Send Me On My Way: a not so mundane life

Last night I was talking to my friend, Matt, and he yelled at me for not posting anything on my blog recently. I tried to explain that, even though I’ve been busy, there is nothing really “new” going on and I didn’t want to bore everyone with the same old stories. Matt had a response ready; he said, and I quote, “Lamp, you’re in South Africa. Anything you have to tell us is going to be way more interesting than the mundane lives we’re living in the States.”

So here goes. I’m sure most of you can probably guess what I am going to talk about first – Skillz Street! I am actually just about to finish up with Kimberley’s first Skillz Street of 2012 (we have our final Practice this afternoon), but what has been really cool about this round of Skillz Street is that I am piloting a new version of the program.

Coach Mpho with her team, 'The Cool, Sexy Divas."

Last December a group of about 20 people, myself included, attended a Curriculum Development Workshop in Cape Town to discuss, debate and revamp Skillz Street. During the past five weeks the team in Cape Town has diligently been taking all that feedback and writing brand new Skillz Street practices. Each week Cape Town sends me two new practices. I review the practices and design and implement weekly training session with the coaches so they are well versed in the new material.

There is a lot of new stuff in this version of Skillz Street and it is hilarious
watching the girls and coaches do warm-up activities that they have
never done before!

Then comes the fun part – on Monday and Tuesday, we run Skillz Street at Emang Mmogo, a high school in Galeshewe. I love being at Skillz Street. I get to see how the coaches and the girls respond to the new curriculum. I get to demonstrate all of the soccer and sport components of the practice. I get to share some laughs with the participants. And I get to get out of the office and enjoy myself!

Some of the participants cheering on their team mates.

After each Practice I hold a debrief session with the coaches in which we go through the practice step by step and everyone gets a chance to discuss what they liked and didn’t like, voice their questions and concerns, and give feedback. The feedback from the coaches – and what I have the chance to observe during the practices – is phenomenal. I collect all this feedback, synthesize it and send a concise version to Cape Town.

In the new Skillz Street we let girls choose between playing soccer or
handball. They love the handball!

This whole process is time consuming, challenging and exhausting, but I love it. And I am so pleased with the new version of Skillz Street. As one of the Kim coaches put it, "It's good stuff Lauren. All this information in here and what we do, it's what we - the coaches - and our girls need to know. It's good stuff."

After playing handball.

And on International Women's Day, Skillz Street was named as one of the top ten educational initiatives for girls and women by Women Deliver. I am proud to contribute to such an awesome program!

There is more work stuff too. I’ve been working a lot on business development for GRS Kim. This has entailed doing site research, research on the state of HIV and alcoholism in the Northern Cape, composing reports and proposals and contacting potential funders in order to secure funds for GRS Kimberley. This isn’t the most fun part of my job but I am learning a lot about small business and the non-profit world.

Panoramic of the stadium.

And when I’m not working, I’m playing! In other words – I’m doing all sorts of shenanigans with the other interns. Just this weekend 21 past and present interns got together in Johannesburg to celebrate St. Patty’s Day and to go to Round 2 of the Soweto Derby! The Soweto Derby is an epic soccer match between the Orlando Pirates and the Kaiser Chiefs, the top two teams in the South African Professional Soccer League (PSL). I went to the first face-off that these teams had back in September and after having an amazing time there was no way I was going to skip round two. It was, again, awesome! Whether your team wins or looses, you are guaranteed to have a good time at this match up.

Just one room where we all slept.

And getting to see almost all of the interns (only 7 weren’t present) was so much fun. We went to the apartheid museum, cruised the streets of Joburg, ate delicious South African food, and had a blast. The only part of the weekend that I regret is trying to read Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment on the train ride home.