Drama For Life Slam Footage

Footage from one of the pieces I did at the Drama for Life Slam back in August...

Bungee Jumping from Orlando Towers

"Clint, this is just dumb." That's what I was thing to myself the entire car ride over to the Orlando towers in Soweto.

The Orlando Towers

One of the things on many people’s bucket list is bungee jumping. And for one reason or another, that wish rarely ends up getting fulfilled. Now let me clarify, bungee jumping has never been on my bucket list. The notion of jumping off of a bridge, building, cliff, tower or anything else with nothing but an elastic cord preventing me from plummeting to the ground seemed silly. It was something I thought only my crazy white friends would do (sorry crazy white friends, you know I love you).

This one speaks for itself

But I don’t know what it was that happened – whether it’s the fact I’m in Africa, that two of my best friends wanted to do it with me, that we had thrill-seeking guest in town, or that my crazy white friends have rubbed off on me – but Saturday, I climbed to the top of the Orlando towers, strapped an elastic cord to my feet, and jumped off a building 35 stories tall.

At this point I was pretty sure I was going to die

I probably used the bathroom 5 times in 10 minutes before we jumped because I was pretty sure that I was going to pee my pants. Remember that childhood fear of heights I mentioned in a previous post? Well it was taking over at this point, but I had to follow through. I had already paid, had already watched Jeevs jump, and we had all already started practicing the bungee jump story as our new pick up line. So I stepped to the edge of the platform, kissed my cross, closed my eyes, and jumped.

Most unreal feeling ever

“Ridiculous!”

That’s the only word that can describe the feeling of free falling to the ground before the elastic cord catches you and recoils you up from imminent death. It was awesome.

That's one more check on the bucket list

"Winds of Change"

Here is the 'Mobilitate' video I've mentioned featuring my poem, Winds of Change. I wrote this piece when studying abroad in Senegal, but have found its message to be just as relevant during my time here in South Africa. I hope you enjoy:

Graduation Day!!!

This post is a few weeks late but things have been pretty hectic over here in Soweto lately and I figure its better late than never.

At the end of each 9 week long Skillz intervention, the coaches hold a graduation event for all of the kids. Coaches decorate the room, principals and teachers make speeches, a plethora of pictures are taken, and the kids make presentations full of singing, dancing, drama, and poetry. It's an awesome, festive atmosphere and gives the kids an opportunity to convey how much this program has really meant to them. I'm not going to lie, during some of the poems the kids were performing, I was feeling pretty choked up. No poetry slam I've been to has anything on this.

As much as Grassroot Soccer prides itself on having in-depth, proven quantitative data to support the fact that our programs are effective, it was really special for me to experience the more qualitative side of things, the kind of results you can't necessarily put into a Microsoft excel spreadsheet.

Here are some pictures from the event: