Running, Rain and Rainbows in Cape Town

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

Henry David Thoreau

Jack and I on top of the Cape of Good Hope

The View from the Cape of Good Hope

A beach walk that was part of our two day hike

Last week, as I was walking home from work in the rain, the sky was a dark grey color, yet I saw a rainbow high above table mountain. I wish I could have taken a picture, but sometimes only words can do justice. Despite the darken grey background, the rainbow’s colors were visible and created a perfect arch above table mountain.

As I kept walking home and looking up (almost tripping over myself), I noticed that as the clouds parted, one half of the rainbow was on the sunny clear blue side while the other half remained behind a grey sky. It was like looking at two different rainbows, yet they were still connected. The juxtaposition between them was striking, and it got me thinking about the different ways you can see the world depending on your viewpoint. Somehow a n office wide conservation that had taken part a few days earlier came to mind.

Sunset

A few days ago at work I attended a brown bag discussion. A brown bag discussion is when the whole GRS office comes together in the board room, and a staff member presents a topic they have been researching or talks about a conference they had attended.

Chris Barley, was the speaker, and talked about the conference he had attended in Berlin at the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and The Empowerment of Women. The conference looked at how gender equality must be included in any sustainable development goal. This conference was part of the larger United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (http://www.unwomen.org/en/trust-funds/un-trust-fund-to-end-violence-against-women) .

Grassroot Soccer is in the middle of examining how a soccer based approach can be successful in reducing young girls experience of sexual and physical violence. When a female is exposed to violence, she is much more likely to contract HIV/AIDS. The statistics are startling, in South Africa. HIV prevalence among adolescent girls (15-19) is 5x the rate among adolescence boys. Studies show that violence experienced among women may lead to higher HIV rates in this population.

A Female Skillz Coach being a silly role model for young girls in Khay

The discussion was very interesting and encapsulated many of the themes, I want to study such as gender norms, Intimate Partner Violence, HIV, reproductive services, violence as a public health issue, policy, sports for development, gender norms etc.

Barley ended his presentation, by asking a question: How do we change gender norms, and how can GRS empower young women.

In the beginning, the conversation was focused on understanding how violence is experienced by women, and some the factors that cause this.

As sometimes can happen when talking about violence against women, men are judged and viewed as the perpetrator. We label them as “bad people”, we blame them for the problem, and in particular lamented their moral character. Which is understandable in a social context. I often do this as well, when I hear the word rape, violence, or abuse, on default I blame the man who did this, and see him as someone who needs to be punished.

When speaking about violence there is such a grey area and one need to trends on a thin line at moments because men who commite violent acts describe to be punished. However, right know I am looking at the large picture. And when we only talk about violence in a one dimensional way, we fail to see the larger behavioral trends that perpetrate violence.

A circle to celebrate the end of the Skilz Holiday

Research shows that violence is a learned behavior, no young man is born wanting to rape or hurt another person. See http://cureviolence.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/iom.pdf for more information on an organization called cure violence that looks at how violence affects behaviors.

When we look at the behavior and not the character of the person, we can dig deeper into the prescribed social roles and gender norms that lead to violence and gender inequalities.

The discussion than led into gender equality, and how men must be engaged in this international topic.

Gender equality has to be a two -part solution. If we only focus on women, we fail to recognize that men and young boys are victims of violence as well. We fail to recognize that gender equality is not just a women issue, but a human issue that affects men and women.

Internationally, there has been a focus on including men in the conversation of gender equality. The Heforshe campaign is one such example (http://www.heforshe.org/) This campaign calls upon both men and women to take a stand against gender equality.

If you look at one side of the rainbow for too long, (the grey or the blue side) you fail to see the whole rainbow. You get lost looking at the world through black and white lens. If we only see gender equality through a female perspective we are missing an important link and lose the whole picture, that men need to be included in the fight for gender equality.

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Beside being so interested neerdy, I have been doing lots of things in Cape Town. Two weeks ago, I went on the Cape of Good Hope Hike. This was a two day 33.8km hike that I did with my Jack which took us all the way around the Cape Peninsula. This hike had breathtaking views, and when I was not so tired, I had to pitch myself because it looked like I was in a movie. This hike is a myriad of different landscape, and I also got to see plenty of wildlife. I saw ostriches, an elk and bamboos.

The beauty of the Western Cape

Me trying to be cool and climbing a rock

JACK about to go swimming in the cold water

WHAT A VIEW!

SKILLZ HOLIDAY

Last week, was Skills Holiday. This is a program that Grassroot soccer holds for a week during the school holidays. The coaches run 1 week intensive Skillz sessions like Skillz Street, Generation Skillz and Skillz Core. At the end of the week, there is a large tournament that includes HIV testing.

I thought that everyone was going to make a funny face..clearly not

All the kids from both schools play soccer all day, and celebrate just being a kid. It gives them a chance to play soccer in a safe environment surrounded by supportive coaches. It was such a treat to be able to hang out with all the coaches and watch them work.

At work, I have been creating a virtual job board for all the different sites to use, as they work with the coaches on one on ones. I also helped design and write the content for a new coach development one page flyer.

In other news.. I have been racing again. I did two 10ks (The Gun Run and the Cape Town Marathon 10k), and in two weeks I am doing the SOWETO HALF MARATHON! Yippie!!

I hope this gives you a glimpse into my life in Cape Town, and the work I am dong. Your donation made this possible, and I am so thankful. Please reach out to me if you have any questions, comments or just want to say hi!

Cheers,

Julie