on our way

Friday morning was the big day; it was the day my fellow interns (Matt, Mel, Bryan, Bilas and Katie) and I left for Lake Malawi. We left the intern house a little after 7h00 (7 a.m.) and headed to the Lilongwe bus depot. As soon as we stepped into the depot we were ushered by some cheerful Malawian to his friend's bus. While we were walking he instructed us to, “talk to no one” because he had the best deal for us. When we arrived at his friend’s bus we were assured that it was the fastest, safest and last bus that we could use to get to the Mangochi turnoff.

We were all incredibly skeptical and hesitant to board the bus, but after Matt and Mel each scoured the parking lot for other options we decided it might actually be our best choice. So we all nestled into our seats and bunkered down for the ride. We spent two hours just sitting at the bus depot waiting for the bus to fill up. During our wait, we entertained ourselves by waving and giving thumb’s ups to all of the children on the bus. These Malawian children were so adorable! They all took turns poking their heads over their seats just to look at us. And when we started to wave and make funny faces at them they always waved back or burst out laughing. The depot got really interesting when Bryan started telling these guys waiting on the bus next to ours that Mel, Bilas and I were his wives. All of the guys got very big eyes and responded with a, "very nice." Things got a little crazy when Bryan told one guy that he could have one of us, but luckily that’s just when our bus pulled out of the parking lot.

The Malawian countryside.

What a ride. It was long, it was cramped and it was slow. But, it was also kind of fun. I got to see the Malawian countryside. I got to educate Bryan about the rocks and surrounding geology that we were passing (thank you Bryan for putting up with me). I got to watch our bus driver siphon petrol into our fuel tank (he definitely got some in his mouth when he was starting the siphon). I got to help pass a baby out of a window so it could go to the bathroom. And I got to spend four hours just taking in the country and culture of Malawi.

Siphoning petrol into our fuel tank.

Even when the bus stopped (which it did both frequently and randomly) I got to learn and experience some pretty cool stuff. Every time the bus stopped, a wave of merchants would descend upon the bus trying to sell their goods. Most of the times they were selling food and plastic bags full of water (quick note – in Malawi it is recommended that you drink only bottled water so there was no way I was going to buy one of these water bags). And these peddlers were persistent! They would literally come up to the bus and bang on the windows and when the windows were unlocked they would slide open the window and shove their goods in your lap. We all bought an assortment of goodies – some chips (not very good), some fresh carrots (super delicious!), fried dough, samosas (my new favorite food) and we didn’t buy any gizzard, but we sure thought about it.

Some friendly Malawian peddlers.

After four long, but semi-entertaining hours, the bus pulled over at the Mangochi turnoff and we were instructed to get out. We climbed out of the bus (literally – the bus was so full that we actually climbed out of the windows) and crammed ourselves (again I am not exaggerating) into a minibus that was headed towards the lake. There were about twenty bags/ packs/ suitcases and twelve people crammed into this mini-bus. 

Suitcases kept falling on Bilas' head during the ride. 

And to make the ride even more ridiculous my travel companions and I thought it was a good idea to sing along to every song on the radio (our favorite song was ‘Sour Sour’ – apparently the song is about a man telling a prostitute exactly what to do to him…), hang outside of the bus windows for half of the ride and drink. We terrified the driver, probably terrified our fellow passengers, and even terrified each other at times.

Mel dancing for a crowd of on-lookers at one of our "stops."

Our mini bus drivers weren't the biggest fans of ours though… they kept saying they would drive us another 20km for 200 more Kwache. It finally reached a point where we decided we'd walk the rest of the way. So we extracted ourselves from this mini bus and by some stroke of luck ran into a group of Europeans that we had seen the previous day at the market in Lilongwe. They were heading to the lake in a giant flatbed truck and they said we could hop on.

The view into the flatbed truck.
I was perched on the back corner for the ride.

Bryan and Katie in the back of the flatbed. 

It took eight hours, cost me 1750 Kwache (just under 9 USD), and required three different modes of transportation, but we finally arrived at Lake Malawi safe and sound and ready for a great weekend. 

Lake Malawi

malawi

This week I journeyed to Malawi so that I could not only visit some of my fellow interns, but also so that I could attend Lake of Stars, one of the most talked about music festivals in Africa – and possibly the world.

Getting to Malawi was pleasantly uneventful. Well, almost… I spent just three hours on plane rides (I flew from Kimberley to Johannesburg and then from Johannesburg to Lilongwe) and 14 hours in waiting in airports. Yep, that’s right, I had a 12-hour layover in Johannesburg. It wasn’t too terrible. I used my backpack as a pillow and clutched my carry on to my chest while I caught a couple of zees. And in the morning I had breakfast with the Malawi Prime Minister's personal assistant. Yes, you read that right – the Malawian Prime Minister’s personal assistant and I had breakfast together. I was standing outside of a restaurant in the Joburg airport at some ungodly hour in the morning. I must have definitely been looking out of it because this older gentleman approached me and asked if I was all right. After assuring him that I was fine, he began asking me a bunch of questions - where was I from, why was I in South Africa, what was I going to be doing in Malawi, etc. After a brief conversation he invited me to have breakfast with him! In most cases I would have declined but I’ve definitely adopted an, “I’m in Africa, let’s do something crazy” attitude since coming here (disclaimer to my parents: don’t worry, I promise I am still being careful).

We had a really good conversation over breakfast. I told him all about Grassroot Soccer and how I got involved. He in turn told me quite a bit about the Malawi’s social, political and economic history. It was so interesting learning about the history and state of affairs of a country from somewhere other than a textbook. I just wish I had been a bit more cognizant during our conversation (for those of you who know me, I’m a huge struggle-bus early in the morning). Towards the end of our meal he actually gave me his contact information and said that if I needed anything while in Malawi that I should not hesitate to call. Pretty cool story, huh?

But the coolness doesn’t stop there. After a quick flight I landed in Lilongwe, Malawi and waiting for me at the airport were three of my fellow interns; Matt (stationed in Malawi), Bilas (in Lusaka) and Bryan (also in Lusaka). It was so great seeing them. Right away we started swapping stories and sharing our experiences with each other. The coolest part about meeting up with the other interns is that we are all living in such different places and having our own unique experiences. I would definitely encourage all of you to check out their blogs as well (you can access them via the Grassroot Soccer website).

After voracious hugs and much wild jumping into people’s arms, I got my first taste of Malawi: the market. At the market tons and tons of street vendors just erect wooden hut things right next to each other from which they sell everything from fruits and vegetables to Nike sneakers. These markets do not exist in Kimberley so I loved weaving in and out of the narrow asileways and haggling with people. Okay, so I’m was actually a terrible haggler because I’d see something I liked and just go ahead and buy it (bear in mind, the most I paid for anything the entire trip was 1300 Kwache – the equivalent of $7.50), but I did get a lot better at bartering by the end of our trip.

One of the most interesting parts of the market was the section where clothes were being made. I saw Malawians making jeans and dresses and I also saw Malawian's sewing the insignia of professional sport teams onto cheap jerseys into to make knock-off paraphernalia.

Road side potato stop.

After thoroughly exploring the market, we had a very important stop to make; we had to go to the Shoprite (that’s a grocery store) parking lot and meet up with a very kind businessman so we could exchange USD for Kwache on the black market. In Malawi it is more economical to exchange U.S. dollars on the black market than to use a legitimate exchange agency or withdraw cash from an ATM. On the black market I was able to get 195 Kwache for 1 USD, whereas I would have only gotten 160 Kwache via a legitimate transaction method. Why this discrepancy? One word: petrol. In Malawi there is almost always a petrol shortage. As a result, petrol prices are astronomical (it’s about 10 USD/ gallon). Petrol is always scarce because Kwache cannot be used in international markets (they are that worthless). As a result, petrol stations have to use U.S. dollars to buy petrol. So average Joe’s are willing to exchange Kwache for U.S. dollars at high exchange rates so that they can then go buy petrol and sell that on the black market. It’s an amazing world.

My first sunset in Malawi.

That’s where I’m going to leave it for now because this blog entry is now incredibly long and I’ve only told you about my first five hours in Lilongwe. Stay tuned – I have even better stories up ahead!

cake wars

Sorry for the recent lapse in blogging. It never ceases to amaze me how busy I am at work. There is always more that can and needs to be done; there are always people running up to me in a hurry letting me know that they needed something ten minutes ago; and, of course, there is always a little bit of ridiculousness.

But today I woke up early (6 am) just so I could have a chance to write this entry. So, today’s topic – drum roll please – my birthday! In all honesty it was a little strange celebrating my birthday an ocean away from home and throughout the day I couldn’t help but reminisce about where I was last year (Rob and Morgan – I was thinking about y’all in particular). But all that aside, I had a birthday that I will never forget!

Every Friday all of the GRS coaches meet at a recreational center in Galeshewe for a Development Session. The Development Session is a combination of sorority meetings with soccer practice and class. During Development Sessions coaches are given announcements and information about upcoming activities. During the DS (getting lazy now) coaches have the opportunity to discuss different things such as how being a Skillz coach has changed their personal life and how much they get paid (usually they want to get paid more and, in their defense, I definitely think the work that they do in the community is invaluable).

My birthday just happened to fall on Friday this year so I had the pleasure of spending my birthday with 40 very crazy coaches. At the DS all of the coaches sang me an enthusiastic ‘Happy Birthday’ and then proceeded to give me a cobra kilo. I hate this kilo. For a cobra kilo to work, one person (in this case it was me) stands in the middle of a circle of people and after a bit of clapping and shouting everyone on the outside of the circle jumps on the person in the middle and starts jabbing them with their hands in a cobra-esque hand motion. It tickles a lot and there is no escape when you are in the middle.

The coaches also bought me, not just one, but two birthday cakes! At the end of the DS after I had finished handing out transport money the coaches all surrounded me, presented me my birthday cakes and then proceeded to take some of the frosting and start smearing it on my face. According to them, rubbing cake frosting all over the birthday girl is “tradition.” After about 15 seconds of them smearing frosting all over my face, I decided I would fight back. I grabbed some frosting and smushed it all over Coach Nthabi’s face. At this point, an all out cake war erupted.

The aftermath.

I have never had such a great time playing with food in my life! Image 40 adults running around tripping people, tackling people, jumping on people – all while throwing and smearing bits of cake all over each other. I can safely say I have never had a birthday experience quite like this one, and I think it’s a “tradition” I am going to bring back to the States with me.

I have one more birthday story to share. It might not be the best thing to include on my blog, but to all those who might say this story is inappropriate, all I have to say in response is that you need to lighten up and let someone have fun on their birthday. All right – disclaimer done – time for the story!

Friday night I invited some of the coaches over to the intern house to teach them how some (not me of course) American college students drink. What does that mean? It means I taught these coaches how to play the drinking game Kings. Some of you may know how to play this game, but for those who don’t, allow me to enlighten you. In kings, players sit in a circle and take turns drawing cards. For each card that is drawn there is a rule that must be followed. For example, when a four is drawn, all players must touch the floor. The last player to touch the floor is kindly asked to take a drink.

The coaches loved this game. They loved it so much that when the deck of cards ran out they just kept turning them back over and playing again and again. The best part about playing with the coaches was the creativity that they showed when one of them drew a king. When a king is drawn, the person who drew it gets to make a rule. In the States, rules that are typically made are things like, “you have to chirp like a bird before you say anything” or “no pointing.” If rules are broken, the perpetrator is kindly asked to take a sip of their beverage. The coaches I was playing with however came up with some of the most unique rules I have ever heard. My favorite was, “everyone stand on one foot for five minutes.” So random, so unique, so great!

Amakhosi for life!

What a weekend! Sure, it had a rough start and a rougher ending, but the actual weekend was a blast! This weekend Trevor, Mbumbi and I went to Johannesburg to meet up with nine of our fellow interns at Soccer City (the stadium where the opening and closing World Cup matches were held). But I’m getting ahead of myself – let’s go back to the beginning.

All of the interns at Soccer City in Johannesburg. 

It was 2:45 a.m. when my alarm went off. I dragged myself out of bed, corralled Mbumbi and Trevor and the three of us piled into the Tazz (our car) and headed to the train station in order to catch a 3:30 a.m. train to Johannesburg. When we got to the train station every single one of us was dying to board the train so we could pass out during the nine-hour trip. But that would have been too easy. Instead, we found out that the train was running two hours late. After exchanging bleak glances with each other we plopped down on the floor and sat in a stupor while we waited for the train.

But when the train finally arrived at the station, I was unbelievably pumped! Heck, even though it was 5 am and I had only gotten 5 hours of sleep after a ridiculously long week I was actually in a good mood. I even have picture evidence to prove it:

Mbumbi and I on the train.

The train ride was pretty uneventful; in fact, it felt just like taking the train back home (I know that South Africa completely redid their train system in preparation for the World Cup last year so all the trains are in pretty good condition). In fact I think the only difference about the train here was that throughout the entire nine-hour journey hawkers walked up and down the aisles selling everything from chips and beer to toys and air time (for cell phones). I didn’t sleep a whole lot on the train unfortunately, but I did get to see an amazing sunrise.

A South African sunrise.

When we arrived in Joburg (I love calling the city that) the first thing Trevor and I did was walk up to street vendor (they are everywhere) and purchase ourselves Kaiser Chiefs jerseys. For you see, the Kaiser Chiefs were the entire reason that we were in Joburg. The professional soccer league in South Africa is called the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and the biggest rivalry within the league is Kaiser Chiefs – Orlando Pirates. This rivalry is comparable to Manchester United – Chelsea, Red Sox – Yankees and Cowboys – Redskins. The funniest thing about this rivalry however, is that both teams’ “home” field is Soccer City in Johannesburg. So, four times a year these two teams meet in Johannesburg for the Soweto Derby. This match is considered the clash of the titans and everyone in South Africa, from babies to grandparents, will pick a side for this match.

In Kimberley, most of the coaches are Chiefs fans and my favorite player in the PSL, Jimmy Tao (I like him because he does a lot of work with GRS and is a solid defensive player) is a Chief, so I am a Chiefs fan. Trevor is also a Chiefs fan. So we hoped off the train, bought our jerseys for just R60 and minutes later were picked up by Katie, one of the Soweto interns, and driven to Soccer City.

The next four hours can only be summed up by one word: ridiculousness. On the car ride there, every car we passed would hoot their horn at us and the people inside the car would either throw up a peace sign (the Chiefs sign) or cross their arms over their chests (the Pirates sign). Whenever we passed people wearing Cheifs gear Trevor and I would yell “Khosi for life” and throw up our signs and there’d be hooting and hollering. Then whenever we passed someone wearing a Pirates jersey, Mbumbi and Katie (both Pirates fans) did the same thing.

Fans hanging out of cars on the way to the stadium. Sorry for the blurry picture. 

The stadium was unlike any sporting experience I have ever been a part of. First off, when you buy a ticket you are assigned a section instead of a seat. Then within your section you kind of stand or sit wherever you want. And even then, you often end up in a completely different area of the stadium from where you are supposed to be. We ended up in a completely different section that our tickets said, but I’m not going to complain about it - we had sideline seats! 

Trevor, Meghan (the intern from Lesotho) and I at the sidelines!

Durkin (well, Andrew, but his last name is Durkin so that's what we call him, one
of theCape Town interns) and Hasmin (also a Lesotho intern) on the sideline railing.

Now I’ve been to some pretty good sporting matches – Red Sox vs. Yankees being the most paramount – but this match took the cake! At Soccer City, everyone is rooting for a team, but it is so much more than that. Watching the match is a social, dancing, singing extravaganza. Whereas in the states everyone will join in on the wave or some lame clap clap stomp cheer, here everyone joins in on every cheer and I felt like I was right in the middle of a never-ending party on the sidelines. And on the sidelines, if you are supporting the same team and someone else, then you are instantly friends for life. Every intern made a ton of friends in just two hours.

A Kaiser Chiefs fan section.

A Chiefs fan blowing a vuvuzela. This guy was hilarious all match!

As for the game itself, the Chiefs won 2-1! The winning goal was scored by Shabalala, the same guy who scored the first goal in 2010 World Cup, and the goal was scored right in front of us! I was ecstatic! But one of the coolest things about the match was that even after it was over, fans from both teams stuck around the stadium long afterwards singing and dancing and drinking. The whole experience just blew my mind.

Khune, the Kaiser Chiefs goal keeper. Top goal keeper in South Africa.

The ride home was also ridiculous. Partly because we crammed 12 people, 3 backpacks and a gigantic suitcase in a car meant for 7, but mostly because the ride home was just like the ride in. Every car we passed would throw up their team’s sign and shout something to us. Vuvuzelas were blasted left and right. Horns were hooted. Naturally we all shouted and gesticulated back. It was phenomenal. Definitely one of the best experiences of my life and what is even cooler is that I’ll get to experience this three more times!

Trevor, Mbumbi and I after the game.

know your status

Know your status. That is one of the key messages that GRS strives to convey during interventions. Know your status. Be aware of whether or not you are HIV positive. Know your status. Only by knowing your status can you take the necessary steps towards maintaining a healthy life-style. Know your status.

In Skillz 1.1 (the GRS curriculum that is delivered to students in Grade 6 and Grade 7) participants play a game called “Find the Ball.” I think this is a pretty ingenious game. For this game, participants are divided into two teams. Each team faces the other team and lines up shoulder to shoulder with their hand behind their back.

Two teams ready to play Find the Ball.

Once each team is set up the coaches place a tennis ball into one of the participant’s hands. The teams then have to pass this ball up and down their respective line without letting the other team see. Teams pass the ball until their coach yells stop.

Stealthily passing the ball.

Then comes the really fun part; participants on each team take turns guessing who on the other team has the tennis ball. It is absolutely hilarious watching these kids guess which of their classmates has the tennis ball. After a few rounds of playing, the coach then writes “HIV” on each of the tennis balls and the participants play the same game, but this time the tennis ball represents HIV. The game is played the same way and the kids try to guess who has the ball the same as they did during earlier rounds and discovering who has the ball still proves to be just as difficult. And therein lies the magic of this game; you can’t tell if a person has HIV just by looking at them. So how then can you know your status? The only way to know your status is to get tested for HIV. I’ve watched three different coaches play “Find the Ball” with their kids and the effect is always the same; the kids actually get it.

Coach Bucs leading a discussion after Find the Ball.

I know my status. I know my status because today at Skillz Street I got tested. Not only did I get tested, but I also planned and carried out GRS Kimberley’s first ever Skillz Street testing day. A surprising amount of work went into planning this testing day and at the end of the day today I was exhausted, but it was well worth it.

Mbumbi getting tested (he gave me permission to take his picture).

What was so special about today was that I got to see a group of 12- to 15- year-old girls, who just weeks ago would most likely have not willingly gotten tested, line up and get tested for HIV. The best part of the day was when I overheard one girl telling a classmate (a boy who is not in Skillz Street) that she was getting tested because it is important to know your status. I was so impressed by this. Just think about it – I had absolutely no reason to think that I was going to test positive for HIV and I was a little nervous going into the testing (bear in mind – I don’t like needles). So imagine how a 12-year-old girl living in South Africa, where the HIV prevalence rate is the highest in the world, must feel walking in to get an HIV test for the first time.

Girls lined up outside the testing room, waiting their turn to be tested.

But these girls did it. Sixty girls got tested. Sixty girls now know their status. Sixty girls overcame a challenge that most American children will never have to face. Sixty girls are learning what it takes to become leaders in the fight against HIV in South Africa. Sixty girls helped further my conviction that Grassroot Soccer and prevention-based curriculum can indeed make a difference. And these sixty girls have inspired me to work even harder to make the next Skillz Street and the next testing days even better. 

Girls in a Q&A session with the Department of Health. The DoH came to
the school in order to conduct the testing. During testing GRS coaches act
as supporters and counsellors for all of the girls. 

day in and day out

Hi friends and family! First I want to apologize - I have not been a very good blogger recently. But rest assured, this recent lapse in communication is not because I don't want to share my highly entertaining stories with you; it's because my computer broke. Yep, my brand new MacBook Pro decided to stop working and because I'm in a country where very few people use Macs, I have to ship it home to get it fixed. Major bummer. So I am completely reliant on Mbumbi and Trevor (my two fantastic roommates) whenever I want to use a computer. But I’ve snagged a computer now and I'm going to take the liberty of blogging my heart out. So make yourself comfy, grab some snacks and settle in for what is going to be (as always) a fantastic read!

I was looking over my previous blogs and I realized I have done a good job of providing you snapshots of my day-to-day but I still haven't really explained what it is that I am doing. So here you have it - what it means to be a Programming and Monitoring & Evaluation Intern for Grassroot Soccer. 

By now I'm hoping that most of you know what Grassroot Soccer does; it is a non-profit organization that uses soccer as a way to help deliver a fun and engaging HIV-centered curriculum to school children. At each Grassroot Soccer location (each city where Grassroot Soccer has an office) there are Site Managers and Staff members who handle all of the administrative and organizational aspects of Grassroot Soccer. Each site also has 20 - 40 coaches (GRS Kimberley has about 40 coaches) who are all members of the local communities that go in to schools and work with program participants to deliver the GRS Skillz curriculum. And last but not least, there are interns - like me! And as an intern I do whatever I can, whenever I can, to help our school programs run smoothly and to ensure that all of the administrative and organizational tasks associated with running a non-profit are completed.

One of my biggest responsibilities is Skillz Street (the all-girls program that I know I've spoken about before). What is exciting about this job is that Skillz Street is a brand new program in Kimberley! In three weeks we will be finishing up the first ever Skillz Street camps in Kimberley. I love Skillz Street. I think it is a great program with a truly admirable purpose and the biggest challenge that I am facing right now is helping to make this program all that it can be. It's going to be a daunting task, but I've got some ideas up my sleeve that I think will really help energize the program. And I promise everyone, you will be hearing much more about Skillz Street. 

My other big responsibility is managing finances. Prepare yourself for this, but I am (more or less) in complete control of the money that comes in and out of GRS Kimberley. Whenever GRS needs to do something money related, I am the person that does it. This means that whenever GRS needs to buy something for a program, put petrol in the cars, withdraw money, pay bills, the person doing that stuff will be me. I am also responsible for completing the massive beast of a report that gets sent to Cape Town each month. In this report I have to code all of our expense in order to determine what money we are using to pay for that expense. We have to do this because our funders have set out very strict guidelines detailing where there money can be spent. For example, one of our funders, the Elton John Foundation, only funds programs that actually test participants for HIV. Right now in Kimberley the only program we have that tests participants is Skillz Street. So whenever I buy something for Skillz Street, GRS uses Elton John Foundation Money (affectionately referred to as EJF). 

Another of my tasks that falls under the broad category of "finances" is giving out coaches transport. All coaches get paid a stipend for every intervention that they run and GRS also gives coaches transport money so that they can get to and from the schools that they are working it (note: most of the coaches do not own cars so they rely on taxis to go everywhere). Giving out transport is a tricky matter because coaches have a different schedule each week. Every Thursday I work with the four head coaches (each head coach is responsible for a group of coaches) to calculate how much transport money each coach needs for the coming week. Then on Fridays I go to the bank, withdraw money and spend a good part of my morning dividing the money so that it can be given to coaches. 

I am also in charge of a lot of stuff that goes on at the office. One thing I do is manage inventory. Whenever we have a Skillz Graduation or Skillz Street, we give the kids snacks and lollipops (side note: the lollipops over here are so much better than the lollipops in the states!) and I am the one in charge of making sure we have enough stuff each week. Nike also has given us free gear that we give to coaches an participants. We just got a huge shipment of stuff that I have the pleasure of counting, sorting and then distributing.

My final big task here is helping out with Monitoring and Evaluation. GRS has two ways of tracking its success/ progress; the first is counting the number of kids that "graduate" from our curriculums, and the second is via Pre- and Post-Test results. In Kimberley, GRS wants to graduate a little over 8,000 participants by the end of the year. Coaches take attendance at every intervention that they run and a participant must attend 7/10 practices in order to be considered a "graduate." Coaches take attendance by hand and it is my job to enter the names, ages, schools and attendance records for all participants into an Excel file (called the GRS Scorecard) that gets sent to Cape Town. It's a tedious job, but I don't mind doing it because I think it is crucial for us to know how many kids we have reached. 

I also help keep track of and analyze the Pre- and Post-Test results. For 10% of our interventions, the coaches will give out a Pre-Test on the first day. This test has ten statements questions about HIV and participants are asked whether they "Agree", "Disagree" or "Don't Know" with the statement. For example, one statement is, "I have spoken about HIV with my parents in the past 2 months.” All of the Pre-Test Answers will be recorded (by yours truly). Then at the end of the intervention, participants will be given the same test and once again these answers will be recorded. I will then track if/ how answers changed and whether or not they changed favorably (whether or not participants put the answer that GRS strives to teach). I'm excited to be helping out with this analysis because this is the best tool that we have to actually measure whether or not the GRS curriculum is effective. I have already realized there are ways we can improve our Pre- and Post- Exams (for example, we could translate them into the local languages – right now they are all in English) and hopefully I’ll be able to make a few small changes that end up making a big difference.

All in all, I have more than enough to keep me busy each day. But I like being busy and I finally feel like I have learned "the ropes" and I can start doing my tasks efficiently and effectively. Thanks for reading that monster of a post and stay tuned - I already have an idea of what I want to write about next and I promise it will be more exciting than this!

wookeys

There is a tavern in Kimberley called Wokeys. And just like every other bar that I’ve been to, at Wokeys there is music, smoke, alcohol, bartenders and regulars. Unlike every other bar I’ve ever gone to however, at Wokeys, Trevor and I are celebrities.

All right, it’s mostly Trevor who is the celebrity, but because I’m associated with him – some people think I’m his girlfriend, others think I’m his wife, and some actually know that we are just friends – I’m a celebrity too. Trevor is a celebrity because a couple of weeks ago he played for the Wokey Social Club soccer team. The Wokey Social Club is a pretty cool thing. It’s a club (like any that you would find a William and Mary) that has a board, has weekly meetings and organizes events for its members. The club is comprised of only men and the only business matters that they concern themselves with are drinking, soccer and pool. Sound similar to a fraternity anyone?

Trevor! And a pretty sweet picture if I may say so myself.

Another sweet action shot. Check out Trevor's ups!

Today I went to one of their events – a soccer match. Trevor was playing and I got to hang out on the sidelines with a bunch of guys. What is really cool about these matches is that everyone knows each other; in this case soccer is not only a competition but it is also an aggrandized social event. On the sidelines there are people drinking, smoking, cheering on the players, talking about their wives/ girlfriends and discussing politics. Just sitting on the sidelines was an event in itself.

Picture of the sidelines.

And as the only white girl there, I got a lot of attention. But from what I could tell, most of it is positive attention. People are curious about why I am there but after talking to them for a bit it seems that they are genuinely happy to have me hanging out with them on the sidelines. It was a cool way to learn a bit more about the community and to further immerse myself in the culture here. 

The team and Wokey Social Club members talking at half time.