Today I had the wonderful privilege of tagging along with one of our program coordinators to observe one of our new test/pilot programs that is currently being tested in 2 different compounds in Lusaka. The new programs takes a few of our trained GRS coaches and has them go directly into the compounds to work with not only the kids in that community, but also some of the older men/women & the younger generation. I am not exactly sure all the specifics of this new program and will elaborate as I learn more from our staff, but the really cool part about this multi-session curriculum is that although our coaches have practices/lessons set out in the curriculum to deliver HIV & life-skills education, much of the curriculum(especially with the older group) is decided by the participants. The coaches facilitate the discussion topic and provide answer, games, information, etc. on this topic, but it also largely an open forum for those involved to share their opinions and learn from other community members, both old & young.
Being able to sit in for a bit on the older group and the kids provided two very different but amazing insights. In the older group the topic was largely on Gender Based Violence and the role that men & women should play in the family/household. Apparently (as it was nearly all in nyanja the local language and being translated a bit for me by a GRS staff) it got very heated at times, but served as the beginning for some very important discussions and education. However, I spent the majority of my time sitting in with the kids session. Our GRS coach did a wonderful job of keeping the kids involved while using interactive games to deliver the curriculum.
The biggest thing I took away from today, even though I already firmly believed this but always good to be reminded, is that a kid is a kid, a person is a person, no matter where you are. The men and women were having heated discussions about the role that men should have in taking care of the children and providing for the family, along with questioning why the younger generation were wearing the different style of clothing. And the kids, oh how I love the kids. The small boy I was sitting next to was your classic trouble maker. He was poking the girl next to him, distracting others during the session and continued to stare at me/make funny faces. While some sat attentively listening to every word, others made smart comments that all the kids laughed at as the coaches were taking attendance.
We all share a common humanity, we all desire many of the same things. Good education for our kids, a happy and healthy life, friends and family, faith, doing good for others, etc. These are not African qualities, or American or Asian, or European, they are human qualities and desires. We all struggle, we all need each other, and no matter how cliche it sounds we are all connected. I know it is not always or hardly ever this simple, but in the end it comes back to our shared humanity.
I will again refer to the beautiful insight and words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu as he noted, "A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons."
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The Zam Fam
So Jeselle, Angus and I have really been settling into our home here in Lusaka, working on making it homey and all that good stuff. Jeselle is pretty much an interior designer and has matching rugs, curtains, candles etc., while Angus and I are living more on college budgets but working with what we got...
We have also characterized our different roles in the house, with Jeselle being more of the mama, as she is an absolutely AMAZING cook (seriously I cannot wait to become a wayyy better cook this year). Angus is taking up his roles as logistics guy and man of the house, as he was already tested with the task of killing the spider below and passed with flying colors. I have openly labeled myself as the "grandma" and most responsible/caretaker mama of the house b/c I am typically in bed the earliest and up bright and early to go for a run. We are balancing each other out very well and having many laughs along the way!
So the other night we were sitting around talking and eating dinner when we came up with a brilliant idea. As many of you know, we are all unpaid interns and have worked very hard to raise money to support ourselves throughout the year (and I am incredibly grateful for everyone's generous support!), so we devised a way to raise some funds of our own here in Zambia.... We decided that we open up a stand on our street and name it "Mzungu Crafts & Food" (still working on the title, gotta keep Mzungu, but open to any suggestions). Mzungu is what many Zambians call foreigners or white people here, as there are different words used for this throughout Africa and much of the world. The specific food & crafts are still in the works but watch out Zambia here come's some delicious food and crazy crafts!
Another housekeeping note, along with those roaches I mentioned before we have also been meeting some of Africa's wild animals. Typically you think of think of the big game animals right? Lions, crocs, hippos, elephants, rhinos, etc. Well we haven't seen any of those guys yet, however we have encountered roaches, mice and a freakin huge spider! The mouse made its first sneaky apperance as I found half of my loaf of bread missing, then it proceeded to terrify Katie (one of last year's interns who just moved to Malawi), and finally we found it in the mouth of our dog Kamba as she preceded to interrupt our roommate Skype call to some of our fellow interns in South Africa. Everyday is yet another adventure but loving every minute.
Angus and I have also explored the soccer scene in Lusaka, playing futsal a few nights a week on really nice turf fields in town. Some of the Zambians that play also played on the Zambian National Futsal team that finished 7th at the last world cup, not bad Chipolopolo! We have also joined an 11v11 team with our boss called Mzungu Football Club in one of the local Zambian leagues, we'll see how that goes...
On a work note, this week I am really getting started on more of the job roles/tasks that I will be doing this year. It is definitely a lot of work and a bit overwhelming to try to grasp it all at once, but I am incredibly excited to be learning a lot and getting tons of experience. I will be largely responsibly for inputting data on all of our interventions run in Zambia, getting statistics from the data and keeping all of our Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) data up to date. Along with M&E I will be working very closely with our Program Director and all of the Grassroot Soccer coaches in the field to make sure all of our interventions are running smoothly, and continuing with our coaches development.
This weekend we also have our first Voluntary Counseling and Testing Tournaments in one of the compounds in Lusaka. These only happen a few times a year and run all day Saturday, where we hold a tournament of local teams with food, music, dancing, and most importantly testing, with the goal to get as many people out from the community as possible tested to know their HIV status. We will have our testing partner on site at the tournament and provide counselling, testing, referral and treatment for free to anyone who desires it.
 |
| Pictures of all those who bring light to my day |
So the other night we were sitting around talking and eating dinner when we came up with a brilliant idea. As many of you know, we are all unpaid interns and have worked very hard to raise money to support ourselves throughout the year (and I am incredibly grateful for everyone's generous support!), so we devised a way to raise some funds of our own here in Zambia.... We decided that we open up a stand on our street and name it "Mzungu Crafts & Food" (still working on the title, gotta keep Mzungu, but open to any suggestions). Mzungu is what many Zambians call foreigners or white people here, as there are different words used for this throughout Africa and much of the world. The specific food & crafts are still in the works but watch out Zambia here come's some delicious food and crazy crafts!
 |
| So this guy decided to join the fam (temporaily...) |
Angus and I have also explored the soccer scene in Lusaka, playing futsal a few nights a week on really nice turf fields in town. Some of the Zambians that play also played on the Zambian National Futsal team that finished 7th at the last world cup, not bad Chipolopolo! We have also joined an 11v11 team with our boss called Mzungu Football Club in one of the local Zambian leagues, we'll see how that goes...
On a work note, this week I am really getting started on more of the job roles/tasks that I will be doing this year. It is definitely a lot of work and a bit overwhelming to try to grasp it all at once, but I am incredibly excited to be learning a lot and getting tons of experience. I will be largely responsibly for inputting data on all of our interventions run in Zambia, getting statistics from the data and keeping all of our Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) data up to date. Along with M&E I will be working very closely with our Program Director and all of the Grassroot Soccer coaches in the field to make sure all of our interventions are running smoothly, and continuing with our coaches development.
This weekend we also have our first Voluntary Counseling and Testing Tournaments in one of the compounds in Lusaka. These only happen a few times a year and run all day Saturday, where we hold a tournament of local teams with food, music, dancing, and most importantly testing, with the goal to get as many people out from the community as possible tested to know their HIV status. We will have our testing partner on site at the tournament and provide counselling, testing, referral and treatment for free to anyone who desires it.
 |
| One of our amazing coaches GRS leading the kids in an intervention game at a recent Challenge Day in Linda compound, Lusaka (will explain more on Challenge vs. VCT Tournaments next blog) |
Zikomo (thank you),
Caseface
Monday, August 20, 2012
Lusaka Livin'
Brief overview of life in Lusaka so far...
So the two other interns and I have been in Lusaka for just under a week so far, although it has already felt like much longer, but loving it so far! We have all pretty much fully recovered from our jet lag and crazy flights, delays and temporarily lost luggage. My two roommates include Angus and Jeselle, who are the 2 other interns working with GRS in Lusaka for the year.
Home sweet home: Our house here is Lusaka has everything we need, four bedrooms (an extra for any other staff/interns who may come through), kitchen, living room area and a back patio area. My bedroom is great, got my own bathroom, big ole' bed and plenty of room. Although we are only supposed to have 3 of us living here, we do have a few hundred or so extra roommates right now. Whom you might ask? Many of us around the world call them "roaches," although we have begun to call them Jesus (in the least sacrilegious way possible!), because no matter how many times you kill them I have complete faith, and they prove without fail, that they will rise again, and again...Also, we have an awesome dog named Kamba, although I feel bad for her right now b/c she currently has a cone on and stiches after getting into some barbed wire on our plot a few days before we got here :(
Our office is on the same plot of land as well, so literally only a few steps away from our patio. Just roll out of bed and go to work, no traffic...wooh wooh! Our plot boasts a beautiful little garden (maintained by our rockstar gardener Giftee, who has promised to improve my gardening skills!), an avocado, banana, mango, lemon, and monkey fruit(not exactly sure what that is yet...)!
Another thing I love here is that everyone is greeted with 2 kisses on the cheek and a handshake that can last the whole conversation. And I am starting to learn a few words in nyanja , hopefully I can get it down pretty good throughout my year.
The weather has been absolutely amazing so far. "Winter" is winding down here, so pretty much imagine a perfect fall day sunny, 75 degrees, nice breeze and you have a day in Lusaka! The only downside is how dry it is here, it can feel like a dust bowl some days, especially going for a run and having the cars whip up a pile of dirt in your face. Mornings and nights get a bit cool, but can't complain. It will begin to heat up and get really hot towards the end of September/early October and then rainy season begin sometime in November.
Driving...yeah so if you weren't aware they drive on the left side of the road here and traffic laws? Haha that's a good one. As a programs interns one of my jobs is to get to know the city pretty well, as I will be taking staff and coaches to the different compounds to deliver the interventions and help run our Voluntary Testing Tournaments. It has been a bit of an adjustment, but honestly not as bad as I thought it would be. It takes a mix of being a defensive & aggressive driver, while being constantly aware of mini-buses/pedestrians darting out at any time! And I am proud to say I only turned on the windshield wipers instead of the blinker one time so far...
We had our first staff meeting/introduction last week and had a delicious staff lunch of nshima and the relish(different bean & veggie sides) that you dip the nshima in. Nshima(pronounced "shima") is the staple meal and carb in Zambia, it is basically a soft starch ball made from maize that you eat with your hands and dip in the relishes, delicious! It is a lot like banku or fufu in West Africa, and doesn't fail to give you a food baby while also proceeding to make you completely unproductive for the rest of the day aka ITIS.
The staff here is full of some awesomely crazy people, so it will definitely be a lively work environment!
This week I am learning more about my exact role/job responsibilities I will be working on throughout my internship internship, and we will be going out into the field and working with the coaches a bit. Updates to come on that soon!
For now,
Caseface
 |
| outside our gate |
So the two other interns and I have been in Lusaka for just under a week so far, although it has already felt like much longer, but loving it so far! We have all pretty much fully recovered from our jet lag and crazy flights, delays and temporarily lost luggage. My two roommates include Angus and Jeselle, who are the 2 other interns working with GRS in Lusaka for the year.
Home sweet home: Our house here is Lusaka has everything we need, four bedrooms (an extra for any other staff/interns who may come through), kitchen, living room area and a back patio area. My bedroom is great, got my own bathroom, big ole' bed and plenty of room. Although we are only supposed to have 3 of us living here, we do have a few hundred or so extra roommates right now. Whom you might ask? Many of us around the world call them "roaches," although we have begun to call them Jesus (in the least sacrilegious way possible!), because no matter how many times you kill them I have complete faith, and they prove without fail, that they will rise again, and again...Also, we have an awesome dog named Kamba, although I feel bad for her right now b/c she currently has a cone on and stiches after getting into some barbed wire on our plot a few days before we got here :(
 |
| Resourcefulness at its finest |
 |
| We don't need no gym in Lusaka |
 |
| our girl Kamba |
 |
| Like I said, office on the left & house on the right, VERY CLOSE |
Our office is on the same plot of land as well, so literally only a few steps away from our patio. Just roll out of bed and go to work, no traffic...wooh wooh! Our plot boasts a beautiful little garden (maintained by our rockstar gardener Giftee, who has promised to improve my gardening skills!), an avocado, banana, mango, lemon, and monkey fruit(not exactly sure what that is yet...)!
Another thing I love here is that everyone is greeted with 2 kisses on the cheek and a handshake that can last the whole conversation. And I am starting to learn a few words in nyanja , hopefully I can get it down pretty good throughout my year.
The weather has been absolutely amazing so far. "Winter" is winding down here, so pretty much imagine a perfect fall day sunny, 75 degrees, nice breeze and you have a day in Lusaka! The only downside is how dry it is here, it can feel like a dust bowl some days, especially going for a run and having the cars whip up a pile of dirt in your face. Mornings and nights get a bit cool, but can't complain. It will begin to heat up and get really hot towards the end of September/early October and then rainy season begin sometime in November.
Driving...yeah so if you weren't aware they drive on the left side of the road here and traffic laws? Haha that's a good one. As a programs interns one of my jobs is to get to know the city pretty well, as I will be taking staff and coaches to the different compounds to deliver the interventions and help run our Voluntary Testing Tournaments. It has been a bit of an adjustment, but honestly not as bad as I thought it would be. It takes a mix of being a defensive & aggressive driver, while being constantly aware of mini-buses/pedestrians darting out at any time! And I am proud to say I only turned on the windshield wipers instead of the blinker one time so far...
We had our first staff meeting/introduction last week and had a delicious staff lunch of nshima and the relish(different bean & veggie sides) that you dip the nshima in. Nshima(pronounced "shima") is the staple meal and carb in Zambia, it is basically a soft starch ball made from maize that you eat with your hands and dip in the relishes, delicious! It is a lot like banku or fufu in West Africa, and doesn't fail to give you a food baby while also proceeding to make you completely unproductive for the rest of the day aka ITIS.
The staff here is full of some awesomely crazy people, so it will definitely be a lively work environment!
This week I am learning more about my exact role/job responsibilities I will be working on throughout my internship internship, and we will be going out into the field and working with the coaches a bit. Updates to come on that soon!
For now,
Caseface
Thursday, August 16, 2012
GRS Orientation
4 days, lots of information and lots of awesome people.
After many months of anticipating my departure and start of my internship, the day finally arrived Wednesday August 8th. The 22 of us interns met at a small inn (shout out to Bruce at Pierce's Inn in Hanover!) After all of us finally arrived we drove/hiked to a cabin a few miles away from the inn for a few days of bonding in the woods without the unnecessary uses of technology or electricity. Once we got through the standard questions of "where are you from, where did you go to school, degree/major, etc." then the fun really began.
The orientation was beautifully coordinated and organized by 4 insanely amazing staff members who have literally give their heart, blood, sweat & tears to GRS over the years. Mad props to Leah, Elise, Hooter and Austin for getting all of us prepared and pumped for the start of our internships!!
Although I am still trying to recover from and process the information overload that was gifted to us during the 4.5 day orientation, I'll do my best to cover the highlights and break it down a bit.
GRS Mission: Grassroot Soccer uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV.
Vision: A world mobilized through soccer to create an AIDS free generation.
Strategy: To achieve our mission, we continuously imporve our innovative HIV prevention and life-skills curriculum, share our program and concept effectrively, and utilize the popularity of soccer to increase our impact.
The first night was filled with a delicious dinner where we had a better chance to talk and get to know each other, followed by an appearance by Dr. Tommy Clark (one of the founders and CEO of Grassroot Soccer) and his family. He eloquently told us the story of how GRS was founded and elaborabed a bit on the timeline and major accomplishment that GRS has had throughout its 10 year history. He conceived the idea after playing soccer professionally in Zimbabwe and losing many friends to the disease, allowing him to experience first hand the devastation of HIV and the insane popularity of soccer. So together with a group of friends who had similar expereince, he and co-founders Methembe Ndlovu, Ethan Zohn and Kirk Fredrich created Grassroot Soccer. To say that I am incredibly proud, humbled and excited to work for this organization for the next year would be a huge understatement. To date, GRS has graduated over 500,000 kids in the 5 different Skillz curriculum programs and their goal is to graduate 1 million kids by the 2014 World Cup in Brasil. Straight up amazing stuff.
I'll start with some of the facts and stats I learned about the HIV virus itself and the epidemic that is currently taking place in Southern Africa, which will help explain a bit more about why GRS main focus is there. There is currently no cure for the HIV virus, but it is 100% preventable. HIV can be contracted through a few means including: sex, sharing needles or using infected needles, blood-to-blood contact, breastfeeding, etc. In medical terms, HIV turns into AIDS when your T-cell count (the cells that make up your immune system) drop below 200(normal is around 1,200-1,400 for average healthy person) AND you have an "opportunistic disease" (malaria, TB, yellow fever, etc.) Another encouraging fact that I didn't know is that you can go back and forth between technically having HIV and having AIDS, depending the above 2 factors, by taking treatment of ARV's or antiretroviral treatments. 67% of the world population with HIV or AIDS lives in Sub-Saharan Africa and 1 in 6 adults in South Africa are infected. You begin to realize that this disease effects everyone in this part of the world, whether they are infected, they know someone who is or who has passed away from AIDS or it is ravaging the community around them. In Zambia in particular, we have a large grant from the Elton John AIDS Foundation that funds us to have a large focus on a process of 1)Getting youth tested to know their status 2)If they are found positive then GRS immeditately refers them to a local partner organization that we work with that provides counseling and treatment 3)Continued education and knowledge about HIV to youth to create BEHAVIOR CHANGE.
Also, I'm gonna steal a little bit of info from one of our fellow interns that summarizes well the reasons this epidemic is occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa:
Why is HIV so prevalent in Africa?
After many months of anticipating my departure and start of my internship, the day finally arrived Wednesday August 8th. The 22 of us interns met at a small inn (shout out to Bruce at Pierce's Inn in Hanover!) After all of us finally arrived we drove/hiked to a cabin a few miles away from the inn for a few days of bonding in the woods without the unnecessary uses of technology or electricity. Once we got through the standard questions of "where are you from, where did you go to school, degree/major, etc." then the fun really began.
The orientation was beautifully coordinated and organized by 4 insanely amazing staff members who have literally give their heart, blood, sweat & tears to GRS over the years. Mad props to Leah, Elise, Hooter and Austin for getting all of us prepared and pumped for the start of our internships!!
Although I am still trying to recover from and process the information overload that was gifted to us during the 4.5 day orientation, I'll do my best to cover the highlights and break it down a bit.
GRS Mission: Grassroot Soccer uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV.
Vision: A world mobilized through soccer to create an AIDS free generation.
Strategy: To achieve our mission, we continuously imporve our innovative HIV prevention and life-skills curriculum, share our program and concept effectrively, and utilize the popularity of soccer to increase our impact.
The first night was filled with a delicious dinner where we had a better chance to talk and get to know each other, followed by an appearance by Dr. Tommy Clark (one of the founders and CEO of Grassroot Soccer) and his family. He eloquently told us the story of how GRS was founded and elaborabed a bit on the timeline and major accomplishment that GRS has had throughout its 10 year history. He conceived the idea after playing soccer professionally in Zimbabwe and losing many friends to the disease, allowing him to experience first hand the devastation of HIV and the insane popularity of soccer. So together with a group of friends who had similar expereince, he and co-founders Methembe Ndlovu, Ethan Zohn and Kirk Fredrich created Grassroot Soccer. To say that I am incredibly proud, humbled and excited to work for this organization for the next year would be a huge understatement. To date, GRS has graduated over 500,000 kids in the 5 different Skillz curriculum programs and their goal is to graduate 1 million kids by the 2014 World Cup in Brasil. Straight up amazing stuff.
I'll start with some of the facts and stats I learned about the HIV virus itself and the epidemic that is currently taking place in Southern Africa, which will help explain a bit more about why GRS main focus is there. There is currently no cure for the HIV virus, but it is 100% preventable. HIV can be contracted through a few means including: sex, sharing needles or using infected needles, blood-to-blood contact, breastfeeding, etc. In medical terms, HIV turns into AIDS when your T-cell count (the cells that make up your immune system) drop below 200(normal is around 1,200-1,400 for average healthy person) AND you have an "opportunistic disease" (malaria, TB, yellow fever, etc.) Another encouraging fact that I didn't know is that you can go back and forth between technically having HIV and having AIDS, depending the above 2 factors, by taking treatment of ARV's or antiretroviral treatments. 67% of the world population with HIV or AIDS lives in Sub-Saharan Africa and 1 in 6 adults in South Africa are infected. You begin to realize that this disease effects everyone in this part of the world, whether they are infected, they know someone who is or who has passed away from AIDS or it is ravaging the community around them. In Zambia in particular, we have a large grant from the Elton John AIDS Foundation that funds us to have a large focus on a process of 1)Getting youth tested to know their status 2)If they are found positive then GRS immeditately refers them to a local partner organization that we work with that provides counseling and treatment 3)Continued education and knowledge about HIV to youth to create BEHAVIOR CHANGE.
Also, I'm gonna steal a little bit of info from one of our fellow interns that summarizes well the reasons this epidemic is occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa:
Why is HIV so prevalent in Africa?
- Concurrent relationship(relationships with multiple partners at the same time, but not necessarly more partners than many western cultures)
- Transactional sex (sugar daddies and/or older partners)
- Stigma
- Multiple myths, gaps in knowledge
- Traditions around sexual maturity age
- Rape
- Lack of government involvement
- Age disparate sex (partners that are 5+ years older)
- Ability to actually create behavior change, because these kids are all very smart they just need the tools and knowledge to change their risky behavior
In terms of the programs that GRS currently runs, their curriculum include 5 different types targeted at different youth:
1) Skillz
2) Generation Skillz
3) Skillz Street
4) Skillz Holiday
5) Skillz Testing Tournaments
--> You can go to the GRS website to learn a bit more about the curriculum's and about GRS as a whole! http://www.grassrootsoccer.org/what-we-do/skillz/
** And in Zambia they are about to roll out an amazing new intervention curriculum called Skillz Plus that works solely with youth who are HIV positive.
--> Partnerships: GRS does an amazing job of partnering with tons of organizations including, but not limited to:
- Nike
- Elton John AIDS foundation
- Barclays
- USAID
- UNHCR
- Comic Relief
- Peace Corps
- MLS
- EPL
- Exxon Mobil
- Etc.
Beyond all the info about GRS we had some time as an intern class to get to know each other and learn more about the reasons everyone signed up for GRS and what their specific sites will be like which include: Zambia, Lesotho, and five sites throughout South Africa. I could go on and on about all the work that GRS is doing and the innovative, humble and impactful manner that they are achieving their goal of behavior change in youth to build communities and a new generation that will hopefully see HIV and AIDS as a virus/disease of the past.
This is plenty for now, next up I'll fill y'all in a little bit on my wonderful life so far in Zambia!!
Lots of love,
Lots of love,
Caseface
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