Aids project keeps kids on the ball
From The Times
by Pheliswa Mayekiso and Angela Nauman
THE Isaac Booi School is a plain brick- lined double storey building in Port Elizabeth’s Zwide township. It is just after one o’clock in the afternoon, classes are over, yet the playground is still buzzing with activity.
Standing out in the crowd of children in maroon uniforms are a few young people in bright yellow T-shirts. They are coaches from Grassroot Soccer, a programme teaching young pupils about soccer and HIV/Aids prevention.
Director Kirk Friedrich started Grassroot Soccer in Zimbabwe in 2002 after several of his friends and soccer players died of Aids.
“The idea was to develop a curriculum for HIV/Aids education based on games. Soccer attracts kids and the message from the game can easily be transferred to life.”
The programme combines social theory, public-health methods , rigorous evaluation and a huge dose of passion.
“We trained professional players to teach awareness of the disease and the need for prevention. The trainers are role models to the children, a powerful concept when it comes to behaviour change,” says Friedrich.
After the pilot project was evaluated in Zimbabwe and a few minor adjustments made , the model was expanded to other countries. South Africa’s HIV/Aids prevalence is just over 11%, and the death rate in areas such as Zwide reaches almost 40%.
Since March 2006, Grassroot Soccer has plugged into education and after-school programmes, and has recruited and trained 100 people to coach its curriculum, reaching 3000 school children.
Excitement is dancing in the air and they are ready for their “energiser”. Led by trainers, they are chanting and clapping a rhythm. Siyahamba — we are going! One by one they enter the circle, showing off individual moves — “I do, I do, I do like this ” — copied by the others.
“With the ‘energiser’ we get them in the mood for action” says Siyavuya Ntabeni, 23, one of 13 project coordinators, before he invites the group to the next game, called “find the ball”.
The youngsters stand shoulder to shoulder in two lines, facing each other. Ntabeni introduces the HIV/Aids ball, a tennis ball he hands to the first team who pass it behind their backs, trying not to attract attention to the person actually holding the ball.
The opposite team starts guessing which player is holding the ball. After taking turns a few times, Ntabeni stops the game. Sixteen pairs of eyes rest on him as he explains the message behind it.
“You cannot tell if someone has HIV/Aids just by looking at him or her, just like you cannot see who is holding the ball behind his or her back. You only know your status if you go for a test.”
The stigma is one of the biggest problems in the community: “If you have the disease, the community looks down on you.”
Grassroot Soccer focuses on taboos and increasing the kids’ knowledge of HIV/Aids from an early age.
“Before a new group starts the eight-week programme, we sign a contract with them. We discuss our key values, which are to respect each other, feel comfortable about what we do, take part in the activities and share experiences,” said Ntabeni.
“Using the Power of Soccer in the fight against HIV/Aids” is the slogan on the back of his T-shirt. Grassroot Soccer is much more than kicking balls around . It’s the image of the sport, its ability to connect people, the magic of the game, that attracts .”
And with SA building up to the World Cup in 2010, excitement about football is even greater than ever.
“Football is a universal language, it appeals to men and women of all ages and it’s easy. You don’t need lots of resources to play,” said Ntabeni.
Friedrich works closely with Football for Hope, a Fifa and streetfootballworld initiative dedicated to promoting development through the game worldwide. “Having Fifa’s support is immensely helpful and adds a quality seal to our efforts and recognition of the work we do,” he said.
One of the 200 kids with Grassroot Soccer in Zwide is Lungi. A tiny 12- year-old, she is planted between two teenage boys in the circle, making her appear younger than she is — until she begins to tell her story. Lungi lost her parents to Aids.
“My father was first diagnosed with TB. With treatment, he seemed to be getting better. But he started drinking again, things got worse and he passed away,” said Lungi.
Soon after her father’s funeral her mother started to experience shortness of breath and deteriorated by the day. She was diagnosed with HIV and died a year later . Lungi is being raised by her sister and extended family.
“The programme teaches me to be strong and to know I am not the only one who has lost parents to HIV, she said.
“ My favourite game is the one called ‘choices’, teaching us about making our own choices. There are things you can choose and things you can avoid.”
She joined the Grassroot Soccer street league in July. The children, aged between 10 and 18, gather twice a week.
Ntabeni sees her as an energetic young girl and a receptive pupil.
“She can achieve the best in life and be a role model for others,” he says.
When Grassroot Soccer youngsters were selected as player escorts this year for the “90 minutes for Mandela” Fifa match to mark Nelson Mandela’s 89th birthday, Lungi walked onto the pitch with the legendary Pele.
Near the Isaac Booi School is the Dora Nginza Hospital, a large complex at the edge of Zwide township. Doctor Mlulami Mabandla is the chief medical officer at the children’s clinic, the province’s leading supplier of anti-retrovirals. Mabandla sees on average 30 to 40 HIV positive children daily and is encouraged by the progress the clinic has made.
“We manage to get most of the people who need ARVs on to them. Prevention is where we are lagging behind.”
He says the success behind Grassroot Soccer is the action-driven curriculum. “Children don’t like to be dictated to. They respond better to an informal situation, where the education is brought about as a game.”
Friedrich, Ntabeni and the rest of the coaches are working towards sharing their curriculum with more organisations to reach as many kids as they can.
In a 2006 study the Cape Town Centre for Actuarial Research projected there would be 5.8-million people infected with HIV in 2010.
There are things you can choose and things you can avoid.