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

Holiday Travels and New Year's Resolutions

Well, it’s officially a New Year, which means, among other things, another chance to continue the great American pastime of “New Year’s Resolutions.” This year however, for the first time ever, I’m trying a new approach…well, at least a more realistic approach, for making these so-called "resolutions." And while it’s true the list lacks that flash and glamour of previous years (Manchester United isn’t looking for 24 year-old out-of-shape midfielders and Natalie Portman is engaged) I feel very confident this list will keep me more than occupied for the year to come. I won’t bore you with all the details but needless to say, one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to get the blog back on track. And so, now that I’m back from my sub-Saharan travels I am officially re-beginning my blog.

Just a quick recap of the last month, I traveled for the holidays (28 days starting December 15th) with Jamison and Julie. Our Trek started out with a quick plane ride from Cape Town to Johannesburg where we spent a few days with friends before driving to Mussina and crossing the border into Zimbabwe. From there we rode a bus to Bulawayo and onto Victoria Falls. Spent a few days in Victoria Falls (white water rafted the Zambezi river, complete with crocodiles) before heading back to Bulawayo and onto Harare for Christmas. Spent Christmas in Harare, Zimbabwe. Took a bus to Muthare and crossed the border into Mozambique. Once in Moz we caught a taxi to Inshopwe where we spent a long night in a motel (and when I say motel I really mean four concrete walls and a corrugated tin roof, filled to the brim with malaria…I mean Mosquitos). After that, we took another bus to Maxixi where we caught a ferry (and by ferry I mean a slightly concave piece of wood) to Tofo. Spent eight days in Tofo, including New Years. From there we headed to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique and spent a few days (mostly recovering from Tofo) before heading back to Johannesburg and then down the Wild Coast to Mtubatuba, where we visited our friend Tim. And…that was the trip. I’m still semi baffled at 1) how little we actually planned out and 2) that we actually survived the whole trip and made all of our destinations.

And so with that, I have now officially started my blog (part deux) and plan – according to the longstanding rules of New Year’s Resolutions, to faithfully continue writing my blog…

Holiday travel pictures to follow.

Welcome SYSA!

Welcome SYSA players and families. No doubt most of you saw the blurb on the SYSA website (a big thanks to Ed D'Alessandro for putting that up) and luckily for me, you were still interested/intrigued enough to visit my blog for more information. As Ed mentioned on the SYSA website, I am currently working for Grassroot Soccer, Inc (GRS). GRS is a South African based NGO that uses the global power of soccer to help fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. By using soccer as a vehicle to disseminate critical information about HIV, GRS is hoping to increase awareness and stem the tide of this terrible epidemic.

As a lifelong soccer player (and SYSA youth player for 10 years) I have always recognized soccer's unique ability to breakdown all forms of social barriers. It was once said that "soccer is the only dance common to all people" and after living and working in sub-Saharan Africa, I have witnessed this first hand (which is lucky for me because I'm a terrible dancer...in the more traditional sense).

So, now to the reason you're all here! So a few of my fellow interns and I have been getting together and working with Fifa's 'Football For Hope Center' (you may have seen the campaigns during the world cup) to establish community soccer leagues in the townships outside of Cape Town. We have already begun preparations for fields, travel and most other logistics. What we are really in need of now is jerseys/kits/uniforms. Uniforms are something that I always took for granted as a player, yet it's amazing how big a difference a simple uniform can make. Most of the young girls in our girls league and 'Skillz Street' (another all girls league) have never been on a team, and certainly never had jerseys. These jerseys are more than just matching outfits though, they are a team identity. These jerseys create a cohesive unit and help to form the basis of our GRS program. By integrating teams and individuals in community soccer leagues we give our organization a vital platform to deliver critical information and services to at-risk youth in the townships. By partnering soccer with life-skills, education and mentoring we are looking to not only combat HIV but also address many of the underlying forces that drive the epidemic.

As I mentioned, our need now is collecting new or lightly used jerseys and uniforms. In talking with my mom and Ed, I think perhaps the best way to do this may be either 1) if teams are interested, maybe one parent could be designated as the "drop point." They could collect the jerseys from their team and drop them off at my house OR 2) if individuals want to donate separately, they can drop off their gear at my house as well. If you are interested in donating or think your team may have some extra gear, please send me an email at gstockdale@grassrootsoccer.org and we can work out a date, time and location to drop gear off. I will also pass along my mom's email ngruber@speakeasy.net. Africa is constantly at war with bandwidth (figuratively) and the internet is spotty at best. Please copy Nancy Gruber (at the email I just listed) to ensure a prompt reply to all donation queries.

Finally, working for GRS is both a privilege and a passion...unfortunately it is also unpaid. I would not be here without the generous support of friends, family and community. If you would like to make a contribution to my internship/work, there are two ways to donate. Obviously this is a cause that I feel very connected to. I appreciate any and all support.

Donation Info

Grassroot Soccer is a registered international nonprofit organization. All donations are tax-exempt. Tax ID #: 43-1957920.

If you would like to send a check or mail your donation, please make payable to Grassroot Soccer, Inc. and write “Graham Stockdale” on the memo line. Send to:

Grassroot Soccer, Inc.
198 Church Street
P.O. Box 712
Norwich, VT 05055

OR, you can donate online by using the "Google Checkout" button at the top of my blog.

In case anyone was wondering how I got from SYSA to South Arica, I thought I would include a short bio. As I mentioned above, I spent my entire youth career with SYSA, playing for the Ballard Knights (U9-U-11) and Emerald City (U12-U18). I attended Roosevelt High school and later played Division 1 soccer for Bradley University. I studied Biology and English Literature in college. when I found out about GRS I knew that it was the perfect program for me. GRS combines two of my lifelong passions, health care and soccer. I arrived in South Africa this past August and will be here for roughly a year working as an intern on the curriculum and training team. For more information on specifics, please feel free to check out my earlier blog posts.

Thanks again and please feel free to email me with questions or comments.

-Graham

Projects! (Continued from last post)

So here’s the story. As a side job, although still part of my internship, I have begun to involve myself in a couple of little side projects. Some of these are simple, putting our files into a file cabinet (we literally had an empty file cabinet and for some reason our files were kept in a box…stacked vertically), others are more complicated, I’m setting up a server for the office (not too hard), trying to round up old jerseys for the Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Nyanga boys/girls community league and finally…building a library for the Football for Hope Center (along with Jamison Merrill, whose actually the project manager/founder of the idea.

So, here is where I need some help. I got this idea the other day. Jamison mentioned that a girl in Cape Town donated about 1000 Rand of her Bat Mitzvah money to the Football For Hope Center’s new library. And cue the proverbial light bulb above my head - So I figure, if memory serves me right, there are lots and lots of Bar/Bat Mitzvahs that happen each and every week in Seattle, and each of those newly minted adults (just kidding) needs an organization or charity to donate ten percent of their B-Mitzvah money. And so, my thought, or perhaps my hope, is that if anyone out there know someone who is about to have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, maybe suggest the Football for Hope Center as a possible donation recipient. If you do know someone that is interested please pass along my email gstockdale@grassrootsoccer.org so we can get the ball rolling! I can’t overemphasize the importance of having a library (even if it’s a very small one) in the townships. Seeing as Bar/Bat Mitzvah’s are rituals of growth and development – through learning, it seems like a perfect place to send ten percent of your hard earned money B-Mitzvah money. Also if anyone feels so inclined, feel free to donate to my internship fund (which is a 501(c)3 organization and therefore tax deductible!) through the google checkout button at the top of this blog. That’s a good place to donate money as well, in case you were wondering.

Okay, next project. So the other side project that I’m working on is collecting jerseys and kits (kits is the British term for the whole uniform, jerseys and shorts) for the girls soccer league. The townships recently started a girls soccer league and the kids really love having matching team jerseys. So if anyone knows teams or clubs that don’t need their jerseys anymore, I would be more than happy to take them off your hands. Again, if you have any leads or ideas send me an email at gstockdale@grassrootsoccer.org and we can discuss logistics.

Cool, well that’s about it for right now. On a quick side note, I’d like to give a little shout out (or a Kilo as its called in South Africa) to Ricardo Wenger whose been helping me navigate the world of “small business servers” for our office. Hopefully we’ll have one up and running within the next month or so.

Alright well, more to come soon…stay tuned.

Later.

Updates!

Well, this last week has certainly been less hectic. Now that the first-ever Generation Skillz ToC is over, we’ve all been able to take a deep breath, close our eyes, and recharge the batteries. Unfortunately, this momentary relaxation lasted for all of…about…fifteen minutes. If last week taught us anything it’s that Generation Skillz is most definitely a curriculum in development. The feedback from coaches, participants, Master Coaches and observers is going to be essential in shaping the future of Generation Skillz 2.0 (aka the live version we hope to release in December). And so, at 9:15am on Monday we got down to business, discussing/arguing/problem solving how to improve both the delivery and content of the Generation Skillz Curriculum.

We’re hoping to take what we’ve learned from the Cape Town ToC and apply it to the second pilot testing which will happen next week in Port Elizabeth. Luckily for me I’m getting the opportunity to participate in this second ToC as well. This Saturday I will head out on a 12 hour bus ride (which sounds like a lot but in reality isn’t that bad. I’m completely desensitized to long bus rides…thanks Bradley Soccer. Actually because I’m not leaving at 10:00pm, sitting in my own sweat after a long game, trying to study organic chemistry while we drive through the night to make it back to campus for classes at 9:00am. This trip should actually be rather enjoyable.) But anyway, I’m very excited to see the Eastern Cape. I haven’t seen the interns in P.E. since we left orientation six weeks ago. So it should be a fun and challenging week.

Speaking of fun and challenging…So this past weekend I decided to hike Table Mountain with some of my roommates. Naturally I decided to do this on Saturday, while fasting. Similarly to many of the subpar decisions I’ve made while in South Africa, this one didn’t seem that bad initially. Actually I wasn’t even that hungry for most of the hike. We got up early and I was so focused on both my surroundings and hiking (probably should add “not dying” to this list as well, we hiked up a route called Skelton’s Gorge) so I didn’t really notice that I hadn’t eaten for a day and a half until about 3:30pm when we got home. By four I was shaking. By 4:30 I was convinced the clock was moving backwards. By 7pm when I broke the fast I was almost too hungry to eat…almost. Somehow I managed to find the strength (and the appetite) to devour 11,000 calories in roughly 13 mintues.

Still, Table Mountain was awesome, one of the best hikes of my life and maybe the best outdoor activity I’ve done so far. I’ve posted some pictures of the trip but here’s a quick rundown of how it went. 1) started the hike by taking the Kirstenbosch route, through the world famous botanical gardens (AMAZING). 2) Headed up Skeletons Gorge where we literally hiked up a waterfall. 3) At the top of Skeleton’s Gorge there is a beach (yeah an actual beach) and not just any beach, a beach with red water. I still don’t know why the water is red, I should probably figure that out, but whatever the reason, the water looked old testament red, aka like blood. I think, it has to do with soil runoff. The top of Table Mountain is composed of this deep red clay. So all of the streams have a reddish-orange tint. Either way, as I was swimming in this red lake, on top of a mountain…in sub-Saharan Africa, it finally struck me…I’M IN AFRICA.

The rest of hike went well. I wish in retrospect that I hadn’t decided to take my shirt off (nothing lets you know how out-of-shape you really are like a shirtless hiking photo, very sobering) but I’ll post the photos anyway.

Alright well that’s pretty much it for this week. I’ll have more to report later and hopefully some cool photos/stories from the Eastern Cape. Also, I’ll have another Blog post very shortly, I’m going to try and solicit some help from friends, family and readers back in the US. I’ve got a few side projects here, one of which is building a library at the Football for Hope Center. Jamison Merrill, my roommate, and I getting bids today from carpenters. We’re hoping to be like Tim Robbins in Shawshank Redemption (minus the whole prison thing) and build a sweet library for the Khayelitsha Community Center.

Later.