Clint in South Africa With Grassroot Soccer: Human Rights Day HCT

On Monday, March 21st. Grassroot Soccer Soweto held our second ever HIV Counseling and Testing Soccer Tournament (HCT). As I mentioned in my December post following our first HCT back on World AIDS Day, an HCT is a soccer tournament in which participating teams have the opportunity to play competitive soccer matches, obtain specialized life skills training from our GRS coaches, and receive complementary HIV tests. While the testing is voluntary, players are given numerous incentives to encourage them to know their status. For example, each participant who gets tested receives a free T-shirt and goodie bag. Additionally, all teams receive an additional point in the tournament standings for each member of their team who gets tested. With the difference between competing teams often just being a few points, the teams who get the most players tested typically end up advancing to the semi-final round.

So as you might have guessed from the description and structure of the tournament, getting people tested was the unquestionably the primary goal of the event.

We held the event on March 21st both to take advantage of a day when schools would be out, as well as to commemorate Human Rights Day. As stated by about.com: On this day in 1960 the police killed 69 people at Sharpeville who were participating in a protest against the pass laws. Many were shot in the back. The carnage made world headlines. Four days later the government banned black political organizations, many leaders were arrested or went into exile. During the Apartheid era there were human rights abuses by all sides; Human Rights Day is but one step to ensure that the people of South Africa are aware of their human rights and to ensure that such abuses never again occur.

While we interns have been fortunate to have our hands in a variety of projects, activities, and interventions, this event took on a special significance for us because we were given full ownership and responsibility of putting the entire day together. We would be responsible for the success or failure of the event.

Now, I’ve planned and coordinated a number of events before, but never one of this scale, and never one on the continent of Africa. Subsequently, the two months of preparation for this event taught me more about event planning than anything I could have ever read in a book, learned at a lecture, or researched on the internet. It was “experiential learning” to the highest degree.

I mention “on the continent of Africa” because there are a number of subtle (and not so subtle) differences between putting an event like this together in the States and putting one together here, (and for my politically correct friends out there, I say “on the continent of Africa” not because I mean to clump all of these countries together, but just because I have lived in more than one African country).

Anyway, one of the biggest differences is that many of the things typically done over the phone or via email in the States, have to be done in person here. One reason is because the level of technological savvy and sophistication does not exist on the same scale here as it does back home, and secondly I've found that culturally some people see these means of communication too impersonal and insist on instead speaking to you face to face. Naturally, this results in a lot more driving, waiting, and time then would otherwise be necessary back home, but at the end of the day the things that need to get done, get done. And over the course of this year, if I’ve learned nothing else, I’ve learned that here in SA patience is the name of the game.

With torrential downpours plaguing Johannesburg all week, there were concerns that the weather might not cooperate with our plans for the big day. But after a lot of crossed fingers and an animated rain dance from AJ, we were relieved to find that the rain clouds had decided to stay away on what turned out to be a beautiful day in Soweto.

After mitigating a few unexpected obstacles in the morning, the event proved to be the successful occasion we all hoped for. The boys and girls teams played their matches passionately while still following the rules of our “fair play” system, the sounds of the marimba band’s spirited music reverberated throughout the grounds, our coaches delivered Generation Skillz interventions with heartfelt authenticity, and those in attendance were treated to a special visit from famous Bafana Bafana star and local hero Teko Modise. By days end, we had crowned both a deserved boys and girls champion, done more dance moves in a day than most people could hope to do in a lifetime, and tested nearly 250 players and community members - tripling the amount of people we had tested at our last event. And despite the fact that my voice was gone and that I couldn’t feel my feet due to not sitting down for 8 hours straight I was thrilled by how the event turned out...