BEWARE OF HIV! AIDs ALERT! ESCAPE THE DREADED BEAST! Messages of the kind are plastered all over western classrooms, TV advertisements, billboards and anywhere else an ignorant yet sexually active teenager happens to pass a wandering eye. There are even the non-stop campaigns trying to empty your pockets of shrapnel in the name of saving the African continent from the HIV ‘tsunami’. The whole situation was stickier than one of Mr Kiplings famous bakewell tarts. Essentially, it is still rather sticky. But it is being slowly battled by a few bright sparks who have decided to put down their money shakers, stop harassing innocent men and women who just wanted to pop into the chemist for a can of Old Spice and some dental floss, and start a number of credible organisations built to fight the spread of this infamous virus.
Kick4Life was founded by a gentleman named Peter Fleming, who combined a series of football training sessions with some more serious lessons on how to avoid HIV and other important life skills. The project is based in Lesotho and received some excellent publicity after a certain Mr Fabio Capello waltzed into the office for a once over during the warm up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Peter was kind enough to help out the Nema Foundation with his ‘holy grail’; the Kick4Life curriculum. After a rather time consuming translation into Portuguese (and then into ki-mwani) we set out about taking our program to the villages. It was a hit from the word go. We were concentrating on children of around 12 to 18 years of age, providing them with football kits and balls (all generously donated by a very kind former guest) and providing them with some extremely enjoyable and informative games based around the world’s most popular hobby. It was incredible to see a young boy or girl who could understand the dangers of multiple sexual partners via a game of the limbo, then be completely incapable of holding a solid defensive line. To have more trouble with the football training than with the life skills was not we envisaged.
With the training sessions having been successfully completed in all 12 local villages the program has now come to a head. That is not to say the Nema Foundation has given up its battle against the spread of HIV, nor have we dusted off the old money shakers. Thanks to one very helpful former guest, Mr Johan Hugo (also champion swimmer after completing the full circumference of Rolas Island), we now have a stock of 6000 condoms to distribute. The next plan is a series of HIV workshops based around prevention and protection that will be delivered around the villages. So its full steam ahead and we’ll be keeping you all updated along the way.
