Khayelitsha Football for Hope Centre

Unfortunately, it was raining on Friday when we awoke but that did not deter our excitement for the day. Everyone couldn't wait to get out and actually see the FFHC after hearing so much about it. After a thirty minute drive, we arrived to the center. Driving through the township was really quite eye-opening and brought me back to reality that I was in fact in South Africa. Living and working right downtown in Cape Town sometimes tend to blind you to existence of the townships and the dire poverty that exists all around the country. We pulled up to the center and were greeted with such enthusiasm from the directors there, as well as the intern who worked there last year, Talia. She gave us a 20 minutes presentation on the history of the center and what programs are run there. Then the real fun started......

Khayelitsha Township

Every Friday, there is a coaches meeting at the FFHC which is a way to bring together all 23 local coaches and train them in leadership skills, check-in to see how the Skillz practices are going, and just have a chance to bond and create some lasting friendships. Fortunately, we had the opportunity to sit in on the meeting this week and it was great. Before the meeting, as we were waiting for the coaches to arrive, two of the Master Coaches led us through some of the Skillz practice drills such as Risk Field and HIV limbo. The purpose of these activities is to teach important facts about HIV while creating a fun and sporty environment. Coaches began to file in gradually as the afternoon wore on and in the meantime, we played a bunch of energizers. One of these such energizers happened to include making all the new American interns dance in the middle of the 20 person circle.....ALONE! Now, I have a semi-fear of dancing in front of crowds because I have no moves what-so-ever and get embarrassed really easily. SO needless to say, my heart was pounding as the singing and clapping got louder and headed my way. I jumped into the middle of circle and pulled out the sprinkler dance move. TO my relief, it was wonderfully receive and a bunch of the coaches even repeated it after me because they thought it was so funny. Embarrassing moment #1....success. Nevertheless, I recovered from my severe blushing with little to no real damage. I think it's going to be a requirement for me to get over my self-conscious dancing throughout the year and just let loose! It's something that I plan on working on Saturday night at the dance clubs. 

Meeting many of the coaches was really rewarding because these are the people who are interacting with the  kids and really making a change in their lives. It's not hard to see that they are magnificent, energetic, and caring people that really want to make a change for youth. Many of them grew up in the township and some were even participants in GRS programs when they were younger. It's inspiring to see that these individuals are as young as 19 and are making such great strides to help their community. During the meeting, the site coordinator talked about different leadership styles, an intervention called leadership compass. Having done the activity at orientation just a few weeks ago, it was cool to be able to sit back and just watch as these coaches recognized their leadership qualities, etc. After the meeting wrapped up, we said our good-byes and headed for home in the pouring rain. I was so pleased on the way home and felt really excited to be part of a community movement that is clearly so powerful and rewarding for not only the participants, but their mentors and everyone involved in the process. I hope to make it out of the office to witness some programs out at the center. In particular, I would like to check out Skillz Street, which is a girls-only program that reaches out to 14-18 year old girls and is run after school Monday-Thursday. The aim of the program is to battle gender-based violence and to empower female youth. 

I couldn't believe how quickly Friday passed and before I knew it, we were back home and ready to make plans for our first official Friday night in Cape Town!!!!!