuals) and through in-kind donations. For example, if Nike were to donate 100 t-shirts to one of our programs, GRS can claim those shirts towards the amount of money we pledged to cost-share. Basically, whenever something such as a good, a service, a classroom, or a soccer field that an organization would normally have to pay for is given to GRS for no cost, we can use that to go towards our cost-share. The one tricky thing about cost-share is the documentation. I spent all morning on Wednesday delivering letters to different schools in which GRS had run programs. At each school I had to find the principal, talk to them for a bit and then get them to sign and stamp our letter acknowledging that we got to use their facilities for free. I got so lost looking for different schools, but somehow I managed to find 6 different schools, meet wit the principals and make it back to the office in time for lunch. 

But my day didn’t end there. I got to go to Skillz Street afternoon. I really like Skillz Street. It is the all girls program that GRS runs to not only educate young girls about HIV, but also to help them build self-efficacy and recognize that they can be powerful figures in their community. The best part about these interventions is the fair play soccer games. Having played soccer semi-seriously, when I first heard about these games I kind of thought they were a bit of a joke, but after watching them in action my mind has been completely changed and I think they are amazing!

Each Fair Play game begins with the two teams coming together and making their own rules. Some of the rules that the girls came up with were no goalies, no corners, support each other, everyone celebrates when a goal is scored, no pushing, if someone falls everyone helps here up. As you can see they get to practice setting their own terms and the rules are all clearly designed so that the girls can have as much fun as possible. After the rules are settled, the teams shake hands and get going. The girls aren’t super talented and they don’t even get to play for a long time, but watching them chase after the soccer ball is one of the most entertaining and awe-inspiring things I have ever seen. Their faces just light up!

All the games are 6 v. 6 on small fields and during each game half of each team remains on the sideline, but they don’t just stand there. No! The coaches help to rally the sidelines, but throughout the entire game the sidelines are cheering and chanting and dancing. It is fantastic to watch and makes being a spectator so much more fun.

At the end of the game, the girls gather round the coaches and talk about what they liked about the game, whether or not they played fair (did they follow their own rules) and how they can play fair in real life. They didn’t say a lot, but what little they said, such as, “realizing that you have people to support you in life” really reveals the magic of these fair play games.  I can’t wait to watch another and I promise I’ll have pictures and/ or videos for you!