Zimbabwe stars active in HIV fight
From sfgate.com
Zimbabwe stars active in HIV fight
Group has strong Bay Area ties
by Dwight Chapin
Imagine the students’ reaction if Barry Bonds started showing up as a guest instructor in San Francisco elementary and junior high school classrooms.
Imagine the students’ reaction if Barry Bonds started showing up as a guest instructor in San Francisco elementary and junior high school classrooms.
That’s roughly akin to what’s happening now in the African nation of Zimbabwe, where that country’s biggest names in professional soccer have signed on to help educate at-risk youngsters between the ages of 11 and 13 about the dangers of HIV infection, and about the most effective ways to protect themselves.
It’s part of a program administered by Grassroot Soccer, an international AIDS awareness organization that has extensive ties to the Bay Area.
The group’s founder and president is Dr. Tommy Clark, a University of New Mexico pediatrics resident who is the son of former Stanford (and current Notre Dame) coach Bobby Clark, and the brother of ex-Stanford and Earthquakes player Jamie Clark. The last two Clarks also are strongly involved in Grassroot Soccer, along with familiar names like actor (and former player) Andrew Shue and “Survivor Africa” winner Ethan Zohn. Dr. Walter Bortz, a professor of clinical medicine at Stanford, also is on the board.
The Clarks know Zimbabwe well, because Bobby coached a team there in the early 1980s and Tommy and Jamie lived and later taught English and played soccer there.
“AIDS is just decimating several African countries, including Zimbabwe,” Jamie Clark said by phone from Albuquerque, where he is an assistant men’s soccer coach at the University of New Mexico. “It’s one of the worst-afflicted nations. Life expectancy rates are dropping rapidly. Many people are starving, there, too, and the country is on the brink of civil war.
“But they still get 30,000 people out to see pro soccer games. It’s the thing to do. The sport has a cult following.”
So, considering that, Tommy Clark came up with an idea.
Why not tie the fervent soccer interest into AIDS education, with the big- name players as teachers of youth?
Grassroot Soccer has enlisted and trained a number of highly recognized former and current players, including ex-Zimbabwe men’s national team player Methembe Ndlovu and two members of the country’s women’s national team.
“These are role models people there can identify with,” Jamie Clark said. “The first three months of the program, we reached 300 students in the classrooms in Bulawayo. The second session is just beginning. We have hopes and expectations of growing and expanding into other countries.”
Grassroot Soccer, directed by former A-League player Kirk Friedrich, is fund-raising in a number of U.S. cities, including an event planned June 14 in San Francisco. (More information will be available on the organization’s Web site, grassrootsoccer.org). The Gates Foundation also has just offered the pilot program a large grant.
“People are seeing the program and saying, ‘Hey, this actually has a chance, ‘ ” Jamie Clark said. “AIDS is a very preventable disease. It’s all about getting the information out into the open, removing the barriers and allowing the truth to come out, so we can be successful in preventing it.”