(Editor's Note: WSL alum Rosie Perkins has been working with Grassroot Soccer in South Africa since last August. Perkins, a 2005 graduate from Westbrook High who played collegiate soccer at Stonehill College and Colby College, recently took the time to answer my questions about her experiences working in South Africa. She is scheduled to return to the U.S. in August, but you can follow her blog until then.)How did you get involved with Grassroot Soccer?My coach at Colby sent me a recruiting e-mail from Grassroot Soccer (GRS) looking for 2010 interns. I had previously heard of GRS through a teammate who told me about GRS's
Lose the Shoes tournaments, which are huge fundraisers across college campuses in the northeast.
How does Grassroot Soccer incorporate soccer into their work fighting the spread of HIV and AIDS?
GRS has developed a curriculum called
Skillz. The curriculum involves 8 practices, with each practice addressing different aspects of HIV/AIDS (e.g., facts about the virus, fighting stigma and discrimination, sharing of personal stories, and showing how individuals have been affected by the virus).
We train Skillz Coaches, who are peer educators from the communities we work in. They work in small groups in the schools with kids ranging from ages 12-18 by delivering 1-2 interventions (practices) per week. Soccer comes into play in some of the practices, and local and international soccer role models endorse our program and provide the celebrity inspiration to the kids.
One of our practices is called "Risk Field." In this intervention, kids are split into 4 lines, with a soccer ball at each line. Cones are set up for them to for dribbling drills, with each cone marked with phrases like "Unprotected Sex," "Multiple Sexual Partners," "Sugar Mommies and Sugar Daddies," and "Drug and Alcohol Abuse."
The kids have to dribble the ball between the cones, avoiding them if they can, thus "avoiding" the risks that make them susceptible to contacting HIV. If someone hits a cone with the ball, they do pushups, and in the second round if a cone is hit, everyone does pushups. This illustrates that one person’s risky behavior affects everyone in their community.
Soccer serves as a uniting force for GRS. Our work is focused mostly in black townships in South Africa, where soccer is the most popular sport. Our interventions also include playing handball, which incorporates netball into the activities to encourage girls to be active during the intervention. The activities encourage open communication between youths, especially between boys and girls.
Where in South Africa are you living?
I live in
Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. We are on the Indian Ocean, about 8 hours east of
Cape Town by car. The communities we work in are Zwide, New Brighton, and Motherwell, which are black townships located on the outskirts of the city.
What has a typical day been like for you since you arrived in South Africa?It's tough to say, but I generally spend all of my weekdays in the townships. My specific job is logistical support in the office, but I do spend a fair amount of time in the field. In the office, I handle finances and organization of coaches’ supplies and materials.
Outside the office, I help with the coaches' transportation, give support at interventions and graduations (the culmination of the kids’ participation in the curriculum), and other logistical jobs. We run holiday camps during the school breaks, as well as Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) tournaments every 6 or so months, and there is a lot of planning and coordinating that goes into those events. The entire staff is responsible for those.
What preconceptions did you have about South Africa that has/have since been shattered?
I made a point of coming to South Africa without a lot of preconceptions. I knew the basics--apartheid and Nelson Mandela--but I knew very little about the culture and political environment. I did have some idea in my head of the diversity of the country. I pictured a mixed population throughout the country, interacting and living with one another very closely.
Since arriving here, I’ve seen a very diverse population, but it is segmented into different areas across the city. Whites, blacks, and coloreds don't live in the same communities. They work together, but I sense a distinct distance they put between themselves.
Whites generally live in the nicer areas, closer to the center of town. There are colored and black townships as you move away from the city. The black people I work with every day rarely see white people aside from me and the three other Americans I live with in their day-to-day life in the townships.
One very important thing I want people to know is the people living in the townships live with less money and fewer material goods, but they are still living full and busy lives just like the rest of the world. There has been immense suffering in this country, but the people I’ve met here love where they live and wouldn’t trade it for anything else. There is still a huge barrier between whites and blacks--as well as coloreds--and I think that too has shocked me. Many whites we’ve met who've grown up in Port Elizabeth have never been to the townships. Some don’t even know the names of the townships in Port Elizabeth.
Which cultural aspect do you think you'll miss the most when you return home?I will miss the people I work with, first and foremost. We have been welcomed into this family wholeheartedly by the staff and coaches. They really take care of us and keep an eye on us.
Branching out from that, I’m going to miss the sense of community that exists here. Everyone keeps an eye on everyone else. Here, it’s okay to go up to kids you’ve never met, put an arm around them and talk to them. It’s a close culture physically--people put arms around each other and hold hands all the time--so I’ve gotten very used to being able to do that without it being seen or interpreted as something more than what it actually is. The kids love to hug you and sit with their arms around you, teach you
Xhosa words and want to talk to you. I will absolutely miss that.
What has/have been the most rewarding experience(s) you've had while working with Grassroot Soccer?
There are a lot, so it’s hard to separate them individually. There is one particular time, though, that sticks out to me as very meaningful.
We had a Malaysian documentary crew here for a week filming a segment for their show, and they highlighted one of the students who attends Sithembile Primary, where our office is located. One of our staff picked him at random to be highlighted, knowing he was a good kid and figuring he’d be a good person to interview. It turned out this boy is living with a pretty horrible situation at home. His dad is in the hospital with tuberculosis, his mother and uncle are sick at home with HIV, and his aunt is taking care of all of them at once. He has a younger 4-year-old sister, and they struggle each day to get enough money for food. In fact, this boy started school late because his family couldn’t afford to send him with kids his age.
Anyway, the staff member who picked this student asked me to help her talk to the Malaysian crew to see if they had some money to buy this boy new shoes and new uniforms for school. The soles of his shoes were broken, and his pants and shirts no longer fit him. The documentary director agreed to pay for these new things, so we took him shopping that afternoon. He was very quiet in the car, only speaking occasionally to the staff member who initiated the whole idea. After paying for new shoes, pants, and shirts, we had 10 rand in change (about $1.40), so we gave it to him. He accepted it very graciously, looking me in the eye when he said thank you. It was a very sweet moment.
Later, we dropped him off at his home, and then went to drop off some of our coaches. We realized this boy’s backpack was still in the car, so my roommate and I drove back to house to return the bag. This boy ran out of the house when he heard our car, and his face broke into relief. When I gave him his bag, he reached out, arms wide, hugging the bag to his chest. He smiled, saying, "Oh my god, I thought I lost it. This bag is my life."
It was a profound thing for a seventh grader to say, and I felt at that moment like I knew this kid would be okay. At his age he’s already recognized the importance of school to his future, and I have never seen a kid so excited and relieved to find his backpack.
What have been the most frustrating experiences you've had while working with Grassroot Soccer?Adjusting to the pace of life and the culture has been a huge challenge. Everything moves at a much slower, less efficient pace compared to what we're used to in the U.S. We've had to learn to work at the pace people do here, and to learn to deal with delays and miscommunications that muddle up everyday tasks.
The culture is also something that frustrates me, though I've definitely adjusted and adapted to the norms here. As is some other cultures, males dominate this society. As an independent, educated young woman, I've had trouble dealing with the fact that women are dominated and treated unequally here.
It can be seen in relationships, whether it's young girls dating much older men, or the president, Jacob Zuma, impregnating younger women when he's already married to five other women. The
rape statistic here is 25%, which is a terrifying statistic that greatly angers me. These aspects of the society are all contributing to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and my biggest frustration lies in trying to encourage a change in societal and cultural thinking to start to combat the virus and reverse these statistics.
What's it been like living in South Africa during the build-up to this summer's World Cup?It's been very interesting being here, and in the larger sense, in Africa, during the build-up to the World Cup.
South Africa is pretty divided in its interests in soccer, rugby, and circket, with the black population being most interested in soccer. We've met many white South Africans who have zero interest in the tournament, which is baffling to me. This is the one sporting event that brings the entire world together, and it only happens once every four years.
I know South Africa has been getting bad press regarding violence, human trafficking, prostitution, etc. I think it's unfortunate that the press has chosen to focus on that instead of the positive things South Africa is accomplishing to get ready for the mass influx of people in June. This is the first time an African nation is to host the World Cup, and I wish the rest of the world could show more support than skepticism in their ability to pull it off.
There is going to be violence in any country, so it's a matter of people being aware and being smart while they're here. It's not the majority who are committing crimes and being violent; it's the minority. The people we talk to and work with acknowledge there is crime and violence taking place around the country, but they are more excited by the prospect of the soccer to be played and watched. The jobs and opportunities will present themselves to a highly unemployed population.
Our city is one of the host cities, and we're starting to see excitement building. We have
a new stadium, and the city has taken on completely renovating the roads and bus routes in an attempt to clean up some pretty run-down areas in town. In that sense, the World Cup is already providing work for many who would otherwise be unemployed.
I think in the next few months there will be a lot of skeptical, negative press, but I want to encourage people to think about the positives as well, and to support not only South Africa, but all the African nations in their play. As we saw with the
Africa Cup of Nations, violence can happen, and it can tear teams apart. But these players are incredible athletes, and they have qualified to play in the biggest tournament in the world. This goes a bit beyond just the World Cup: Giving positive support instead of criticism will only serve to help solve problems in countries like South Africa and others who struggle with violence, crime, and rape statistics.
What are some of the most important lessons you've learned from your experience thus far?You have to be flexible to maintain any kind of sanity. There have been more situations than I can count where something has gone wrong, someone hasn’t shown up, something wasn’t finished on time or at all, and we’ve had to roll with it and make things happen regardless.
We have learned to think on our feet, and I have definitely become a much more patient person. I have learned to appreciate the freedom and independence I enjoy in the States. There were times--and I'm sure everyone has felt like this, especially in the last year--when I couldn't wait to get to South Africa, to get out of the States. I only thought about escaping the job market drought, the terrible economy, and the everyday annoyances of America. But being here, I've realized how good life actually is it at home. We have incredible amounts of freedom to speak openly about our opinions, women are treated equally and allowed to be independent, we have first-rate medical care, businesses mostly work efficiently, and we have Starbucks (only sort of kidding).
I've learned how important it is to me to live in a place where I don't require burglar bars on windows and high electric-fenced walls to live day-to-day. I have a new-found appreciation for my life in the States. I wasn't expecting that to be one of the biggest learning experiences during my time here, but I'm glad for it.
- John C.L. Morgan
