Molweni,
Hello everyone. Sorry for the delays in posts. Internet is up and running now.
Update: I arrived on August 30th just in time for my roommate Alex's birthday. Alex introduced me to the neighborhood sports bar, where we had his birthday and my arrival dinner. The sports bar is where we spend most of our Saturdays and Sundays watching soccer and rugby. I was not much of a rugby fan but after watching the game for the past few weeks, I have become a fan. My job is going well. For now I have been assigned to oversee the school and street league Grassroot Soccer (GRS) programs here in Port Elizabeth (PE). The picture shown is of one of our trainers Palesa with her team at a street league session. Palesa's team name is Barcelona and they are the youngest team at street league, 10-12 years. They are undefeated and have beat every 16 year-old team that has challenged them at street league. The Barcelona team has definitely stolen my heart for this round of street league.

On Wednesday and Thursday we will be having graduation from the GRS program for 200+ students. I am in charge of running the graduations. I have set the dates, found locations, assigned speakers and now I am just praying all runs smoothly. Once the new school session begins, I plan to update my blog with a new GRS curriculum game which was taught during the week. I hope this will then clarify how GRS teaches HIV education to children. GRS PE is also currently working on building a soccer stadium. For the past 2 weeks Taylor and Alex, roommates, have been frantically working on a grant proposal which will fund the new GRS stadium. Once built, GRS PE will be the official headquarters for GRS South Africa. The stadium will be open to the residences of the townships and will provide jobs and vending opportunities for locals . The stadium is a very exciting step for the GRS family. Taylor and Alex have worked long nights and weekends and I pray their hard work pays off. If all goes well, construction will begin in March and will be completed September 2008.

As for me, I have joined a soccer team, City Lads. The City Lads are a township team and most of the players are currently working for GRS. Our first tourney starts on Firday. I can play for this tourney but once season starts I have to sit out for a month until I receive an international approval to play. The girls practice everyday, extremely dedicated. Practices are interesting from timed push ups and sit ups to Tae-Bo and occasionally some ball work. One girl, Chika, played for the South African national team. I am excited to see her play and I have heard she is incredibly fast. Go City Lads!