Hi Family & Friends!

I hope everyone is doing well and that the weather is warming up in the States. Everything is going fabulously over in Cape Town, although I'm starting to grow a little homesick and am anxious to spend an amazing week in Shaker in June. Over the past few weeks I've been spending the majority of my time focusing on the Football for Hope Centre. The Centre has come so far since its opening in December 2009. The office is complete with desks, supplies, a whiteboard, a phone, internet, and several staff. I have been assisting in the day-to-day operational tasks at the Centre, as well as helping with programmes. I've recently been spending a lot of time working on Skillz Street, a soccer league for Grade 7 girls. Every Tuesday and Wednesday, 120 screaming girls come to the Centre after school to participate in a fun league that combines soccer and education. The girls are split into ten teams and each team plays soccer for one hour and then participates in some sort of educational activity for one hour. Two weeks ago the teams split up and visited one of three places - a soup kitchen, SANCA (a local drug and alcohol organization), or the Rape Crisis Centre.

This past week was especially crazy because we all started to realize the extent to which we are going to be busy during the World Cup. From 14 June to 9 July 2010, GRS is running 46 World Cup Skillz Holiday Programmes in seven of the nine South African provinces. Skillz Holiday Programmes provide a constructive, healthy environment for youth during the extended school holiday due to the World Cup. Castrol is funding the majority of the Holiday Programmes, but RED, Levi's, and Rio Tinto each have exciting plans for programmes as well. Each programme is expected to register 100 youth participants, so the Skillz Holiday Programmes will graduate approximately 4,600 South African youths in one month. Running from 8:30am to 3:00pm for five days, the programmes incorporate a fun, educational balance of soccer, HIV prevention and life skills activities. I'm not quite sure of my specific role in the Holiday Programmes, but I know that I will be swamped with work.

I'm currently spending my time recruiting and interviewing 20-25 new Skillz Coaches, helping to run programs at the FFH Centre, building partnerships with other organizations in Khayelitsha, interviewing candidates for a GRS Global position, preparing for an upcoming Training of Coaches, preparing for an upcoming World Cup Skillz Holiday Programme training, and working on an information page to supplement the current curriculum.

With the World Cup fast approaching we've been hosting several cool guests at the FFH Centre. Last week I had a chance to meet Edgar Davids, a famous Dutch soccer player. Here's a picture of a group of us at the Centre (Edgar in purple):


Stay well,
Sarah

Health Fair at Girlz got Skillz

Girlz got Skillz

Hi All!

Hope everyone is doing well. I've been keeping busy the past couple of months with several projects. My biggest project has been organizing a Health Fair for Girlz got Skillz (see my prior post for details). The Health Fair took place this past Saturday and was a great success! Fifteen local organizations (Rape Crisis Centre, Sexual Abuse Clinic, HIV Testing, etc.) came to the Football for Hope Centre and passed out pamphlets on the services they offered.

Aside from Girlz got Skillz, I've been working with the Curriculum and Training Team to pretest several new activities and to create country profiles for each of the countries GRS works in. I've also been meeting with several organizations and individuals to set up different programs at the Football for Hope Centre. One of the current programs is called Skillz Street and was designed by Chris Barkley, GRS Program Manager, and is a league designed solely for girls. More than 100 screaming Grade Sevens show up at the FFH Centre each Wednesday for an hour of soccer and an hour of health education. Over the next few weeks, I'll be getting more and more involved in this program!

That's all for now. Pictures coming soon.

Love,
Sarah

Outward Bound

Now that I've finished posting about vacation (big kilo to Phil for the updates), I'd like to give a work update. I am officially a Programs Intern and work is great, but far less-organized and much more hectic. My current roles include:

• Organizing programs and activities at the Football for Hope Centre. This entails lots of different things, including reaching out to local organizations, coordinating activities, overseeing the effectiveness of programs, etc. Lots and lots of work.
• Setting up operational systems at the Football for Hope Centre. Along with setting the Centre up with internet and a phone line, I am working to secure the Centre with necessary equipment. Unfortunately, the Centre is not in a particularly safe area, so it is crucial that we have proper security installed before we move the entire Programs office to the Centre. One of the biggest problems with security in Khayelitsha (and South Africa in general), is that police rarely come when called. Therefore, GRS needs to work to build a strong relationship with SAPS (South African Police Services) and with the local community to deter crime.
  
• Preparing for Girlz got Skillz, a week long cultural exchange taking place in April. On the final day of the exchange, there is a huge soccer tournament and carnival event at the Football for Hope Centre. I am in charge of organizing the carnival event, which entails bringing local organizations to the Centre to share information regarding their services. The event is targeting females in the community, so I'm mainly reaching out to rape crises centres, pregnancy clinics, domestic abuse organizations, and other female-focused groups.
  
• Building relationships with partner organizations in Khayelitsha. This fits into all aspects of my Internship and I'm doing my best to connect GRS with other organizations via meetings, forums, and trainings.
• Research. In my spare time, I've been working with the Research & Development team on several projects.

I spent February 24th-28th on an Outward Bound program with 25 coaches from Khayelitsha and one of my roomies. We split into two groups and I spent the five days with 12 coaches in the wilderness. We pitched tents every night, cooked our own food (pasta, rice, beans), hiked up and down a mountain, participated in team building activities, abseiled, and rock climbed. All in all, it was a really fun five days. I learned a bit of Xhosa (and made some very embarrassing errors...ask my mom for details), participated in fun activities, and, most importantly, really got to know 12 coaches.

The past two months have flown by with long hours of work, but I'm really enjoying my new role. Okay, gotta get back to work - will write more soon. Still accepting donations! Feel free to send them to my house:

Sarah Bell
2912 Brighton Road
Shaker Heights, OH
44120

Or, if you'd prefer, click the "donate" button at the top right of this blog page and send them to my GRS account.

Best,
Sarah

Vacation Part V

• The only language spoken in Mozambique is Portuguese, but it’s kind of similar to Spanish…
• Roads in Mozambique are atrocious due to potholes. We had to drive extremely slowly across the country, especially at night.
• In Tofo we took at guided snorkeling tour, jumping off the boat to swim with dolphins. It was fun until a 4m long Tiger Shark glided below the boat…
• Mozambican restaurant service is unbearably slow. The worst I have seen in my travels. To the extent where we would always cook for ourselves to avoid it
  

Part V: Eventually… The Beaches of Mozambique

4:57… AM. For the first time in a long, long time, I was freezing. I guess that’s what you get after complaining about the heat for two weeks straight. Anyway, it wouldn’t last. We packed up our campsite in the Vumba Mountains of Mozambique, to the songs of extremely large birds as they jumped around in the trees above us. After a quick adventure with a bunch of monkeys through the gardens of the park, we hopped back in our beloved POS pick-up truck and headed back to Mutare. We stopped into a super market, picked up some supplies, and hired a taxi driver to take us to the Mozambican border. The traffic was brutal as loads of white Zimbabweans were making their way East for New Years Eve (it was December 27^th) and the beaches of Mozambique.

The border was a pain in the butt. I sat in “line” with our American passports, waiting for our visas, forever. Apparently American passports are quite the customs magnet- the customs officials were insistent on letting us go first. By the time I got out of there I was despised by everyone in the immigration room, with one guy uttering, “Just because he has BLUE passports” numerous times. As soon as we crossed into Mozambique we were bombarded with guys trying to sell us their currency (the met) and soon after we found ourselves at the center of a price war as we calmly decided which bus to take to Chimoyo, the nearest city.

A quick trip of 75 kilometers, we made it to the inland city at around noon. Let me just say that at this point we had no idea how we were getting anywhere or where we were staying that night. Our ambitious goal was to get to Vilanculos, Mozambique, a beautiful beach town, by nightfall (look at a map, its not close). After several minutes of talking to bus drivers and taxi drivers in broken, broken, Spanish (yes, they speak Portuguese, I know), we realized that we miiiight have bit off more than we could chew.

Then we realized we were in a dirty, hot, inland town (when we SHOULD be on a beach), and it would be much more fun to wake up on the ocean than here. We would do whatever it took to get out of this place, today. We hired a guy, Xavi, to drive us the 600kms to Vilanculus, and though it was pretty expensive, we realized we had been living quite frugally, and a reward of sorts was OK at this point. I could talk about this trip, all 12 hours of it, in its own essay entitled, “The Portuguese Car Hire: How to get your driver to turn down his f-ing music if you can’t speak Portuguese.” (Quickly: turn down horrific “music,” jam headphones in his ears, and provide ad hoc DJing every time he screams, “CHANGE!”) Thanks for that, Hooter.

“Highlights” from the trip: Our driver didn’t speak English, drove 60kph the whole time (subtract 40kph every time you see a pothole), worst music ever at highest volume possible, paying off police, flat tire, lots of pineapples, occasional thoughts of we could be back in Zimbabwe for all I know, and arriving at 3am after getting stuck on a beach of a road with a driver who doesn’t know how to use his own 4-wheel drive.

We woke up in our tent-sauna, in Vilanculus, with the Indian Ocean never looking so good. We stayed in the town for two days, relaxing, swimming, recovering from our surreal drive, and reading horrible books like SANDSTORM by James Rollins (available on www.amazon.com for definitely $7.99 too much). The town was devoid of tourists, giving it a nice, laid back feeling, with backpackers’ hostels serving as the only accommodations. On December 30^th, we got a ride into town, where we took a hysterical mini-taxi four hours south to Tofo Beach, to spend New Years Eve with four of our other interns. This mini-taxi was literally falling apart as we drove, there were several chickens on board, and my legs were about 10 inches too long for the “leg room” that I was allotted.

Tofo Beach is located on the Tofo Peninsula, and in order to get to our destination we would have to take a ferry from Maxixe (Ma-Sheesh). I voted for taking the tiny sailboat straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean, but I was overruled. We crossed the bay, got some food, and were retrieved by a shuttle from our hostel, Fatima’s Nest. After 45 minutes we were at our home. Interns, Mike Zales (Port Elizabeth), Karti Subramanian (Johannesburg), Jess Pettit (Cape Town), and Chris Kaimmer (Richmond) found us quickly- civilization!

Arriving at Tofo kind of brought us back to reality – we were out of the wilderness and back into the real world. It had been a great run – Sarah, Amy, Hooter and I were still alive – no elephant tramples, no whitewater rafting mishaps, no killer hippos, and only a few food “situations” ;) ;). AND we still liked each other.. I think. It was an absolutely incredible experience, and each one of us played such an important roll and had such a great time. I could not have asked for anything more. Well, maybe some room service.

Vacation Part III & IV

• At this point we rarely were sleeping past 7am, as the tent was no match for the heat of the Zimbabwean sun
• We had been on the road for 9 days at this point, which meant that I had been constantly sweating for 216 hours – hadn’t showered since Botswana but who’s counting
• It was unsafe to walk outside of our campground a few years ago due to elephants, but their numbers have been vastly reduced in recent years due to poaching and commercial and residential development
  

Part III: The Big Two-Six

December 22^nd, 2009- one day before the most important birthday in a person’s life, the big two-six. We woke up in Mlibizi, really, really early, to catch the (at this point) practically mythical Lake Kariba ferry that would be our home away from home for the next 24 hours. Knowledgeable, dependable, tourist guides, agents, or anything for that matter, were few and far between in Zimbabwe. So it was no surprise that any inquiry concerning the near-fabled Lake Kariba ferry that we had made over the past week was met with confusion and skepticism. But Alas! When we woke up that morning it was in sight. It DOES exist!

We strolled onto the ferry, easily the only passengers sans car, and made claim to the smaller upstairs area with a group of other travelers we had become friendly with. The ferry was probably at 50% capacity, giving us a greater sense of comfort (yes, than even our tent granted us). Having lived on so little money over the past (almost) week, the $100 fee seemed paltry, especially once we realized all meals were included, and, wait for it, they let us into the captain’s area and let us use his binoculars!!

After navigating through a plethora of weeds that attempted to keep us at bay, the ferry chugged peacefully up the lake. We read, played games, watched the various animals grazing on the shores, and devoured buffet after buffet that were put in front of us. The sunset was amazing, the nighttime thunder spectacular, and the morning sunrise breathtaking. Our “what time is it, where am I, and where on earth are we supposed to stay tonight” only kicked in as the boat pulled into the Lake Kariba “harbor,” which consisted of, nothing. Luckily (is it really luck at this point?) the boat’s owner’s daughter gave us a ride in her pick up truck to the local supermarket, where we got pot-food and water. She proceeded to drop us off on the side of the road a couple of kilometers farther, pointing in the direction of a camp ground. Hitchhike numero uno lasted 5 minutes when a South African picked us up. I think the negligible waiting period was due to our intimidation factor being at a cool, Level Green, courtesy of the Happy Birthday balloons that littered the straps of my backpack

Our new campsite was located in an enclosed park on the edge of Lake Kariba. The $16 a night got us a great, grassy campsite, a braii, an outdoor bar with satellite tv (for our soccer pleasures), and a nice, warm pool. The bar sat on a secluded bay, home to a couple dozen of our friends, the hippopotami. We celebrated my 26^th birthday in style, with a delicious meal of bread, potatoes, and pasta, and the remainder of our Johnny Walker Black that had made the trip with us all the way from the duty-free airport in JBurg. A Hooter-infused remix of “Happy Birthday” was followed by the presentation of a “lifestraw.” A “straw” with an innovative filter ensured that we would never run out of water again – we took it straight to the lake and took pulls as the other three eyed the lurking hippos. The festivities continued well into the night; we may or may not have convinced Amy that it included elephant sightings along the way.

The three nights we were on Kariba provided some serious R&R. The second day we ventured into the township next door for some Christmas Eve groceries, and were greeted by a hippo on our walk home. Luckily he was more intrigued by the grass he was munching on than Sarah’s look of shear terror. Physical funds were running low at this point, due to every ATM in the area being “out of order,” so our Christmas Eve feast was more of a modes meal (though delicious of course!). We went to bed early like usual- our ride was coming at 4:45am to take us to the township where our bus to the capital city of Harare was to pick us up. Christmas in Zimbabwe would have a rough start, though a memorable ending.

• Mbare residents emphasized the safety of the township, saying that there are very few guns, knives, and gangs. At least in my (albeit short) experience we did in fact feel far safer than in a township of South Africa.
• Every black Zimbabwean we met in Harare, whether in the suburbs or the township, spoke perfect English.
• When we hitchhiked to Vumba, the black driver tried to force all the black passengers in his flatbed out to make room for us, his “bosses.” We insisted on sharing the space.
  

Part IV: Merry Christmas from Mbare, Harare, Zimbabwe

We woke up at 4:30AM in Kariba, Zimbabwe, packed up our possessions, and disassembled our tent with military efficiency. One of the owners of the campground arrived promptly at 4:45AM to take us to the township, where we were to catch our bus the capital city of Zimbabwe, Harare. Dazed and confused we boarded the bus as dozens of inebriated (to say the least) men poured out of the bars. I guess Christmas Eve is a big party night in Zimbabwe. They drunkenly harassed us for food and “Christmas Boxes” (the name for ratios that had been donated to the politically unstable country in years past by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)). After 45 more stops the bus finally got going on the main stretch of road that led to Harare.

All things considered, that ride wasn’t horrible. The bus did break down 15 kms from Harare, but thankfully Hooter’s friend Garika (Gaza) Govati, whom we were meeting up with in the city, drove out and saved us. Gaza’s story is incredible. Having grown up in the township of Mbare, Harare, Gaza received a full scholarship to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Majoring in economics, he studied for a year at the prestigious London School of Economics, (LSE) before returning to Wesleyan to receive his degree in 2007. He now works in Johannesburg for the private equity firm, Emerging Capital Partners, and frequently returns to Mbare to see his family and friends, giving back to his mother and family for everything she did for him.

We wasted no time. Gaza drove us directly to his house, where we enjoyed a delicious, home cooked, Christmas dinner. His siblings, and mother in particular, treated us as family. It was an incredible feeling, and definitely one that we needed, as we each were slowly realizing that it was the first time we were spending Christmas away from our families. We spent the remainder of the day meeting friend after friend, attending party after party, well into the night. Every person we met was so excited to share the day with us, so excited to show us their home, and probably the most excited to give us beer after beer after beer. The night was complete when we each used Gaza’s phone to call our families; I think that sent everyone into tears (definitely my Mom). Drunk, exhausted, full, and happy, we checked into our hotel with a street football matched etched into our calendar for the next morning at 10AM, sharp sharp.

Surprisingly only a little hung-over, Amy, Hooter, and I, arrived back in Mbare right on time for kick-off. Gaza’s friends were setting up a makeshift sound system as the players and fans arrived to watch the match. Rocks formed the goals on far left side of each end of the road we were playing on, and bags tied tightly together served as our ball. The Zimbabwean’s passion for soccer became evident to me for the first time, as we danced, sang, and played throughout the afternoon.

After more beers in the township, we were invited to one of Gaza’s friend’s (who he met while studying at LSE) brother’s engagement party, a precursor to a 1000 person wedding to be held a few weeks later. Dozens of family members and friends attended the party, and we were all treated to an incredible dinner. One of the senior members in the family even sang an on-the-spot improvised tune celebrating the occasion. We were able to talk with much of the family, and it was quickly apparent that they were extremely well educated, having studied in London, traveled extensively to the United States meeting many dignitaries, and holding (or having held) high positions in Zimbabwe. It was an interesting contrast to the remarkable individuals that we were fortunate to have met in Mbare.

Again, we went to bed nice and early in our plush hotel beds (don’t take anything for granted, don’t take anything for granted!). We woke up nice and early, I stole our free breakfast, and Gaza drove us to Mbare, where we caught a 8 hour bus to the city of Mutare, just to the west of the Mozambique border. We hitch hiked 25kms south to the Vumpa Mountains in a dilapidated excuse for a pick up truck, holding on to each other for dear life. Famous for its incredible botanical gardens, and some of the best views in Africa, Vumpa did not disappoint. Birds, monkeys, lizards, and insects provided a symphony of music as our iPod speakers lay dead in my backpack. We listened silently, watching the sun set behind the mountains of Mozambique to the east. The next morning, the nickname for the area, the “Mountains of the Mist,” took its true meaning as low clouds obscured our view in every direction. The longest day of the trip had begun; it was 4:57AM.

Vacation Part II

• Zimbabwe police whether corrupt or actually interested in searching for weapons, stopped our car at least 7 times en route to Mlibizi.
• Our campsite in Mlibizi, perched on the Zambezi River, had a massive “Beware of Crocodiles” sign hanging on a nearby tree. A Dalmatian had been eaten by a 4m long croc the week before.
• The 24 hour long Lake Kariba ferry that we took was to run for the first time in 7 years. Talk about good luck!
• Our sole pot pulled a “reverse Michael Jackson.” Once bright and shiny, the thing now looks like a witch’s cauldron that has been subjected to a10 year inferno.

Part II: All you need in life is a pot, a little fork, and a massive tent

It’s true. Well, kind of. Like I said before, we really didn’t do the whole “prepare” thing. I insisted on bringing a pot more out of novelty than anything else. And the tent, the massive tent, was a money saver and a bicep exercise. We found the plastic fork at some fast food store – it lives today, but in a more deformed state. It became apparent soon after we left Victoria Falls that our pot and our tent would become our 5^th and 6^th companions on our trip.

We hitched a ride across the border into Botswana, and were immediately greeted by wilderness. No fences, very few people, and lots and lots of animals. We flagged down the first mini-taxi we saw, and courtesy of a little Hooter linguistical magic, arrived at our next home 20 minutes and $4 later. We set up our tent for the first time – a 6 person behemoth, and got to work making our very first one-pot meal (little did we know that 20 days later we would be reminiscing about the multitude of one-pot meals a family of four could cook). After a game of “Most likely to…” the four of us fell asleep under the Setswana stars- our first safari was kicking off at 5am.

Through a Jurassic Park style entrance (yes, this is how my brain works), our elevated four-wheel drive vehicle entered the world famous Chobe National Park, home to over 60,000 elephants, and some other crazy statistics of African wildlife that I can’t remember for the life of me. On the edge of my seat, camera in hand, and my mouth ready to make my now infamous “ooooooohhhhhhhh ______! (fill in the blank with an equally as girly animal)” squeal? I was ready.

The next three hours were impressive to say the least. We saw numerous antelope, many species of birds, cape buffalo, jackals, mongoose, monkeys, baboons, deer, hippos, crocodiles, elephants, and LIONS. All at extremely close range as well. The three lions we were lucky enough to see (apparently they are rarely spotted at Chobe) were hidden beneath a tree – our driver drove off the road around the tree, and we got a great glimpse at the two juveniles with their mother.

We headed back to our site, took a little dip at the nearby pool, and then jumped into a cruise boat for a sunset tour of the same park. Cocktails in hand the four of us basked in the sun on the Chobe River, with Botswana on our left and Namibia on our right. It was one of those “I bet you didn’t think you would be doing this a year ago” moments followed by a “please don’t let the boat break like it did on the Zambezi- there are hundreds of crocodiles and hippos in every direction.” Anyway, the memory ingrained in my brain from the cruise was dozens of elephants playing in the water with the sunset setting in the background. Incredible.

We came home that night and hit the sack after resorting to a lodge-cooked meal – the one-pot meal could wait until the next day, and the next, and the next. In the morning we hitched back to the border, and were retrieved by the same gentleman who drove us to Bots two days early. After stopping back in Victoria Falls briefly for supplies, he took us the 5 hours to Mlibizsi, Zimbabwe, where we were catching a 24 hour ferry the next morning that would take us up Lake Kariba to the town of Kariba in northern Zimbabwe.

Until next time!

Sunrise on the boat.

Baby lion!

Elephants

Crocodile

Quick Work Update and Vacation Part I

Since returning from holiday on January 6th, life has been hectic. Vacation was amazing, pictures and details are included at the end of this post.

Over the past month, I've been splitting my time between researching for the Research & Development team, reformatting the Skillz 1.0 curriculum for the Curriculum & Development team, completing my daily Operations tasks, and transitioning into a new role as a Programs Intern. As of Thursday, February 4, I am no longer the Ops Intern. My new position involves more hands-on responsibilities and requires that I spend less time in the office. Currently I am working with several other Interns and employees to create a schedule of activities for the Football For Hope Centre. Further updates to come soon.

Phil Johnson (in South Africa, he is known as Phul), one of my roommates that I traveled with, recently blogged about our adventures so I'm borrowing these summaries from him. I'll continue to post as I receive the updates from Phul. Enjoy!!

• Managers of our hostel quickly told us to be very careful at night, due to wandering elephants, warthogs, and buffalo
• The big thing to do in Vic Falls is to sell their hyperinflated currency (100 trillion zim dollar notes are common)
• Zimbabwe uses SA Rand and US dollars, except they value the rand to dollar at 10:1. It is about 7.5:1. Also, they do not use American cents, instead they give you change in lollipops and sucker candy.

Part I: Bungi Jumping, Colgate, and Hippos

December denoted the “halfway” mark in my time volunteering here at Grassroot Soccer. As I have mentioned before, it has been a truly remarkable time so far, and the knowledge, new skills, and new perspectives that I have gained are immeasurable. As such, and due to the immense workload that surrounded the World Cup draw and the FFHC kick-off event, we interns decided it was time to for a nice, relaxing “holiday.” What better way to accomplish this than a 23 day backpacking adventure through Southern Africa?

On Wednesday, December 16^th, fellow Cape Town interns, Sarah Bell and Amy Cawley, and I left our house at some godforsaken hour of the morning on route to Victoria Falls via Johannesburg (by plane, thank God). Our quick layover in the metropolis of “Jburg” allowed us to rendezvous with our fourth partner in crime, Peter “Hooter” Glidden, an intern in Kimberley, South Africa. The team was assembled. And as GRS says, it was now time to make our move.

Let me stop here by saying that this trip was not well planned, at all. Perhaps this was in fact due to laziness on our part, but I can honestly say that most of it was due to the excitement that question marks add to the life of a young adult, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (note parents cringing). Most of these revolved around the political instability in Zimbabwe- actually probably all of them. When researching Zim, I realized quickly that ATMs were rare, gas prices and thus car rental prices were astronomical, and hippos and crocodiles were out to get you at every turn.

Anyway, I digress. We arrived at Victoria Falls Backpackers on a beautiful afternoon to a friendly reception by the couple who managed the place. They are in fact lovely, and I would recommend the hostel to anyone. We spent the first afternoon at the world famous Victoria Falls themselves. It truly is as incredible as you have heard. Stretching for kilometers, the falls present numerous views at various angles, each more impressive than the prior.

The following days we booked an “adrenaline package” and a full day of white water rafting on the great Zambezi River that separates Zimbabwe from its northern neighbor, Zambia. Not for the feint of heart, we took part in a bungi jump, zip line, and other crazy circus acts, each taking you at increasing speeds over the cliffs just along side the falls. It was terrifying, and spectacular.

The next day was the white water rafting, and it was probably the craziest thing I have ever done. Our insane guide, Colgate, between telling Sarah to shut up and the 82 year old in our boat to keep paddling (both hysterical) “guided” us down class 4 and 5 rapids clearly with no concern for our lives. Joking a little, but it was literally insane. Wave after WALL of wave would crash on the boat. We only capsized twice…

We decided to take the night easy, and go on a tame cruise on the Zambezi. That turned into the boat breaking down and us slowly being dragged towards the falls. Our plan to jump out of the boat and swim to a nearby island was shot down by a hippo taking up residence directly in between us and the island. But hey, we survived. Surely these first few days were not a sign of things to come..

Off to Botswana!

Victoria Falls

Before gorge jumping. Hooter, Amy, Phul, Me.

Jumping!

FFH Centre is Open!!

Football For Hope Centre

After a crazy, but awesome weekend, the Football For Hope Centre finally opened!! Overall, the weekend went smoothly and was a great success. On Friday, we spent the day watching several GRS activities in action. The FFH Centre Opening took place on Saturday morning and went fabulously. Sepp Blatter, the President of FIFA, spoke at the opening and participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Sepp Blatter

After the opening, two GRS coaches demonstrated Skillz activities for the crowd. I hung around for a couple more hours to watch Delegation Teams from Khayelitsha, Lesotho, Namibia, Brazil, and Zambia.

Khayelitsha Delegation Team

Aside from working, I've continued to spend a lot of time outdoors, especially as the weather warms up. We spent this past weekend relaxing with the interns from Malawi and Lesotho and I'm leaving tomorrow morning to go to Zimbabwe with three other interns on holiday break. Our tentative plans include flying into Victoria Falls, going on safari in Botswana, rafting on the Zambezi River, spending Christmas in Harare, and spending New Years on the beaches of Mozambique.

Happy Holidays!!

Football For Hope Centre

Quick weekend update. I spent Saturday and Sunday in Harare, Khayelitsha at the Football For Hope Centre. Annie and I held a community meeting on Saturday morning to discuss the upcoming community opening and we spent the afternoon attempting to build tree cages (we gave up after realizing it would be virtually impossible to build the cages without a professional) and painting fences. We worked alongside many local workers and attempted to communicate via hand gestures and broken English. After a long day of manual labor, Annie and I had only managed to apply the first coat to one of many fences, so we returned on Sunday with the rest of my housemates to finish painting the fences. As the November 28th community opening and December 5th official centre opening approach, we will be spending the next couple of weekends in Khayelitsha.

After returning from Khayelitsha, we hosted a welcome braai at our new house. Lots of GRS coworkers attended with their families and we had loads of delicious food. The braai went so well that we are already planning to host a big Thanksgiving dinner.

The past two weeks have flown by! Everyone is swamped at work as the December 4-6 weekend approaches. The December weekend is a huge event for FIFA because the World Cup Draw takes place on December 4 in Cape Town. It is also a huge weekend for Grassroot Soccer since we were selected as the Football For Hope (FFH) Centre Host in Khayelitsha. FFH is the main element of a strategic alliance between FIFA and streetfootballworld and it is a movement that uses the power of the game for positive social change. The FFH Movement is a part of FIFA's "20 Centres for 2010" official World Cup campaign.

Most of my time over the next three weeks will be dedicated to preparing for the big weekend. As the final touches come together for the Centre, GRS has started to focus on the logistics for the weekend. I'm spending a lot of time putting together an agenda for several visitors that are coming for the weekend. I've learned that planning events in Cape Town is much more difficult than planning an event in the States!!

Table Mountain

We started our hike in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

We hiked up Skeleton's Gorge, a route that has lots of ladders, big rocks, shady trees, and waterfalls.

At the top of Skeleton's Gorge, we reached a sandy reservoir where we set the 10 second timer on the camera and jumped up and down trying to capture a picture of all five of us jumping.
From left to right: Me, Corey, Amy, Phil, and Allen.

View from the top of Table Mountain.

View of Cape Town.

Resting on the top of Table Mountain before hiking down. We originally planned on taking the cable car down the mountain, but it was closed because of the wind.

Hiking down Platteklip, the face of Table Mountain. Although it was tough on everyone's knees, the hike down the mountain was beautiful because we were surrounded by clouds.

I'm going to backtrack a bit and write about a couple events that I have not yet touched upon.

October 9: Heritage Day at GRS Cape Town! South Africans celebrate Heritage Day on September 24 by celebrating the many cultures that are present throughout the country. GRS decided to host its own Heritage Day lunch to share our own traditions and cultural dishes. I decided to be adventurous at lunch and have a taste of everything. This included sheep eyeball, smiley (known as the "tastiest" part of a sheep, smiley is the cheek), tongue (I could feel the tastebuds), intestines (so salty), and hoofs (really chewy). I also ate lots of chocolate buckeyes (made by Elise, a fellow Ohioan), German cake, and Greek goodies (my contribution).





October 10-12: Rocking the Daisies Music Festival with the interns located in Kimberley, Richmond, and Lesotho! We spent the weekend camping and watching amazing music on a wine estate in Darling, about 75 kilometers outside Cape Town. My favorite bands were Freshly Ground, Gang of Instrumentals, Lonesome Dave Ferguson, and Goldfish.

October 13: Finally visited my host family in Grassy Park! I had dinner with Nazeema, Soraya, Juleigha, Tasneem, and Mischka and caught up on everything that happened since I left in April 2008. It was great to see the Valleys and I'm going to do my best to stop by more often.

October 18: I spent seven hours hiking up, around, and down Table Mountain with Allen, Corey, Phil, and Amy. It was my first time hiking the mountain and it was absolutely beautiful. I'll write another post with pictures and more details just now.

This past weekend was much more relaxed. I spent Saturday morning at the Old Biscuit Mill Market catching up with Alyssa, my program director from Projects Abroad and I spent the afternoon surfing with Corey, Amy, and Allen. We got a full night of sleep in preparation for a soccer tournament that we played in on Sunday.

Aside from music festivals, hiking, surfing, and eating, I've been spending lots of time in the office. My workload is picking up and I'm getting involved in several long-term projects, mostly involving the weekend of December 4-6. The World Cup draw takes place on December 4th and the Football For Hope Centre in Khayelitsha is opening on December 5th. Both of these events will have huge media coverage and Grassroot Soccer will have the spotlight for a small part of the weekend. Several GRS Board Members and important GRS friends will be in town for the events and I am helping to prepare for the big weekend.

Table Mountain pictures to come...

Skillz DVD Launch

October 2, 2009 marked the launch of Grassroot Soccer’s first ever Skillz DVD. The DVD was filmed in Khayelitsha, but is delivered to all GRS coaches after they are trained in the GRS curriculum. The DVD featured 21 boys and girls from Khayelitsha and over 150 people attended the premiere party, including all 21 boys and girls featured in the DVD, their family members, the 93 recent Skillz graduates from Impendulo, Skillz coaches, Grassroot Soccer staff, Substance Film crew, local media, and a special appearance by professional soccer star Thabo Mngomeni. Every child who participated in the video got to walk down a red carpet, receive a goody bag, and get their picture taken with Thabo.

Walking down the red carpet at the DVD Launch Party

Weekend in Kimberley!!

Several other interns and I spent last weekend in Kimberley, a huge diamond mining city. We made the ten hour trek Friday morning and had a fun night on the town with Lindsay, Hooter, and Kristin - the GRS interns stationed in Kimberley - serving as our tour guides. After sleeping for a couple of hours, I woke up to go fly fishing with Hooter, Lindsay, Allen, Taylor, and Corey. It was my first time fly fishing and I was pleasantly surprised by how fun, peaceful, and hard it was. After fishing for a couple of hours (and catching nothing), we left to attend a South Africa versus Madagascar Soccer Game. Although it was a friendly match, it was the first time the South African National team had ever played in Kimberley. The stadium holds about 20,000 fans and was completely packed for the occasion. We spent a little too much time tailgating with the locals so the only seats we could find were standing right behind the Madagascar goal. Minutes after we entered the stadium, Bafana Bafana (term meaning "The Boys, The Boys" in reference to the South African team) had a penalty kick. Unfortunately the Madagascar keeper made a great save and the score remained 0-0 until the second half when South Africa took the lead. The rest of the game was great and the atmosphere was unlike anything I had ever experienced before.

After watching South Africa coast to a 1-0 victory over Madagascar, the ten of us spent the night at Lilydale Lodge. We spent the night braaiing, drinking, and hanging out. I introduced everyone to my favorite desert - toasted marshmallows hollowed out with a splash of Amarula (similar to Baileys). After a short night of sleep, we woke up and walked down to the river for a second round of fly fishing. We had much more success on our second day of fishing - all together, we ended up catching 5 fish (I hooked one, but wasn't able to bring it in). We eventually said goodbye to Hoot, Linds, and Kristin around 2:00 and made it back to Cape Town a little after midnight.  All in all, it was a terrific weekend.

Skillz Snap

Since it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted (sorry), I'm going to backtrack to Saturday, September 10 when I spent the day in Khayelitsha working on the Skillz Snap project with Jeff DeCelles, one of my GRS coworkers. Skillz Snap is a pilot project intended to engage Skillz graduates (kids that have gone through the Grassroot Soccer curriculum) in peer outreach activities beyond completion of the Skillz intervention. I was paired with a graduate and a couple of GRS coaches and together we spent two hours interviewing community members on HIV-related themes. 

I spoke with one woman, Grace, for 20 minutes about her sister's 2003 death from AIDS. Grace's stories were really inspiring, but also really difficult to take in because she was so brutally honest and open about tragic events.  Grace spoke about losing her niece to AIDS because her sister did not take the necessary medicine to prevent mother-to-child-transmission. The Skillz Snap pilot went really well so it will be fun to see how it pans out in the future.

Kids in Khayelitsha

Coaches and GRS Interns

Braai in Khayelitsha!

On the last day of intern training on August 13, all of the interns and the rest of the GRS staff went to Khayelitsha for a braai and soccer tournament. Khayelitsha is the second largest township in South Africa and was formed during Apartheid when blacks were evicted from their properties and forced to relocate on the periphery of towns and cities. Estimates place Khayelitsha's population size at 400,000-1 million people, but there has not been a census since 2005. The township is filled with thousands of tiny shacks that are made of corrugated iron. Although conditions in the township have improved since the end of Apartheid, Khayelitsha continues to struggle with unemployment and poor living conditions. Since many of the Cape Town GRS programs are based in Khayelitsha, I will be spending a good portion of my time in the township. In fact, on Friday I'm going to spend a couple of hours tutoring kids in one of the elementary schools in Khayelitsha and on Saturday I am helping to plant a vegetable garden in the township!


Khayelitsha


Khayelitsha

Cape Town

I apologize for not updating sooner, but I have been so busy with training, moving into our new house, and starting work, that I haven't had much free time. I spent my first ten days in Cape Town in intern training with the other 25 interns. Training included many information sessions, a couple of lectures, and a soccer tournament and braai in Khayelitsha, a township right outside Cape Town. When training ended on the 14th, everyone left for their respective sites while the seven of us Cape Town interns moved in. Our house is a block from the ocean and about a mile from the Cape Town World Cup Stadium! It has a great upstairs balcony and is plenty big enough for us to live comfortably.

My job with Grassroot Soccer has been great so far. Although training was informative and helpful, it's nice to actually be putting my skills to work. I'm working in the Operations department with five different bosses, each of whom has a list of projects for me to complete over the year. I'm still getting into the swing of things, but the entire GRS staff is so awesome that I really enjoy going to work everyday! I'll write more specifics about my job as I sort out my year-long projects.

Aside from working long hours, I've been staying quite active. I bought a surfboard last week and have already put it to good use. Three of my roommates and I joined a UCT Club Soccer Team and we'll be playing with them 3-4 nights a week. I've also done a little bit of hiking, but as summer comes and the number of daylight hours increases I'm sure I'll do more. I'm also starting to train for a half marathon that I will run in a couple of months with a bunch of other GRS interns.

Thanks again for your continued support and I promise to post again soon.

Cheers,
Sarah

Grassroot Soccer and Fundraising

Welcome to my Grassroot Soccer Blog!! This website allows me to share my experience as a GRS intern with everyone. On August 2nd, I leave to spend 12 months in at least one of the nations in which Grassroot Soccer operates – Zambia, South Africa, and Malawi. As a Field Intern, I will be involved with all aspects of the successful delivery of the GRS program – training professional soccer players and other community leaders to use the GRS Curriculum; building relationships with private, non-profit, and governmental organizations; and designing, monitoring, and evaluating program implementation.

GRS is a South Africa-based non-governmental organization that integrates the cross-cultural appeal of soccer with evidence-based HIV prevention and life skills programs that arm African youth with the knowledge, skills, and support to live HIV free. Translating research into action and leveraging the excitement around the 2010 World Cup, GRS attracts and engages African youth through schools, community outreach, and social multimedia. Since 2003, over 270,000 youth in 16 countries have received comprehensive HIV prevention education through programs linked to GRS.

Because this is a volunteer position with a non-profit organization, I will not receive any compensation for my year of service. With the exception of housing, GRS is unable to provide financial assistance or services for its Field Interns. Therefore, I am asking for your support in covering my expenses while I am in Africa. This includes travel to and from Africa, local transportation, food, health insurance, required immunizations and medications, and even everyday items such as toiletries. My fundraising goal to support my 12 months of service is $12,000 and I am growing closer and closer to meeting this goal everyday.

Here are the three easy ways for you to contribute to my year abroad:

1. Mail a check made out to Sarah Bell (with 'Grassroot' in the memo). This will ensure that your donation is easily accessible while I am traveling in Africa.

Send to:
Sarah Bell
2912 Brighton Road
Shaker Heights, OH 44120

2. Mail a check made out to Grassroot Soccer Inc. (*with Sarah Bell in the memo*). This will go to my GRS account. All donations are tax deductible, and you will receive a tax form from the GRS office.

Send to:
Grassroot Soccer, Inc.
PO Box 712
Norwich, VT 05055

3. Use the 'Donate' function found on the upper-righthand side of this website. An easy, secure way to use your credit card that is also tax deductible!

For your records, Grassroot's Soccer's Federal Tax ID number is #43-1957920. If you have any questions please contact Angela Tucker at (802) 649-2900 or angelat@grassrootsoccer.org