In an effort to answer the question that everyone seems to ask- "What do you actually do in Africa??", I am doing my best to outline the two sides to GRSZ programs that can more or less be broken down into interventions and HCT tournaments.
Interventions are the actual implementation of GRS curriculum. Participants go to 10 practices that are led by GRS coaches, young people age 18-25 who are chosen for their character and leadership to be educators and role models. Practices uses various soccer drills and activities to demonstrate a lesson about HIV. GRS offers curriculum variation that aims at different target populations; in addition to the original Skillz Core, there is Skillz Street that is specific for girls, Champions League for young men ages 18-25 and Skillz+ for HIV participants that are already positive, which aims at keeping HIV+ participants on treatment and offers support. Over the course of 11 weeks, GRS coaches also make door-to-door visits to make relationships with participants' families and gain consent to test participants at their GRS graduation. To date, GRS has graduated over 700,000 participants, with hopes to reach 1 million by the World Cup 2014.
To read more about our curriculum effectiveness check out our Proven Results.
HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) Tournaments are tournaments funded and organized by GRS that bring teams within local communities together to play while offering free day-of testing and results. In addition to testing all the players with consent, any spectator or community member may also be tested. Anyone found positive can receive counseling at the tournament and is then referred to partnership organizations that offer treatment. Here in Zambia, a given tournament generally tests between 300-700 people, with upwards of 10 positives. Below are some pictures from GRSZ HCT tournaments!
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| Making the cut! |
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| Hanging out |
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| My roommates and fellow GRS interns, Melissa and Sandy |
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