Ragball International

Since beginning my work for Grassroot Soccer, I've come across some really cool and innovative ways of organizations using soccer to bring about social change. One of those organizations is Ragball International, in which "young people from Africa produce handmade soccer balls from recycled materials in exchange for a fair wage and entrepreneurial training."

I've done a lot of reading on aid to Africa lately - some experts arguing the foreign aid is helping the continent and that there needs to be a bigger influx of it, while others say that sending so much aid to Africa creates a sense of dependence, allows for more corruption, and doesn't give these countries the opportunity to grow economically. What both sides seem to agree on however, is that giving people the opportunity to learn business skills and specialized job training is of the utmost importance. That's one reason I really like this organization, it's not giving Africans handouts, it's giving them jobs.

Check it out and definitely buy a ball if you can.

The Lion Park

This past Saturday, AJ, Tizzy, and I went to the Lion Park. Despite being a mere 30 minutes outside of Johannesburg, the park felt light years away from the bustling city we have come to call home. (Naturally, as has come to be the norm, we got lost on the way there so it took us significantly more time than it should have, but still).

At the park you’re able to drive your own car, which is great because it gives you the opportunity to spend as much time as you want observing the various animals the area has to offer.  As we moved along the dusty road in our Grassroot Soccer Toyota, we cruised to the tunes of Lauryn Hill while taking snapshots and videos of everything around us. We enjoyed the serenity of grazing zebras, observed the bizarre nature of wild ostriches, were literally inches away from fully grown lions, locked eyes with antelope and gazelle, got to hold and play with baby lion cubs, and even had a giraffe lick the side of my face. It was a blast. 

Slam Poetry Part II, New House, Impromptu Interventions

It’s been a pretty interesting couple of weeks down here in South Africa.  I guess I’ll address each thing topic by topic:

The Slam

The National Drama for Life Poetry Slam last Friday evening was a great event. After winning the regional competition, I was excited to get back on stage for an even bigger event. Over the course of the week, I got to spend a lot of time doing workshops with the other top 5 poets from the Johannesburg regional competition. During the workshops, we refined our performance and delivery skills, as well as just getting to spend some fun and quality time together.

Friday night we met the 6 poets from the KZN province, against whom we would be competing. It was a really cool group and I could tell that this slam was going to be a special one.

On stage waiting for the results

The difference between this week and last week was that each of the 12 poets could only perform one piece. So you had one chance come hard, and then let the judges do the rest. Each poet went up and did their things, and I was amazed at all of the innovative and original ways that people went about addressing the topics of HIV and relationships. No two poems tackled the issue in the same way, kind of like snowflakes (yea yea that’s cheesy and cliché but whatever). After the performances were done, all of the poets came back onto the stage, and they proceeded to announce the top 6. Which I was a part of.

Then, one by one, they let poets go. When there were only four of us left on stage, they called my name. This meant that I had gotten 4^th place, which by all means is a good showing, but was not in the top 3 where I hoped to be (and to whom the cash prizes were given).

Naturally, as a competitive person and someone who holds myself to a really high standard, I was disappointed to not to place in the top 3. But as I’ve grown as a person and as participant in the slam poetry community, I try not to let my competitiveness deter me from seeing the beauty of being a part of such an event in the first place. At the end of the day, I’m just so blessed to have been able to be competing in such an amazing competition and blessed to have met the people that I did.

Some people were videotaping the event so as soon as I get ahold of the video, I'll put it up.

The Strike Goes On

Having stood on the picket lines (well no, this is South Africa – so having sang and danced on the picket lines) for over there weeks, there is still no clear end in sight service workers’ strike.  The government has made better offers but the unions don’t seem to be budging. Read more about it here: http://allafrica.com/stories/201009020018.html

From a GRS perspective we’ve had to improvise. Since we can’t go into the schools to do the interventions, we’ve brought the interventions to us. Coaches have recruited kids from throughout their neighborhoods, who haven’t already gone through the Skillz program, and have brought them to the Nike Center for a week of practices. For a last minute kind of effort, everything has gone pretty smoothly. Over 200 kids have been attending the sessions.

Hanging with the little brothers and sister
of the kids going through intervetions

I think kids were genuinely looking for something to do during the day – and the fact that they got to come inside the new Nike Center, something they’re usually not allowed to do, doesn’t hurt either. We've also held interventions at a local park for those kids who couldn't get transportation to the center.

Since I’ve been here, I haven’t been able to watch an actual intervention due to the strikes. So this week has been great for me because I’ve gotten to really see what the very core of GRS is all about – the coaches and their time with the kids. I think it’s so easy to get caught up in all the other things that go into running an International NGO that it could be easy to lose sense of the core mission. But at GRS Soweto, all I have to do is step outside to remember why I’m here doing what I’m doing.

Interventions at local park

New House

In addition to AJ finally arriving this week (congratulations to his sister on her wedding), we moved into our new house this past weekend. It’s a great place in a pretty cool neighborhood of Joburg called Melville. We’re literally a 1 minute walk from one of the more happening spots in the city – a small strip called 7^th street. Loads of bars, cafes, and restaurants.  The house is a 4-bedroom that Tizzy, AJ, and I share with a cool girl named Phoebe. We’re working on getting the place furnished in the next few days. It’s crazy how you don’t realize how many little things you need to furnish a house. We’re learning the hard way.

Special Treat

Nike Center the evening of the game...imaculate

One of the great things about working out of the Nike Center, is that because the fields and facilities are of such high quality, loads of professional and national teams come to train and play there. Last night, Ghana played the Kaiser Chiefs in a “closed door” friendly match. “Closed door” simply meaning that it wasn’t open to the public. But as an employee of the Nike Center, I was able to watch the match after work with some of the other coaches. Ghana plays Swaziland in a few days, and the Kaiser Chiefs are one of the best teams in the South African Premier League. It was an entertaining match that ended 2-2. I think the game epitomized how small a lot of South Africans are. The Ghanaians looked like giants compared to the Chiefs. It looked like they were playing against a U-15 team.

Ghana warming up with Kaiser Chiefs in background

That’s all for now...