• One in 20 adults in sub-saharan Africa is estimated to be living with HIV.

• In 2008, on average an African became infected with HIV every 3 and a half minutes

• 1.4 million Africans died due to AIDS in 2008.

The situation remains incredibly serious, and continues to be magnified by poverty, lack of access to healthcare, gender inequality, political instability, conflict, climate change, economic decline and many issues more numerous and complex than it is possible to ever completely address.

But there is clear evidence that prevention campaigns and access to treatment are working. The latest UNAIDS report shows that the number of African children infected with HIV in 2008 was down 15% on 2001 levels. Prevalence in many East African countries, particularly those with long-standing national prevention campaigns, has plateaued or even begun to fall, and testing rates in some countries have doubled between 2007 and 2008. ARV therapy coverage has increased to 44% from 2% over the last 5 years, prolonging lives and helping to reduce mother-to-child transmission.

The primary, most effective and often most difficult step is to get young people talking to each other about HIV and encouraging each other to behave safely and responsibly. We believe that by training local coaches, peer educators and teachers to use TackleAfrica football drills with interactive HIV messaging is one of the most powerful ways of affecting positive behaviour change.

Please help us support young Africans living in some of the areas most affected by HIV by pledging just 90 minutes of your salary. Help us prove that ONE GAME SAVES LIVES.

Thank you

Tom Colborne
Trustee in charge of Fundraising
TackleAfrica

ONE GAME SAVES LIVES

As well as sending six coaches from the UK, TackleAfrica was excited to invite Moses Kingango from Uganda as an additional coach. Moses is a key member of our partner, KCCC in Uganda with whom we have been working for several years.

Project Description:

(i) Kisumo (Western Province) & Siaya (Nyanza Province):
Date: August 10th – 22nd

For the first 2 weeks of the project, TackleAfrica partnered with an organisation called FRACODEP (St. Francis Community Development Programme) to run activities in both Kisumu (week 1) and Siaya (week 2). This was the 2nd successive year working with FRACODEP after a very successful pilot project in 2008. FRACODEP implements a range of HIV/AIDS projects in Western Kenya supporting HIV/AIDS orphans, widows and those living with HIV, and carries out several awareness on HIV/AIDS and safer behaviour activities in their Youth, AIDS and Behavioural Change Project.

Using a model that empowers local coaches to deliver HIV messaging, the TackleAfrica coaches successfully delivered coaching courses to 100 local football coaches, teachers and peer educators in both Kisumu and Siaya; with a specific focus on training the coaches to work with the TackleAfrica coaching manual. The courses in Kisumu and Siaya lasted 5 days each and included:

- Introducing and delivering the TackleAfrica Manual to the participants
- Interactive educational sessions on ‘How to be a Good Football Coach’ and ‘How to Structure a Coaching Session’
- Q&A session with an HIV/ medical expert
- Participants delivery of TackleAfrica drills with evaluation
- Award ceremony with certificates
- Local tournaments with TackleAfrica activity

As well as local coaches from the community, invitations to participate on the course were also extended to coaches and peer educators from other organisations in Kenya including; SAIPEH, MTGK and Alive & Kicking.

(ii) Mumias (Nyanza Province):
Date: August 24th – 29th

After the first 2 weeks, Clive Fogelman stayed in Kenya to visit an organisation in Mumias called SAIPEH (Support Activities in Poverty Eradication and Health). SAIPEH started as a small acting group who travelled around in their own time to local communities to deliver educational entertainment about HIV/ AIDS; most notably dispelling the many myths about how HIV infects and spreads. This was delivered in the mother tounges of the area i.e. the tribal language; contributing greatly to the effectiveness of the message. Using a range of creative formats to bring the message across, they are particularly concerned with getting their message into schools, as a way of bringing HIV out into the open and reducing the stigma that currently exists.

Together with Wanyama Nelson and Pamela Osore (2 coaches from SAIPEH who had completed the TackleAfrca coaching course in Siaya), Clive delivered a 4-day TackleAfrica coaching course for 25 local coaches and peer educators at Mumias Secondary School for boys. Using the same structure which had worked so well in Kusmu and Siaya, the program was hugely successful in Mumias, with many members of the public and the council supporting the program.

(ii) Kilifi (Kenya Coast):
Date: August 31st – September 5th

For the final week of the project, Clive visited MTGK (Moving the Goalposts Kilifi) a girls’ youth sports and development organisation in Kilifi on the coast of Kenya. MTGK set up a sport and development programme in 2001 and now has close to three thousand girl football players. It aims to promote football excellence, youth leadership, reproductive health rights and economic empowerment to help girls and young women escape the cycle of poverty most of them live in. HIV and AIDS awareness is a central element of their overall program and currently is mainly executed through their Peer Education program in schools and is predominantly a classroom based initiative. Working with TackleAfrica was an opportunity to take the message from the classroom to the field in an interactive and creative format.

This project also provided TackleAfrica with an excellent opportunity to understand some of the challenges that women specifically face in regard to HIV/ AIDS. Rather than run 1 course for a week, MTGK arranged for Clive to visit different areas in the coastal region where MTGK has set up football leagues for women and work with the different coaches in those areas. During the week, Clive worked with around 60 women in Mnarani, Vitengeni, Kaloleni and Ganze. Clive introduced and delivered drills from the Tackle Africa manual to the coaches from each division and set up discussion groups to explore the challenges that women face on the Coast.

About the locations:

The Western and Nyanza Provinces are both located in an extremely vulnerable area of Kenya with HIV prevalence estimated at around 30% (against the national prevalence of 7.5%). Within the region, the age group 15-30yrs has been devastatingly affected by the pandemic and available statistics indicate that the youth make up 33% of those infected. (Kenya national Youth Policy 2006). High HIV/AIDS prevalence in the region has been attributed to a number of issues. Retrogressive cultural practices like widow inheritance, upon the death of the husband, non-circumcision of men, as well as sexual promiscuity along the fishing beaches, and sugar cane plantation, are some of the issues in question. Coupled with this is the fact that the province also has the highest poverty prevalence rates in the country, standing at 65%.

The Coastal Province has also become increasingly affected by HIV. According to a recent United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report, commercial sex tourism is growing rapidly on the Kenyan coast, and gaining increasing acceptance as a valid way of earning an income, spurred on by a flourishing tourism industry. There are often little alternatives to earn money elsewhere, and the promise of income often lures women away from the inland provinces. Of further concern, child sex work (CSW) has become increasingly apparent along the coast. Another study by the government and UNICEF found that up to 30 percent of teenagers in some coastal areas were involved in casual sex for cash.

EMIMA (a Swahili acronym for Education, Sport and Physical Activity) is a non-governmental organization based in Dar Es Salaam that aims to empower youth through sport. EMIMA’s  primary aim is to use sport as a tool for development and youth engagement by conducting sport based activity programs that raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, gender equality, sexual health and other similar issues.

EMIMA’s vision is one of a Tanzanian society in which all youths have the opportunity to enjoy taking part in sport and use that experience to enhance their life skills.

EMIMA currently has a total of 8 centres in some of the poorest communities around Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. These centres provide the venues and equipment for football training and matches, as well as peer education and peer education training for local youth aged 20 and under.

Founded in 2001 with only one centre, EMIMA has now developed and expanded to 8 centres each reaching a range of 150 to 300  girl and boy participants. Since forming EMIMA has had great success in giving youth the opportunity to engage in competitive sport.

Each one of EMIMA’s centres is located in connection with schools allowing for students and residents of the community neighbourhood to become involved with EMIMA centres. Children become involved at the centres by simply showing interest in sport and joining the team. Centre co-ordinators also recruit local children from the neighbourhoods as they notice children who are keen on sport or who may be in need of direction. Any child, male or female, may join any team at the centres.

www.emima.org

TackleAfrica’s partnership will help MADAboutArt add football to their portfolio of activities and engage through an additional medium with more young people at risk of HIV.  During our first project, two TackleAfrica trustees, Tom and Charlie, worked closely with MADAboutArt’s youth ambassadors and trained a group of 20 educators from MAD and two other youth organisations in delivering HIV education through football coaching.

MADAboutArt also developed a new take on using the drills in our manual, developing costumes to allow their young people to demonstrate the HIV messages visually to an audience at their football tournament.  The youth ambassadors we trained in April are now conducting outreach work to other organisations in the Western Cape, and building a network of local coaches that we can support in the coming years.

We look forward to MADAboutArt being our main partner in South Africa, and helping us co-ordinate programmes around the World Cup in 2010.

Useful links:

MADAboutArt website:  www.madaboutart.org

We have been working closely with KCCC ever since, running biannual coaching projects with the Allstars and training over 200 local coaches, teachers and youth leaders.  Input from Moses and Robert has been crucial in developing the TackleAfrica HIV education and football coaching manual, and in helping sustain the impact of our work by supporting the coaches we have trained across Uganda.  We have now trained and supported coaches from organisations all over the country, and estimate that these coaches are currently working with over 6,000 young people.

In January 2009 we worked with a new partner, ASDHI, for the first time, allowing us to work with a rural community in the Ssi District near Lake Victoria.  ASDHI was setup by Peter Byansi, one of the Directors of KCCC, who grew up in the Ssi District and runs a monthly mobile testing unit.  At a TackleAfrica funded football and testing tournament, ASDHI found an HIV prevalence rate of 16-30% within the fishing-reliant communities that live around the lake.  In January we ran the first training course for 20 teachers and peer educators in Ssi, and are offering ongoing support to reach young people from the community.

We have ambitious plans for further development work with KCCC and ASDHI in Uganda including:

•    3 month monitoring and evaluation project to assess the impact of our work so far

•    Building of a sports and HIV education centre in Semuto – the new home of the Allstars

•    Tournament and coach seminar for coaches trained in last two years in the build up to World Cup 2010

Useful links:

BBC report and video of January Uganda project

ASDHI annual report

KCCC website: www.kamccc.org

Click here to listen to Part 2

Having arrived at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro on Sat 16 August I met my fellow climber, Sheri from California, for the first time. Our base in Moshi (approx 3 000ft)was a small but pleasant hotel that housed Kilimanjaro and safari thrill seekers; the atmosphere was fantastic with stories being exchanged on sucesses and failures on the slopes of this formidable mountain. Formidable, not because of technical difficulty in terms of a climb but the extreme altitude. Although there were a good number of abortive attemptees (mainly for altitude reasons) we also spoke with many who had broken the barriers and had made it. We were fascinated and the 2 days spent at base seemed like an eternity.

We had chosen the Lemosha route to the top of Uhuru peak …some 16 340ft away. This is the longest way round and we were programmed for a 7 day ascent and 2 day descent. Our attack was made from the Eastern side after a 6H off road truck drive which took us to 6 500ft. Our team consisted of 2 guides, 1 medic/ oxygen specialist, a cook and 12 porters. These guys were amazing; they carried treble the weight that we did and at 3 times the speed with huge smiles and singing! We had a small trek therafter up through the rainforest to our first camp at approx 9 500ft. The trek started as it meant to go on; 2 things that I was not expecting 1) I hadn’t expected the amount of dust we would kick up as each step was made and 2) the temperature ranges – 15c by day and dropping to -25c at night…often the change was -20c within an hour ! With the huge amounts of food and water needed to meet the challenge the overnight experience was poor; low levels of sleep interupted by trips to the loo! I was often found in the middle of night running from my tent in shorts and boots with my headlamp torch seeking a path on the frost clad rocks.

The daily treks were not that strenuous. A good pace would be set and we would often be out for 7H but the altitude gains were only around 1500ft per day; we were acclimatising well. The landscape did change; the open plain of Shira was replaced by the foothills of the mountain where the ground cover changed from the heathers to barren rock which increasingly showed signs of the volcanic activity that had formed this, the worlds tallest free standing mountain. After 6 days we had made our way to Barafu camp at 15 000ft and were briefed for the final ascent – a 7H climb of 4 340ft to the peak.

Rising at 0430 we had a great breakfast; I was eating 3 times my normal volume and was drinking something like 7litres of water a day plus tea ! We set of in the dark with our headlamps providing guidance over a steep and rocky climb for the 1st hour. Thankfully the sun began to show and from here we got a better look of what we had done and what we still had yet to do. The air was thinning fast and our pace could not be slower; “pole pole” (swahili for slowly) was the repeated mantra. Even at this pace I could sense the power from body leaving at a rapid rate; despite snacking and drinking every 15 minutes. The climb continued at a steep gradient for the next 4 hours until we reached 18 800ft at Stella Point. From here the peak was clear and the trail flattened. While I was desperate for more food and would have loved to have eaten my lunch, we could see that the fine weather we had enjoyed all morning was changing fast. Within an hour we had skirted the glacier, trekking through the snow and ice, and had reached the summit. Formidable ! We celebrated and took photos with a blue sky at approx 1300. I had not suffered; no blisters, no headaches…nothing apart from the cold and dust.

With the weather changing fast, snow was falling and temperatures were being predicted at -25c, we got down as quick as possible to Barafu. The following day we continued in a straight line …we were down in 9H of trekking from the peak; a descent of over 16 000ft!

Mark Devonshire at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro

Click here to watch the team in action on YouTube.

In late September, 20 intrepid volunteers from across the UK set off on a six month HIV/AIDS awareness football tour of West and East Africa. Flying into Morocco, the team travelled down the West Cost of Africa as far as Senegal, before turning inland and passing through Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria before reaching Cameroon in mid December. After New Year the team flew across to Ethiopia, before travelling down into Kenya, and on into Uganda and finally finishing the project in Tanzania in late March. Over the course of the 6 months, the project team took part in 16 different HIV awareness events and played more than 40 games of football.

Each event was carried out in collaboration with an established local NGO, ensuring that the event was geared for the specific needs of the local community. The events varied enormously in terms of size and style, with venues ranging from glistening national stadia to dirt pitches with no proper goals or markings. The opposition was also hugely eclectic – on some occasions full times pros and even internationals, and at other times school teams or farm workers.

As well as taking part in football matches, the team also took part in HIV awareness seminars and workshops, street parades, cultural evenings and schools visits – all designed to increase people’s awareness and understanding of HIV and AIDS and to challenge people to take positive steps to protect themselves against the disease.

The project team also distributed leaflets and posters and other materials to help raise AIDS awareness, and also a huge amount of sports equipment – hoping to help local partners to continue to run similar events in the future, and encouraging the local community to take part in the activities.

At the end of the project, the team returned to the UK road weary and exhausted, but also filled with a considerable sense of achievement. Over the course of the 16 events, the volunteers had won a huge number of friends, and had been able to convey vital messages to more than 50,000 people.

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