4th UVM 'Lose the Shoes' tournament to benefit Futbol para la Vida

On Sunday, April 26th, the University of Vermont hosted its 4th "Lose the Shoes" barefoot soccer tournament and fundraiser to benefit Futbol para la Vida, an HIV/AIDS prevention education project in the Dominican Republic and a member of the international Grassroot Soccer network.

The 3 v. 3 tournament missed the beautiful Vermont spring (a 1-day season) by just one day, but futbolistas braved the cold and the wind to play in four rounds of barefoot games, followed by found rounds of single elimination playoffs. The day included a raffle with prizes from Burlington businesses, music, pizza from Papa John's, and of course a Grassroot Soccer demonstration.

Many thanks to all the UVM students, faculty, and alumni who played (including Achier who came all the way from Boston!). A special thanks to Christina Newman and Devon Byrne who organized the fundraiser. If you're interested in getting involved with a "Futbol para la Vida" UVM student club and helping to organize our next barefoot tournament in the fall, please get in touch with Christina at cnewman@uvm.edu.

Below are some photos from the day by Devon. Enjoy.

Goal!!!

Our fearless leader, Christina.

Bloody knees and broken toes. Hardcore barefoot soccer in Vermont.

Grassroot Soccer demo ... hide-the-ball led by Batey Libertad alumni Kris McKernan.

Group shot. (We really need a banner.)

Kamaro, a raffle prize winner.

Team spirit award - snazzy new sippy cups.

We are the champions! Can you hear Queen playing in the background?

3rd UVM "Lose the Shoes" tournament to benefit Futbol para la Vida

The 3rd University of Vermont "Lose the Shoes" soccer tournament went off on a snowy December 7th in Vermont. While only a few "futbolistas" braved the indoor tennis courts without shoes, over 15 teams got together for a 3 v. 3 tournament and fundraiser that is quickly becoming a fall semester tradition. UVM students raised money to support Futbol para la Vida, an HIV/AIDS prevention education program in the Dominican Republic that is part of the international Grassroot Soccer network.

"Abazos" to Matt Linder for organizing the tournament, and to all the UVM students who trudged to the gym on a cold Sunday morning just before the last week of classes.

2008-09 UVM Travel Study Courses to the DR

The University of Vermont (UVM) will lead three travel-study courses to the Dominican Republic to work with the communities of Batey Libertad and Saman during the 2008-09 academic year. These international service-learning courses have been run in partnership with these communities and local NGOs working in the DR since 2005.

The first group of UVM students will be led by Drs. Pat and Jon Erickson during the Thanksgiving week. The focus will be community health, with projects including a Futbol para la Vida HIV/AIDS course at two local schools in Esperanza, a community health clinic, bed donations, and numerous projects involving upkeep and expansion of the services of the community center and clinic. Students are organizing a number of fundraisers in Burlington, Vermont, including a benefit dinner, candle and bake sale, a dribble-a-thon with UVM soccer teams, a run-a-thon with UVM running teams, and a 3rd annual Lose the Shoes soccer tournament. The class will also be supporting the annual Batey Libertad Coalition soccer tournament at Batey Libertad on Saturday, November 29th, and returning to Burlington, VT to host a World AIDS Day event on December 1st.

Over the January winter break, John Hayden of UVM's Plant and Soil Science Department and Seeds of Self Reliance will lead a class to continue the community gardening project with the Batey Libertad community. The class will also be helping to start a new community garden in Saman, a barrio of the city of Montellano in the province of Puerto Plata. More info. on last year's class is available at: http://dominicancommunitygardens.org.

To round out the academic year, Mckew Devitt of UVM's Romance Language Department will return for his 4th trip to Batey Libertad to continue work on language literacy and service-learning. The March '08 class built a home for a family at Batey Libertad.

GRS field notes from South Africa ...

Here's the most recent update from Lena Forman (UVM '08) who's volunteering for Grassroot Soccer in South Africa -- our main partner in developing the Futbol para la Vida HIV/AIDS prevention education program with partner communities in the Dominican Republic. Lena helped to develop the web page of FPV and started our annual University of Vermont barefoot soccer tournament and fundraiser during her studies in Community Development. Go Lena!

Hello everyone!

I hope all is going well since I last wrote! A lot has happened in my world since then for sure! Since my last email I have had the opportunity to explore Cape Town more including visiting some townships in the area, we started learning more about Grassroot Soccer (GRS) including the curriculum, we met trainers from all over South Africa as well as some other African countries, and, lastly, we learned where we are being placed for the rest of our time as a field interns.

Firstly, I got to experience one of the most beautiful places I've ever been two Saturdays ago when me and most of my fellow interns hiked up Lion's Head. I did take pictures but my photos don't do it justice so if you would like to see what and where I'm talking about you should do a Google search for "Lion's Head Cape Town". It was a really nice hike and even included climbing up some chains and ladders to get to the very top (you'll see what I mean when you find a photo). We also visited both the townships of Khayelitsha and Langa. A township is a community that was created by the South African government during apartheid where people who were not white Afrikaans were sent to live. The conditions were bad and still continue to suffer although some areas are getting better. In a township you can see anything from a lot of tiny tin shacks to a nice cement block home with a fancy car in the driveway. We also went to Robben Island where political prisoners like Nelson Mandela spent much of their imprisonment during apartheid. Our tour guide was actually a former Robben Island prisoner himself so it was really interesting to hear talk about his own experiences as well as give the tour.

Last week we had a training in which current GRS coaches/trainers from Cape Town (SA), Port Elizabeth (SA), Bloemfontein (SA), Lusaka (Zambia), and Nairobi (Kenya) came to Cape Town and we had a week-long training where we learned more about Grassroot Soccer, heard about their personal experiences with the program (because they are all top trainers in their respective communities), and learned from each other. These were some of the most amazing people that I have ever met! They are so passionate in what they are doing and are so smart and articulate in their thoughts and ideas. All of us field interns felt so inspired by them and their energy. I can't begin to explain how much I learned from them during the week and how close our two groups came to each other. We had so much fun together both during our training sessions and after just hanging out. To see one of the amazing women that we met (named Titie) you can watch this 20 minute video that was made about GRS and features her (http://www.globalonenessproject.org/videos/agameforlife). During our week of training together we learned about the history of GRS, the different project initiatives that are happening all over Africa that GRS is involved in either directly or through partnerships, we learned what it takes to run a successful program, we did a diversity training as well as a gender sensitivity training, we learned bits of some of the local languages, and we learned about HIV/AIDS in Africa and the social context as well as had a doctor speak with us about exactly how HIV/AIDS affects the body and how it is spread and was open for all of our questions.

This week (going on our 3rd week here in Cape Town) we are attending a Training of Trainers (TOT) in which new trainers from partnering organizations (not the trainers that we spent the past week with) along with us are being trained in how to deliver the curriculum to kids. The only difference with us, however, is that us field interns will mostly likely not be delivering the curriculum directly to kids. We are here as a support to those local trainers who will run the program with the kids and to help out with much of the organizational work as well as working on other GRS projects. We are going through this TOT though so that we can all fully understand exactly how the program works because the actual curriculum is really the main component of the organization and the program that it runs.

As for what GRS has in store for me in the future, this past weekend we all finally got our placements for the rest of our year here and I found out that I will be headed to ZAMBIA!! Me and my fellow field intern Stuart are going to be the only two from our intern group working outside of South Africa and will be living and working in and around Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Zambia is one of the flagship sites of GRS so there is a GRS office that we will be working out of along with the other current Zambia staff. We were fortunate enough to meet Gesh, one of the main Zambian trainers, during the training last week and got to know him very well. I am really looking forward to working with him and his crew in Lusaka because I can only imagine what it will be like if the rest of the staff are like him. From what I've heard so far about the role Stu and I will be playing, it looks like we will be helping to manage some of the local programs that are happening in the area as well as helping to set up a VCT tournament in Lusaka. 'VCT' stands for 'Voluntary Counseling and Testing' and the way that these tournaments work is that it runs like a regular soccer tournament except that instead of getting points just for winning games, participants also get points for taking an HIV test where qualified people are administering the counseling and procedures that go along with an HIV test. We will find out more details soon and will be staying in Cape Town for a few more weeks while our housing situation gets set up in Zambia.

Some of my other fellow field interns are going to be headed to Port Elizabeth, others will be staying in Cape Town, and the others are going to be living in Kimberley (central South Africa) and traveling to many of the DeBeers mining townships (I think there are about 6) where the GRS curriculum is being delivered.

Oh, and one last thing (sorry I know this email is really long already), this past weekend we had a GRS 6v6 soccer tournament and braii (South African bbq) to close up our training with the African GRS trainers who we had all gotten so close with. My team was the Orlando Pirates and we won the whole tournament!! Not only that but I scored 3 game-winning goals including the game-winning goal in the final match! (I'm not gonna lie, they were all pretty nice goals too.) It's pretty crazy, especially for those who know me in the soccer world because I'm a defender, not usually a goal scorer haha. Anyway, because of that I got the 'player of the tournament' award which was really exciting J

Ok, I think that's enough of an update for now. Please write me and let me know how things are going for all of ya'll!

in soccer,
Lena

Libertad Fellow starts internship with Grassroot Soccer in Africa!

Lena Forman (UVM '08) -- volunteer-extraordinaire for Futbol para la Vida (FPV) and Fundacion de Libertad over the last few years -- recently started an internship with Grassroot Soccer in Africa putting to good use her Community Development major at UVM and all of her hard work on FPV (not to mention some great soccer skills!). Lena is one of many UVM grads and Libertad volunteers who have gone on to work with Grassroot Soccer. Below is her first report from the field. Go Lena!

Molo everyone! Hope you're all doing well! Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa! ('Molo' means 'hello' in the South African language Xhosa.) I just wanted to let you all know that I have arrived safely. I've now been here for just about 4 days and it has been great so far.

About 21 hours after I left New York I finally arrived in Cape Town. This city is absolutely beautiful! That's what everyone kept telling me before I left but you really don't believe it until you see it. On one side you have the Atlantic Ocean and many many beaches and on the other side of the city you have Table Mountain and other mountains that you can see rising behind all the buildings. My group and I are staying in the middle of the city for the next 3 weeks at a backpackers/hostel right on one of the main busy street in Cape Town. We are surrounded by so many restaurants and cafes and stores with every kind of food and goods you could ever want or need.

On our first day we started off with something called The Resiliency Race which was almost like the show The Amazing Race. We broke into groups and had to try and complete a bunch of tasks all around the city worth different amounts of points to start to get familiar and comfortable with it. Some things included finding certain buildings or monuments, using a cab or minibus, going above 1000 feet, ask people to teach you certain words in Afrikaan and Xhosa (two of the main languages in South Africa…Xhosa is a click language). We also had to try to get an HIV test or see if we could find a place to. Overall it was a great way of learning our way around the city and finding out what kinds of resources are available to us here. A couple days later we visited the U.S. Consulate where we had a security briefing and got to ask questions about anything we were curious about. After that we drove to Boulder's Beach in Simon's Town and walked along the beach where we got to see penguins!! Who would've thought?!

We also have had a full-day session about eco-shock/culture-shock and things to help us along those lines in the next year. South Africa has such an interesting history and race relations (which I look forward to learning more about). It is so interesting to see how diverse Cape Town is. There are blacks (black Africans), whites (usually Afrikaan from Dutch descendents but also whites who are from British descendents), colored (mixed white and black), Asians, and Indians. I know outside the city this can be very different but I have been really amazed by the look of the city. It has also been really interesting to compare my experiences in West Africa (Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso) to what I have seen here so far. Very little of what I saw in West Africa can be compared to Cape Town. However I know that it has only been a few days and I have been in a very select part of the city and have yet to go out into the townships and other areas which I look forward to doing.

In terms of the rest of the year, we still do not know where each one of us will be placed because the locations are still being finalized. Most of us will be staying somewhere in South Africa (mostly not in Cape Town) but a few will probably be sent to Zambia. We will not find this out, however, until toward the end of our training in 2 weeks. All of us have been so curious and we keep trying to guess what they're going to do with us but we really don't know. My group is really great…all very motivated and interesting people who are passionate about why we are here and also have a great love for soccer.

Well that's the update I have so far. I really just wanted to write to let everyone know that I made it here in one piece and say hi!

Sincerely,
Lena

"Futbol para la Vida" Training of Trainers in Guatemala

Futbol para la Vida (FPV) and Grassroot Soccer (GRS) are collaborating this month with Mercy Corps to conduct a training of new HIV/AIDS educators in Guatemala. The 5-day training will be conducted by Zak Kaufman, FPV co-founder and Director of Research and Advocacy for GRS, and Yanlico Munesi Dusdal, regional coordinator for FPV in the Valverde and Santiago Provinces of the Dominican Republic.

Mercy Corps has previously partnered with Grassroot Soccer to delivered sports-based HIV/AIDS prevention education programs for youth in Liberia and Sudan. This will be their first Spanish-language GRS-inspired program and will support not only an HIV prevention program in Guatemala, but will also result in a new translation of the GRS/FPV coaches manual.

To learn more about Mercy Corps programs on HIV with youth in Guatemala, check out the following video on YouTube:

3rd Annual FPV Program at DREAM Camp

This July marks the third summer that peer educators from our Futbol para la Vida (FPV) program are running an HIV/AIDS prevention education component to the annual Guzman Ariza Summer School and Camp of the Dominican Republic Education and Mentoring (DREAM) Project. This year's peer educators include Milanda and Nico from Batey Libertad, and Fefe from Barrio Saman.

The annual camp is grounded in principles of peace education from the Montessori teaching method, serving 250 youth in the northern coastal town of Cabarete. In this tourist area of the Puerto Plata Province the school drop-out rate is higher than the national average, with an estimated 85% of high school age youth not attending school. Low school participation is one of the main factors contributing to lacking knowledge and inaccurate perceptions about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (see blog on FPV research).

The Futbol para la Vida program is modeled after the Grassroot Soccer curriculum, using games, role play, and peer mentors to provide youth with accurate information about HIV/AIDS, prevention strategies, and encourage compassion and caring for the victims of AIDS. FPV programs are run throughout the Valverde and Puerto Plata provinces of the Dominican Republic, with training of trainers run with many partnering non-governmental organizations and local communities.

A newsletter created by camp volunteers and students is available here. For more information on volunteer opportunities or other ways to support the DREAM Project, please see their web page at: http://www.dominicandream.org. Other stories on Futbol para la Vida are available on this blog, as well as general information at: http://www.futbolparalavida.org.

UVM Alum's Video on Grassroot Soccer Featured on YouTube

Lusaka Sunrise, a video about the Grassroot Soccer HIV/AIDS prevention education program in Africa, was a "Featured Video" on YouTube this week. The short was filmed and produced by Silas Hagerty, founder of Smooth Feather Productions and former student of a University of Vermont travel-study course to Batey Libertad.

The Fútbol para la Vida program at Batey Libertad, Saman, and other partner communities in the Dominican Republic is part of the international Grassroot Soccer network. The first GRS-inspired film produced by Silas and 'lil Jon Erickson entitled Freedom for a Day highlighted the university's pilot project of the GRS curriculum with the community of Batey Libertad.

Below please enjoy both Lusaka Sunrise and Freedom for a Day below. Congratulations Silas!

Lusaka Sunrise


Freedom for a Day

Evaluation of Fútbol Para la Vida HIV/AIDS education program

A formal evaluation of the Fútbol para la Vida HIV/AIDS prevention education program was recently completed by Zak Kaufman of Dartmouth College. Zak developed the FPV program in the Montellano region of the Dominican Republic together with the communities of Saman, Batey Caraballo, and Cabarete, and is currently working for Grassroot Soccer on various capacity building projects. The following is an abstract summarizing this research.

Background: The Dominican Republic´s HIV epidemic is disproportionately concentrated in bateyes, predominantly Haitian communities, where prevalence rates are five-times the national average. This study evaluates an adolescent-targeted HIV prevention program in six bateyes in order to determine whether it significantly improves adolescents´ HIV-related knowledge, self-efficacy attitudes, and personal communication patterns. The Fútbol Para la Vida (FPV) program uses Grassroot Soccer´s sports-based HIV prevention and life skills curriculum, which has been shown effective in Zimbabwe, Liberia, Sudan, and Ethiopia.

Methods: From July through December 2007, structured interviews were conducted with 139 adolescents (65 females; 74 males; mean age = 13.8 years) prior to, immediately following, and four months following FPV interventions. Within this sample, 98 adolescents made up the intervention group, while 41 made up a matched control group. Participant Observation was conducted during five programs, each consisting of ten hours of instruction. Additionally, in-depth interviews were conducted with Trainers and local HIV/AIDS experts.

Results: From pre to post, the intervention group (n=98) significantly improved on responses to six HIV knowledge questions (t=13.80, p<.0000) and three self-efficacy questions (t=11.22, p<.0000). Moreover, the proportion of participants who reported speaking with a friend or family member about HIV increased from 35 to 56 percent and 24 to 53 percent, respectively. With few exceptions, these improvements were sustained over four months. No significant improvements were found for the control group (n=41). Quantitative data, participant observation, and in-depth interviews all suggest that the sports-based model is optimal for adolescents aged 12-14. See figure below for overall correct response rates by group.
Conclusions: Following participation in the FPV program, adolescents report feeling greater control in protecting themselves from HIV, while demonstrating greater knowledge about HIV transmission, testing, and risk reduction. Communication data suggests that adolescents' new knowledge is being shared with both family members and friends, such that the programs influence extends beyond the individual participants. This study suggests that the Grassroot Soccer curriculum could effectively become incorporated into larger-scale prevention programs in the Caribbean.

The full research results can be downloaded at: http://grassrootsoccer.org/docs/Kaufman_Thesis_Final.pdf

FPV Ambassador Emmanuel Sanon

Futbol para la Vida ambassador Emmanuel "Manno" Sanon passed away today in Orlando after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Manno was born on June 25th, 1951 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, son of Darius Sanon, from Jacmel, and Cherisna Fortune Sanon, from Kenscoff. A schoolboy football sensation at Don Bosco, he made his debut for the Haitian national team at 18 years old in the 1970 World Cup qualifying, and his goal scoring exploits over the next decade left him as Haiti's career top goal scorer. He had a successful international career in Europe and the USA where he played against the top football stars of the day.

Manno's goals in the 1973 CONCACAF tournament helped Haiti become the first Caribbean nation to qualify for a FIFA World Cup. At the 1974 World Cup in West Germany Manno scored goals against Italy and Argentina, with the first goal voted as the goal of the tournament. His goal against Italy was well remembered and replayed frequently during the festivities at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and France Football named him as one of the Top 100 World Cup players. His autobiography "Toup Pou Yo" recorded the 1974 World Cup from a personal angle, and he was named the Haitian Athlete of the Century in 1999.

After retirement in 1983, Manno coached youth teams in San Diego, Texas, and Orlando, as well as the senior Haitian national team. He started the Foundation Emmanuel Sanon FONDESA, dedicated to empowering young people to reach their potential by supporting community-based programs promoting health, education, and welfare. He also worked with other international humanitarian organizations, most recently visiting Haitian bateyes in the Dominican Republic in late 2007 with Futbol para la Vida, an HIV/AIDS prevention education program of the international Grassroot Soccer network.

Emmanuel Sanon is survived by his wife and four children. In lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to FONDESA at mannosanon@aol.com.

Obituaries can be found at:

Sports Illustrated
USA Today
Miami Herald
Charleston Daily Mail
Fox Sports

FPV Alive on the North Coast

In 2007, nearly 300 youth aged 10 to 18 graduated from the Grassroot Soccer-inspired Fútbol Para la Vida HIV prevention program in the Monte Llano region alone. It began in February 2007, when an initial Training of Trainers was conducted in Puerto Plata, where 16 new peer educators were armed with the capacity to train youth in their communities. See the TOT graduation photo.

Since, successful programs have been run in Barrio Samán, Batey Caraballo, Batey Cangrejo, Los Algodones, Puerto Plata, La Unión, PanchoMateo, and Muñoz. These are all communities predominantly populated by Haitian families – many with children born in the DR who have been denied birth certificates. Soccer is strong in all these communities, so the program has been well received both by youth and adults. Here is a picture of the community-wide graduation in Los Algodones.

Thanks in large part to the hard work of Freddy Jean Piet and Wilfrid Pierre, Monte Llano has become a second hub for the FPV program. Programs are still rolling and efforts are underway to integrate the FPV curriculum into the public schools in Monte Llano.

Grassroot Soccer introduced in St. Lucia

Over the January '08 winter break, a group of University of Vermont students traveled to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia as part of a class on Sustainable Development in Small Island States led by Charles Kerchner. One of the service-learning projects that evolved was the demonstration of the Grassroot Soccer curriculum on HIV/AIDS prevention education at local schools and to representatives of public education on the island.

The group was following the lead of other UVM students who have been behind the creation of the Grassroot Soccer inspired Futbol para la Vida program in the Dominican Republic. The demo and discussions were a huge success, and plans are in the works for a follow-up training-of-trainers of peer educators through a local youth sport initiative.

For some local press coverage of the trip, see Caribseek and the island's cable news network.

Congratulations to all the students and local supporters involved!