Saturday, January 8, 2011
Kick4Life Energizer at Lesotho High School
Sunday, December 12, 2010
More energizers and Red Card Skits
Sunday, November 21, 2010
PICTURES!!
A Lot to be Thankful For...
So I have been tutoring a woman from Southern Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. South Kivu is the epicenter of the conflict. A lot of the time after we finish our English lesson she will tell me bits and pieces of what it is like there and how she and her family came to live in Lesotho. Her husband is Tutsi and so his life was being threatened in the DRC. He ran from home one day without his family because it wasn’t safe for him at home anymore. She ran at some point in 2006 with her son and her unborn baby girl. Her baby girl was born while she was on the run in Burundi. They lived in South Africa for two years near Johannesburg, however recently there have been a number of xenophobic attacks. Their neighbour, who was from Mozambique, was murdered, so the following day they ran for Lesotho where they have been living for the past 2 years. She and her husband are wonderful people and have three children, only two of which were able to come with them to Lesotho. The third child, a girl, lives with one of their sisters in the DRC. As it turns out, when she ran back in 2006, she didn’t have enough transport money to go and pick her daughter up from school, and was in so much danger that she had to leave without her. She told me one night with tears in her eyes that she hadn’t heard from her daughter, who is only 9 years old, in three months and had no idea where she was. Keep in mind that the DRC is currently considered the rape capital of the world.
I came home that night to a warm house, and had a nice meal with my roommate. It is times like this that I am truly thankful for the life that I have been given. I come from a country where I feel safe everyday, where I have two parents with jobs, friends that I can trust, access to education, and endless opportunity. This Thanksgiving I had a lot to be thankful for…
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Lesotho According to the CIA World Fact Book…
Country: Lesotho
People: Basotho
Language: Sesotho
Location: Southern Africa, an enclave of South Africa
Total Area: 30,355 sq km
Climate: temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers
Natural Resources: water, agriculture and grazing land, diamonds, sand, clay, building stones
Population: 2,130,819
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): 77.4/1,000 live births
Life Expectancy at Birth: 40 years
HIV Prevalence rate: 23.3% (in other words, 1 in 4 people are positive. And from what I’ve heard this may be a conservative estimate)
Unemployment Rate: 45%
Population below poverty line: 49%
Transnational Issues or International Disputes: None
ENERGIZERS!
Energizers are a BIG part of Kick4Life programming. They are usually done at the beginning of practices to get kids laughing and excited about K4L. This is one of the most popular and if you spend any time at an intervention or at the Kick4Life pitch with the coaches you will most definitely "ride a pony".
The guy leading this energizer is Saby. He is one of our most dedicated and talented coaches. A real character. Right now we have 20 coaches who are trained in the Kick4Life 2.0 curriculum, which is the newest version of our curriculum. They are all volunteers and most work running interventions or at the office 2-4 hours a day. They receive small stipends for transportation and running interventions. They are an amazing group of people, both men and women, and I feel so lucky to be able to work with them. They bring a lot of energy to the organization and it has been really great/funny getting to know them all.
Lumela (Pronounced Dumela) from the Kingdom
First off I apologize for taking so long to get going on my blog. Time seems to fly by here and before I knew it two months were gone. Before I get into any of the happenings of my life here I want to give you all a quick introduction to Grassroot Soccer and Kick4Life. Technically I am a Grassroot Soccer Intern, however, I live in Lesotho and will be working with GRS’s implementing partner here, Kick4Life. Kick4Life has a similar mission statement to Grassroot Soccer but is a much newer and smaller organization. Kick4Life was founded in 2005 and have since focused their efforts in Lesotho in southern Africa, delivering a range of programmes focused on tackling HIV by providing sports-based health education, voluntary testing, life-skills development and support into education and employment. Lesotho has the third highest HIV prevalence in the world and hundreds of thousands of children have been orphaned by the disease.
I will try not to overwhelm you with information and stories right away. I do have a lot to share and it is difficult to know where to start. My first two months here have been amazing and tough all at the same time. I think this is the first time that I have truly experienced culture shock and it's only now after two months that I am beginning to feel settled. I have already learned a great deal and am really looking forward to what this year will bring for me. I want to thank everyone who has supported me on this journey. I would absolutely not be here without all of you. I will do my best to keep my blog as up to date as possible. It will be a variety of stories, thoughts, videos, links....really just a place for me get my thoughts and experiences into writing. I'm going to break up the first few posts with some photos and videos so it's not too text heavy. I hope you enjoy it!
Stay tuned...