So this has been a pretty amazing and exhausting last couple of days. I have got to be a part of some really amazing projects and had some great conversations with people. First and foremost I would like to tell ya’ll about the auditions that we had on Saturday and then kind of go from there.
So, I have slowly gotten pretty busy in the office, I have a lot of work to do which is great!! Last week pretty much invited myself onto a project. The Football for Hope Centre in Khayelitsha is run by GRS, and the centre is opening on December 1st(World Aids Day). It is the big kick off for the Football for Hope Movement and the beginning of the 2010 World Cup craze, so it will be pretty amazing.
On Saturday, we had auditions of traditional dance, singing, rapping and hip hop dancing to see who will perform at the centre opening. One of my colleagues needed help, so he asked me to organize and make sure that we had enough groups there, We had about 40 groups sign up to perform before the event and actually had about 60 different acts in total (it was AMAZING). It was so packed and the atmosphere was so unique and something I have never experienced before. I have just a few pictures and a ton of video. I promise at some point I will show everyone the videos.
The cool thing about running the registration table was trying to diffuse problems like, why haven’t we gone yet, there are how many people who are before me, and trying to coordinate the whole thing. It got pretty hectic especially because the sound guys were blaring the music or the drums from the traditional dances were so loud that I could hardly hear my own thoughts. Not to mention there is a huge difference between English and Xhosa. Language barriers are tough; especially with loud noise and kids everywhere.
When we set it up in the morning, one of the GRS coaches was suppose to be with me at all times and help translate. But as with all things, the registration table is not the coolest place to hang out. I could still see everything, but everyone would rather be in the mix, at the front instead of the back. A few times, I ended up standing on the table trying to get someone’s attention, it was hilarious. One of our assistant site coordinators GC, would try and come help me when he saw me surrounded with people (which was all the time).He would try and help me out a lot. He was a big help, so today, Tuesday we had our picture taken out by where the Football for Hope Centre is going to be built, so you could all see him.. (GC is a Awesome)..
The cool thing about auditions is some groups are really good, and others lets just say need a little more work. We learned quickly that you only need about 1 minute of a group to see whether they are good or not. At first, we let groups go for 5 minutes, too long. I think my favorite moment of the whole day, was at the very beginning of the morning. A group of really young girls were performing, they were so cute. Then all of a sudden this drum and loud chiming noises overpowered the noise in the gymnasium. I turned my head and there they were, the best traditional act we saw, a bunch of girls with bells wrapped around their ankles, cute little skirts, and no shirts. Yep, no shirts or top at all. A little different than what I am use to, but this Africa. What made me chuckle was the other intern Corey who was with us, he is a 22 year old guy, was a little uncomfortable at first. It is a growing experience for all of us.
We are going to have call backs sometime in November, which I hope I am in Cape Town for. When I got home that night, I literally went to my room and hung out by myself. I was so tired of talking (which if you know me well, is not an easy feat) and was mentally exhausted.
On Sunday, a group of the interns went and hiked Table Mountain, I passed. Hiking is one of my favorite activities, but the last time I hiked Table Mountain my legs hurt for a week. It is an intense 2.5 hour hike, and I wasn’t in the mood. Luckily, one of the interns let me borrow his bike, and I went exploring on the coast and rested at Camps Bay beach.
It was a great day, I read a book, laid out in the sun and got to ride a bike (all some of my favorite activities). The best thing is along that route you have to ride with the traffic and when the wind blows, you literally feel like you are going to get blown into traffic. A little scary at times and the wind blew so hard a few time that I was barely moving. It was pretty interesting.
At night Corey, Allen, Jessica, Amy went up on the behind the house and watched the sunset, it was sun fun, just the end to a great day.
One of the projects I am working on at work is that GRS is thinking of creating a new mission statement. For this, I get to interview all of the founders of GRS and get their perspective on how to do this. It is really amazing to hear everyone’s different ideas based on their background. Yesterday, I got to talk via Skype to Ethan Zohn, Survivor winner, pretty much the face of GRS soccer. He was talking about creating a strong and thought out campaign (including media and pretty much what I spent my masters doing) and the line went dead. Here in Africa you are charged for the internet by the bandwidth and the office ran out of bandwidth, so the call was dropped and I couldn’t get back online for another 45 minutes. It was sad about it because I was really enjoying the conversation, but that is how stuff works in Africa sometimes.
Lastly, today (Tuesday), I was out in Khayelitsha at the site of the Football for Hope Centre. We were having a strategic planning meeting. This allowed community members, other non-profits and neighbors of the centre get information about and then give their input of how things should be run. The great thing about GRS, is that conferences, meetings, trainings are very interactive, never a lot of one person talking. This makes them really fun and allows for every persons voice be heard.
Today was when the head of the Khayelitsha planning committee was talking and he said that we can not allow this building to become just another white elephant, and that the people of Khayelitsha must take care of the building because people will come and build it but if “we” tear it down or destroy it then there is no one to come and rebuild it.
One thing that is unique about these centres is that the host organization has to sign on to care for the programs out of the building, in an effort to make sustain and not just become another organization that drops money in something and then leaves, and it falls apart. It was amazing to hear a person in that position talk about preventing the white elephant and how that too realizes on the community surrounding it. For me, It instills a sense of HOPE that this centre can have activities and programs that betters a community that is plagued by HIV, murder, violence, and struggling people. As with all, bad area’s of any city, there are good people and I can only hope that those people come together and take pride in facility and help keep it nice.
This meeting was a good way to get the community excited and involved in the project. It also allowed for people to understand what GRS is about. It truly was amazing. I will leave with some pictures from today.
Sorry, so long.. but it has been a pretty busy couple of days. 
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