Grassroot Soccer

My internship has been at Grassroot Soccer, an organization that "uses the power of soccer to stop the spread of HIV." While they use soccer to structure what they do, the focus is teaching life skills and HIV prevention methods to young people. I was able to work on one of their projects recently. I helped with the organization of an event for Youth Day - a national holiday in SA. It took place in Khayelitsha where Grassroot Soccer operates a center that FIFA built in the lead up to last year's World Cup. Despite the rain, over 1,000 people showed up because they wanted to play and watch soccer. The event was designed so that teams not only got points for winning games but also for participating in information sessions from local health NGOs and colleges. Individuals could also earn their team points by getting tested for HIV. An impressive 318 people got tested on the day!

In the lead-up to the event I helped organize partner organizations and did random logistical tasks. On the day, I did anything needed from managing the room full of organizations to giving out soccer balls to putting russians (hotdogs) in buns. (An aside about russians: Was it kinda gross to handle russian after russian? yes. Were russians served at Michelle Obama's recent visit? probably not. Are they as good as Mzoli's meat? nowhere close. Do I still occasionally eat them? yes.) Anyway, russians and rain apart, I had fun at the event. I am continually impressed with the Grassroot Soccer program, and its been great working with all these ridiculously energetic people!