girls camp...

Molo!

I’m back in the H4H office this morning after hosting the Shooting Touch all-girls basketball camp last week with Leah in the Crossroads Township. Overall the week was a success— individual skills were improved, team YoungStars won the championship at the buzzer, and there was of course lots of singing and dancing. It’s always refreshing to see the excitement and passion that some of these girls play with, especially those new to the game of basketball. I discovered that Mazambe (what we call Knockout) was the overwhelming game of choice for all 35 of these girls ages 11-16 who came to camp from the surrounding townships.

The week didn’t run without its hiccups. While originally Leah and I thought we were going to have some junior counselors helping us out for the week, they couldn’t make it and the two of us were forced to play the role of camp counselor, basketball coach, life skillz speaker, referee, time keeper, healthy snack distributor, and mediator. For the most part, the girls were positive and focused on improving their skills, but at times I felt that they were not as respectful to each other, to Leah, and to me as I would have hoped, which really tested my patience.

As an empowerment camp, Leah and I gave much thought to the healthy lifestyle message we wanted to present each day. I wrote up a pre-camp survey that was given to each girl as they registered on Day 1, which gave us insight into how they perceive themselves as females, as female athletes, as members of their communities, as well as their thoughts on education and future job opportunities. One of the most interesting conclusions from this short survey was that while many of these girls have dreams of attending college, they don’t know how to go about finding scholarship money, which from what people tell me is very much available here in Cape Town. Leah and I decided to dedicate our four days to healthy eating choices, self-esteem, focus, and lastly an HIV/AIDS discussion. Thabo came in to lead a game of "find the ball," which is an HIV simulation that we also use in the after-school clinics. All of these life chats were done over a healthy snack midway through the day, which we called our "girl time." Overall, a successful week…

Other highlights since my last update include great white shark cage diving, scaling the side of a mountain to see a Cape Town sunset, Sunday night dinners with Africans/ Europeans/ Americans, some good pickup games around Cape Town and long runs through the neighborhoods. My time here in this beautiful country is winding down, and I really can’t believe how fast it has gone. Will update soon!

Lindsay

a new city...

Hello from Pretoria!

I apologize for the lack of updates this past week—no good excuse other than that I’ve been trying to make the most of all my time in South Africa :-)  Last Friday, Leah and I hopped on a bus with the men and women’s basketball teams of Cape Tech University (Kita from H4H is the head coach) and drove 19 hours north from Cape Town to Pretoria. College teams from all over the country have come to the capital of South Africa to play for a national championship. It’s been really fun and interesting to see all these games… I can tell you that the level of play in South Africa is nowhere near the level of D1 basketball in the States. Most of these schools don’t even offer basketball scholarships as the majority of money goes to the high revenue sports of rugby and soccer. 

The best part of the week has been spending time with these girls and guys who come from all over Africa. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to Caroline, a first year student who moved to South Africa from the Congo where her dad is a big exec at a diamond exporting company. She has helped me to understand the complex politics of the diamond mining industry and the conflicts that have led to political and economic instability in the country. Then there’s Neho, a grad student at the university and the oldest player on the roster. Leah and I snuck off to Johannesburg yesterday morning before the afternoon games to see the Apartheid Museum, which I would absolutely recommend to anyone visiting South Africa. We made it back in time to see the end of the men’s game, in which they won big over a team that had beaten them earlier in the season. But when we came back to our lodge after the game, as excited as Neho and his teammates were about their win, they wanted to talk about what we had seen earlier in the day at the museum. Neho, having living through 10 years of apartheid as well as the country’s transition to democracy, answered all the questions we through at him. He told of how he and his family were relocated to a new township outside Kimberley, described the day that Mandela was released from prison, and shared his insight on how the South African view of white people varies throughout the country. Everyone has a different view on race relations and the future of the country, and I so appreciate Neho and everyone else’s willingness to share pieces of their life story to help me understand life in South Africa as well as other countries in Africa. 

I guess what I’m getting at is that I have seen for myself and tried to describe to you how the game of basketball is similar across the globe—it is taught and played very much the same way. But it also has the power to bring together people who may have otherwise never had a relationship. Apartheid legislation lasted for 47 years and ended merely 20 years ago, and yet Matt, an Afrikanner and Neho, a native South African, not only practice and play together everyday but have a friendship and a real respect for each other.

Our stay here in Pretoria has been great. I’ve fit in some quality basketball workouts with the guys, seen new areas of the country, and made new friends that I hope I’ll keep in touch with when I return home.  But I’m ready to go back to Cape Town and the H4H programs. Next week, Leah and I (just the two of us..ah!) are running a 4-day elite girls basketball camp. All-female camps are not common in South Africa, and we are hosting it free of charge to the girls in hopes of bringing out the best talent in greater Cape Town. Our goal is to not only improve individual basketball skills but also to impart a few life lessons throughout the week.  Promise to let you know how it goes!

Lindsay

Daisy...

I want to tell you about our special friend Miss Daisy. We love her…she is a part of the family… but she is a bit selfish and with a mind of her own, deciding when and where she wants to operate. Not a fan of the chilly Cape Town mornings, it takes her about 15 minutes to get going. She refuses to open her trunk or her left door, and she can’t handle any speed faster than 100 km/hour. Mix all that in with some crazy South African drivers and you can only imagine the volatile relationship we all have with her. 

 

As temperamental as she is, Daisy has given us the independence to get ourselves from each of our lodges/backpackers/homestays in the Cape Town suburbs to our office in Guguletu and the other townships where we work.  For the next three weeks, the schools are closed for winter recess, which means that there are kids everywhere—on the side of the road…in the road…all over the place. To keep kids active and engaged, H4H runs a holiday program, which was attended by 80+ kids yesterday at a community center in the Crossroads township. I’m coaching and getting to know some of the nicest kids—many who have goals very similar to those that I had when I was 14/15/16 years old. This morning I took a tea break outside (oh ya I’m now a compulsive tea drinker as it is the thing to do here) and began talking to a girl named Monalisa who had come to the community center to shoot baskets with her younger brother. Just 11 years old, Monalisa began telling me about her dream of attending school in the US and traveling around Europe. She told me about her love of sports--mostly soccer and basketball-- her family, and how much she loves school. It is these simple interactions each day that are really starting to define my time here.

Last week I moved from the backpackers “lofts,” where I had a cozy single room, to a 4-person room at the main lodge down the street where I was originally suppose to stay. I was a little unsure of moving into a bunk with two male roommates, but so far being here has been a blast. Some of the people are staying for months (like Mr. Mike from France who has escaped to Cape Town to hone his squash game before rejoining the Master’s tour), while others are just passing through town. Both ways, I’ve already heard some crazy travel stories. Last Saturday I sat at dinner with friends originally from Kenya, Uganda, Canada, and Zimbabwe hearing about another friend’s weekend trip to Zanzibar. Listening to adventures from Thailand and Istanbul are not enough... I want to see them for myself…as a backpacker!

Miss Daisy has also allowed us to explore greater Cape Town, which is every bit as beautiful as I imagined. In many parts of the city, I forget that I’m in Africa. I still find in unbelievable that that in 5 minutes you can drive from the posh suburb of Rodenbosch to the township of Langa, both just exits off of the main freeway. Last Sunday, a bunch of us piled into Daisy and drove to the famous Mzoli’s Meat in Guguletu. It is one of those must-dos in Cape Town as locals and visitors alike come on Sunday afternoon to eat a disgusting amount of meat, listen to live music, and mingle with a very interesting mix of people. We met up with Thabo and few of our other H4Hers who live in the area and had a really fun afternoon. 

That’s all for now! Leah and I leave on Friday with the CPUT  men and women’s basketball teams for the national college championships. Excited to see Joburg and Pretoria.

Lindsay

basketball practice...

Molo everyone!

It has been a week since arriving in South Africa and my time here so far is quickly turning into everything I hoped it would be. The first four days of work at H4H and in the townships have been fun, exciting, challenging, exhausting, rewarding, and at times uncomfortable. I’ve already had some experiences that would probably make my parents cringe (oops), but I am learning so much about culture, tradition, relationships—just the way of life here. From the crazy drivers (stop signs are more of a suggestion), to the tiny shacks that house large African families, to seeing sheep being cooked on the side of the road, T.I.A (This is Africa!) and I’m loving it.

Tonight I went to basketball practice at a local university—Cape Peninsula University of Technology. I got a good run in playing with a solid group of players, including three who are on the South African National Team. The team is preparing for the national college tournament in two weeks in Pretoria/Johannesburg, and Leah and I will actually be going up there with them…just a short 24 hour bus ride away (!). The plan is that we’ll do a few coaching clinics, help them prepare for games, and then go down to Joburg to meet people from NBA Without Borders.

In a way, playing with these girls tonight brought this first week full circle for me. Coach Kim at CPUT, also a national team coach, put us through the same drills and drew up offenses that I run at school. He praised us for properly executing an OOB (out of bounds) play, criticized us for not shifting correctly in our zone defense, and sent us to the baseline to run sprints for not communicating as a team—all three of which Coach Burr at Brown as well as every other coach I have played for has also done. Whether I am playing in California, Rhode Island, or South Africa, the skills and concepts of the game don’t change. 

While tonight I was a student of the game at Coach Kim’s practice, tomorrow afternoon I will once again be a teacher of the game in the Phillipi township. I can’t even really describe to you what these first four days have been like working in the township. It has been a bit of cultural overload as I am constantly trying to understand what life is like here by asking honest questions, talking to kids/young people/adults, just trying to understand and connect. Thabo has gone out of his way to help us form these authentic connections…and I know this is just the beginning.  But I can tell you that these kids at the 10 schools in the 3 townships who come out for the H4H after-school program 3 times per week LOVE basketball. In a country where soccer dominates, basketball is still very much a niche sport. It’s refreshing to see the joy that these kids have playing the game (try to imagine twenty kids all running to give their teammate a big high-five for just winning a round of steal-the-ball by scoring a simple layup)... perhaps because it is an escape from the realities of life outside the gates of the schoolyard. 

I say that practicing with the college team brought the week full circle because I have experienced the universality of sport in a new way. Whether it be at the collegiate level or at more basic level in an after-school clinic, the concepts of basketball are the same. I did not know any of these girls tonight, I cannot communicate with most of the kids in the township as they speak little English, but yet the basketball bridges that gap. It really is a unifying force.

The first week has exceeded all of my expectations. I’m meeting lots of great people from all over the world. Can’t wait to see what the next 5 weeks bring!

As they say in Africa, “sharp-sharp” (said shop-shop).

Lindsay

Thabo...

First off I must say Happy Happy Father’s Day to the best dad in the entireee world. I am forever grateful for Randall Nickel’s wise and rational advice, (attempt at) funny jokes, and constant support of me.

I want to give you a little more background on H4H. Founded by American Mark Crandall, Hoops 4 Hope was one of the first sport and development organizations to emerge back in 1995. To date, H4H has worked with some 10,000 kids in South Africa, partnering with schools and local community organizations to bring kids to the safe environment of the basketball court in order to foster youth development. The core of H4H’s approach to development is centered on its Skills 4 Life curriculum, particularly its 7 “tools for life,” which include self-esteem, sense of humor, Ubuntu, (a South African word for connectedness) responsibility, focus, integrity, and self-awareness.

Friday was our first day in the Guguletu office and it was great to finally meet all of the new interns.  Leah is from Ireland but just graduated from Mount St. Mary’s and is here having received the Shooting Stars Sabbatical Fellowship. She will spend 3 months in Cape Town working for H4H, 1 month in Johannesburg with NBA Without Borders, and then 6 months working with the Mathilda Project in rural Zimbabwe. Christine recently graduated from school in NYC and is working with H4H before heading off to get her Masters degree in England beginning in the fall. Last but not least, Jed is the youngster of the group as he is going into his junior year of high school. Also from NYC, he will be working with both H4H and our partner organization Soccer 4 Hope.

The highlight of this first day was definitely meeting and hearing stories from Thabo, an “All-Star” mentor in the program who has been with H4H for many years. Such an animated and passionate guy, Thabo told us about kids in the program, of life in the township, and of his Sutu culture. He even described (pretty much acted out) what it was like to spend three months in the bush leaving boyhood to become a man. I think we were all most interested in hearing him describe the role of women in the Sutu culture and the way that a man goes about acquiring a wife. I must say that I am grateful that my worth to my future husband will not be measured in cows and sheep!

We briefly went over our projects and assignments for the next 6 weeks with Kita, our program director…sounds like we are all going to be very busy! I will tell you more of the specifics this week. Also…I have a new appreciation for wireless, accessible internet in the States. I apologize for the emails that I have not responded to (which is all of them)—but 10 MB of free internet per day does not get you very far! I will also have to report back on the exploring that I have done of this beautiful city… think San Francisco!

Having gone to bed before 8pm every night since arriving here, I think I am finally over my jet-lag and ready to get rolling the week. Be back soon!

Lindsay

Just the first day...

What a first day! 35 hours after leaving San Francisco, I arrived in Cape Town to some lovely winter weather. I was met there by Moses Karmali who runs Southern African Ambition, a program that helps students experience all that Cape Town has to offer. Our first stop was Boutique Backpackers 33 South—my home for the next 6 weeks—located in the suburb of Observatory. Obz (as it usually referred to) was one of the first “grey” suburbs under Apartheid where all races lived together. It has a very eclectic mix of people with lots of yummy looking restaurants all grouped together on Lower Main Road. My backpackers is right in the middle of it all.

Not wanting to waste any time(!), we then drove to the township of Langa about 20 minutes from Obz to drop some goodies off at a soup kitchen. Langa is the oldest township in Cape Town having opened in 1927, a result of the Urban Areas Act that forced Africans to live in townships. It is made up of small individual homes, schools, businesses, a squatter camp, and small businesses, ect. We were joined by two of Moses’s friends, Hakeem and Nomsa. Nomsa actually grew up in Langa and now has her own foundation that works to engage youth and provide them with the skills needed to get jobs. Other highlights of our time in Langa included meeting a group of men in the township…who then had me taste some African beer from a pail, a stop at the Guga s’thebe center where I was thrown into a Marimba concert, and tea and fet-cook, or “fat cake,” at Nomsa’s house. We talked politics, sports, the politics of sports, history, development, HIV/AIDS, family, and culture all day long. I’ve only spent one day with these great people and I feel like I’ve known them for much longer.

Today is a national holiday—African Youth Day. I’m going to meet up with Leah, another intern working at H4H, who came in on Tuesday from Dublin, Ireland. I think we’re going to explore the downtown area. Oh ya... and it’s possible that I have a birthday today.. My new friends have promised me a fun time Cape Town style :-)

Tomorrow will be my first day at H4H! Excited to get going.

Lindsay

Here we go...

I am about to begin an adventure that I have been researching, planning and thinking about for the last 7 months. I’ll soon be in Cape Town, South Africa to work for Hoops 4 Hope, working in the township of Guguletu, which is 15 km outside of Cape Town. H4H partners with schools and local community organizations to bring children and young adults to the safe environment of the basketball court in order to foster youth development.

As many of you know, I just finished my sophomore year at Brown University where I play on the women’s basketball team. During my first two years at Brown, I have become very interested and involved in an emerging field of study known as sport for development, which explores how sport can be used as a tool for individual, community, and societal development. I travel to Cape Town with many questions that I hope to answer by working with this NGO for the next 6 weeks. In particular, I will investigate the intersection of sport and youth development within the country’s struggling majority population to evaluate whether the power of sport can be effective in HIV/AIDS education among the high-risk local population. 

In this blog I hope to share my thoughts on the effectiveness of this approach to community development. But I also hope to share some fun, interesting stories about my adventures in the “Mother City.”

I am very grateful to have been given this opportunity through the Royce Fellowship for Sport and Society. I want to thank all of my friends, teammates, Brown basketball coaches, and faculty for supporting me. I am especially grateful for my mom, dad, and brother’s constant love, support, and confidence in me as I jet off to this far away place.

Will get back to you when I arrive in Cape Town! 

Lindsay