First Week Musings

The last two weeks have been hectic to say the least, a whirlwind in the best kind of way. On August 4^th, I made my way up to Hanover, New Hampshire for a 4-day orientation with the other Grassroot Soccer interns. During the training we did a series of team-building exercises that included a hike, doing activities from the HIV awareness based ‘Skillz’ curriculum that we use for the kids in Africa, and guided one on one sessions with each intern where we were able to connect with one another on a deeper level. Additionally, we were given a crash course in all things GRS and HIV/AIDS. While I considered myself fairly well-versed on the disease, my knowledge of its intricacies has undoubtedly increased at least 300%.

Interns at the orientation cabin

On the final night, we had dinner with the founders Tommy Clark (the visionary and current CEO), Ethan Zohn (the guy who won the first Survivor) as well as the board of directors and all domestic GRS staff. What impressed me most is that everyone in the organization, all the way from the CEO to the administrative assistant, all seem to be extremely grounded. Everyone is on the same page, and are incredibly motivated by the work we are doing. Additionally, everyone we met made it a point to convey to us how important we interns were to the success of Grassroot Soccer, and how without us, the organization would fail.

The only complaint I have from my time in Hanover is that it didn’t last longer. The other interns are amazing people. It’s an incredible feeling to be surrounded by so many other young, passionate, and excited people who share the same core values and are determined to leave their mark on the world. After staying up all night around a bonfire that made it feel like we were leaving summer camp, we all said our goodbyes and promised to visit each other at our various site throughout Southern Africa. 

Big Ben

That night, Tizzy and I (AJ doesn’t arrive until the end of August because his sister is getting married in a few weeks) lugged our baggage to Logan airport in Boston and flew across the pond to London where we were scheduled for a daunting 12-hour layover. Instead of sitting in the airport all day, however, we decided to take advantage of our time. So, we took the tube into London where we took a double-decker bus tour, lounged in Green Park (London’s version of Central Park), watched the astoundingly diverse plethora of people who live in London, walk through.

Then there was the 11-hour flight to Johannesburg, which surprisingly wasn’t too bad. I think I watched four movies back to back so I wasn’t really paying attention to the time anyway. Mmm…nothin’ like some good airplane movies.

Now you may be thinking to yourself, “an 11-hour flight Clint?!? Why didn’t you just sleep?” Well, a few years ago I had a really bad snoring problem. Anytime I would fall asleep in an upright position, like on a plane or a bus, I would start snoring like a big, drunken, allergy-infected grizzly bear. Flight attendants would have to come and wake me up because I was disturbing other passengers. It was pretty bad. So I trained myself not to fall asleep on planes. Anyway, sorry for that tangent…

At the airport, we were picked up by Karti, a guy who was ending his yearlong cycle as an intern. Unfortunately, we only had two days before he was scheduled to fly back to the United States, but I’m thankful we had him around at all because we would have been screwed if we didn’t.

Me, Tizzy, and Karti

As much as any human being can do in an 36 hours, he showed us the area we’ll be living, how to drive a stick shift, how to get from Johannesburg (where we’ll be living) to Soweto (where we’ll be working), introduced us to all of his ex-pat friends, told us where to go and where not to go at night, where to buy groceries, where to get internet, a brief political history on South Africa, and pretty much anything else you can imagine someone possibly doing for two kids fresh out of undergrad living on their own in Africa for a year. Needless to say, he was more than helpful.

For the moment, we’re living in a small garden cottage behind someone’s house in an area of Johannesburg called Melville. It’s essentially like a small studio. Like a small poolhouse, just without the pool. We’re staying here until the end of the month, then when AJ arrives, we’ll be moving into a house a few minutes down the road. For my New Orleans people out there, living in Melville but working in Soweto feels kind of like living Uptown but working in the 9^th ward. It definitely provides an interesting juxtaposition.

Where we work

As I’ve said, we work is Soweto, which is about a 20-minute drive from where we live. The office in Soweto is a brand new state of the art center that Nike built right before the World Cup in effort to provide the kids of Soweto a space to train on grass and turf fields, while also learning important life skills. GRS runs the life skills aspect of it. I’ll provide more details about the Nike and Grassroot Soccer partnership in another post.

Lastly, on only our second day, Tizzy and I were hooked up with tickets to the South Africa vs. Ghana friendly. Traffic was absolutely terrible – and there’s nothing worse than stop and go traffic when you’re just learning to drive a stick shift – but when we finally arrived at the stadium, we were treated to a festive atmosphere and a first hand experience in how loud vuvuzelas actually are. Soccer City is DOPE!!!

Soccer City

A great stadium that somehow manages to be huge while still maintaining an intimate feel to it. Considering that it was a post-world cup friendly, I didn’t expect a big crowd. But I’d say at least 75% of the stadium was full, and those who were there were treated to a 1-0 Bofanna Bofanna win (Bofanna Bofanna is the name of the South African team, literally translated as “The Boys The Boys”). Only wish I could have been here for the World Cup.

Bofanna Bofanna!!!

I could go on and on about the things I’ve experienced thus far, but I realize that super long post can get boring so I’ll save the other stuff for another day. I’ve got all year after all.