Meeting up with Roosevelt HS

Hi all,

Just wanted to update everyone that I officially met up with Roosevelt High School's Hands for a Bridge Program. The students were all staying with families (home stays) in Langa so I actually just met up with the teachers and parents who are on the trip. Had a great time, catching up, hearing what's going on at Roosevelt. I got to hear all about their trip and fill them in on what exactly I'm doing here in South Africa. A big shout out/thanks to all of the students, parents and teachers who carried the soccer jerseys that were donated by teams and families of SYSA (Seattle Youth Soccer Association). Hopefully I can get some pictures of the girls wearing the jerseys...relatively soon.

More Pictures

I'mmmmm Baaaaaack...and Pictures

Okay so I’m back again. I admit that I strayed somewhat from my New Year’s Resolution…well one of them anyway. But, unlike when I turned in homework late in high school, this time, I actually have a legitimate excuse. I spent last week up in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. I was working with one of our Master Coaches doing a ToC (training of coaches) for the Skillz 1.1 curriculum. As some of you may remember, Skillz 1.1 is our HIV and life-skills curriculum for the 11-14 age demographic (as compared to Generation Skillz). Unfortunately while I was up in Kimberly, South Africa, I came down with some sort of African Flu. I have spent the majority of last week and this week recovering, somewhat slowly I might add, but am hoping to return to the office next week.

On a separate note, I should also add that I finally purchased a cell phone in South Africa (cue roommates cheering) so now I can actually be reached via phone by friends, co-workers and in some cases - doctor’s offices.

In the coming weeks I will also be working with my bosses, Taylor Downs and Jeff Decelles, to come up with a brand new curriculum for our implementing partners in India. I’m hoping to adapt some of the ‘Skillz Builderz’ (in case your wondering yes, we at GRS are obsessed with adding the letter ‘z’ to words that end in ‘s’) into full curriculums. Right now they are simple soccer activities for the Skillz Street program. We had our first ToC for the new Skillz Street program (which is being financed by Elton John) the other week and the ‘Skillz Builderz’ tested very positively.

Alright, that’s all for now. Looking forward to meeting up with students from my old high school (go roughriders) who are in Cape Town as part of a class – called ‘Hands for a Bridge’ - that partners with two schools here in Cape Town, one Xhosa speaking and one Afrikaans speaking. The goal of the project is to help bridge the gaps through writing, art and performance. More on Hands for a Bridge in the coming posts. Also, very shortly, as in probably just a few minutes, more pics from my trip.

Later,

Graham