Sport-for-Development Office Conversation

In lieu of an exciting update from the weekend (since most of it was spent catching up on sleep lost  because of the excitement around the US Men's team coming to visit) I am going to give you a taste of the sport-for-development world. Every week my inbox is flooded with news articles, YouTube clips, and research updates. When the NYTimes posts something about HIV/AIDS or condoms or behavior change, it is rare to go more than 24 hours without hearing about it.

In a recent conversation with one of my best friends from college I inquired about what gets discussed in her office every day. It took about 2 seconds of conversation to realize that the office space discussion in the investment management world is VERY different than the NGO world. While my friend is busy researching emerging markets and reading up on China, Corey and Graham are browsing through articles about male circumcision and Sara is summarizing the most recent article about multiple concurrent partners. While most of the American public enjoys some Sunday football, we lounge TV-less talking about the 2022 World Cup bid. Beyond the fact that most recent grads are not living in a house with six strangers in a foreign country over 7,000 miles from family and friends, it suddenly hit me that most recent grads are not constantly surrounded by conversation about HIV/AIDS, condom use, multiple concurrent partners, circumcision, and gender-based violence...

So... If you want to feel like you're really kicking it in Cape Town with me, here's a little taste of my inbox and what has been on my mind in South Africa this week:

An email from Clint, an intern in Soweto:

In case anyone needs a little extra motivation for hump day...

http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2010/11/fight_against_aids

A news article from the NYTimes about Pope Benedict XVI and his thoughts on condom use (yay!):

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/world/europe/21pope.html

A video clip from Taylor Down's father, Executive Director of the USA Bid Committee for the 2022 World Cup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPmR9w

An article sent around by our HR Manager about HIV prevalence among South African farmers:


http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?Reportid=91169

In my inbox 7 hours before posted by NYTimes:


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/health/research/24aids.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a2

That's all for now, but if you're interested in the AIDS epidemic, want to keep up-to-date on what is going down in the Sport-for-Development world, or just want to feel like you're a part of the GRS family, check out the Grassroot Soccer homepage for our most recent news, some "Nuggetz" of info about HIV prevention, and pictures from our different sites.

Lots of love from Cape Town!!

Charlotte