By Charles Tjatindi
WINDHOEK
A typical lazy afternoon in Okahandja Park on the outskirts of Windhoek is suddenly bought to renewed life by a group of young men who are kicking around a soccer ball moulded out of plastic bags.
The first impression before a paradigm shift sets in, is that these are unemployed youths from the township simply passing time. A new paradigm, however, reveals something totally different – these are no ordinary youths.
They are volunteers that have availed their time for a new initiative in tackling HIV/AIDS – the Nawa Sport Programme.
The programme is one of the latest initiatives to tackle HIV/AIDS, which has been ravaging the Namibian economy by preying on the most productive sector of the country. Nawa Sport is a health programme featuring a series of interactive activities that help young people explore issues relating to HIV/AIDS and gain the necessary skills to stay healthy.
These skills include critical thinking, communication, self-esteem and decision-making. In order to involve as many young men as possible, most of Nawa Sport’s activities are soccer based, but also focus on discussions and sharing information.
In order to ensure optimum results, soccer coaches and teams of young people attend a training workshop to learn how to run the programme for their teammates and peers. After this workshop, they return to their respective groups as “Nawa sport coaches” and lead their groups through the programme. The “coaches” also recruit participants in their own communities, once they have completed the Nawa Sport sessions – which comprise of 12 sessions.
The sessions include various activities, such as weaker leg/risk fields, which highlights the impact of alcohol on decision-making; pressure limbo, which focuses on highlighting the various pressures that can be exerted on people at different stages of lives. Most of these activities are designed to highlight a certain aspect of HIV/AIDS education, such as testing, care and support, respect, and trust.
Each of these activities, although physical and requiring a lot of interaction, also involve discussions and question and answer sessions in order to make sure the message portrayed during the activity is well understood. Although most activities are modelled on some basic soccer-like rules, the programme engages young people from both sexes, 15 years and older. The programme is being administered by the Nawa Life Trust, formerly John Hopkins University, and was established in December 2005.
“Nawa Sport was piloted in four community action forums – our grassroots volunteers that assist us with mobilisation and information dissemination, where it proved to be a success,” said Harold Kandjii, the programme’s coordinator.
In response, according to Kandjii, NawaLife Trust decided to roll out the programme in four new sites. Other than Okahandja Park, the programme is running in Rehoboth, Keetmanshoop, Gobabis, Oniipa, Kasote, Nyangana, Sauyemua, Grootfontein and Otjiwarongo. The programme is also active in the Walvis Bay prison, where inmates are taught about HIV prevention issues through the programme. Thus far, the programme has reached about 2 000 men, many of whom were attracted to the programme by the soccer-like activities contained in the programme and have already undergone HIV/AIDS training through Nawa Sport.
“You see, most HIV/AIDS workshops do not reach most men, that is why Nawa Sport is such a important programme,” remarked Kandjii.
In order to keep continuity and provide for proper feedback mechanisms, graduates of the Nawa Sport programme are encouraged to partake in the Nawa Sport street squad. This is a community of soccer lovers committed to a healthy lifestyle. Once the participants of the Nawa Sport complete a minimum of 12 sessions of the programme, they are invited to join the Nawa Sport street squad.
The street squad encourage members to form informal street soccer teams that continue playing soccer and staying safe from HIV. On a quarterly basis, these small teams comprising the Nawa Sport street squads come together for a street soccer tournament, whereby the rules of the game are almost similar to those of the seven-a-side. In this case however, there is no referee, and the game merely progresses and relies on the honesty and sense of fair play of the players involved. According to the Nawa Sport coordinator, more sites will be added to the already existing ones in which the programme is active.
In most rural communities were the programme has been active, it has made great strides, and most sports coaches there have become totally independent and carry out their activities without much direct supervision from Kandjii’s office, he noted.
“We had a few obstacles at first as the programme was still in its infant stages, but as the programme progressed, it became easier to manage and most people know what is expected of them,” Kandjii said.
Among the many activities that form part of the programme, two of them impressed this reporter the most. An activity called “My Supporter”, which dwells on trust and support of those affected and infected by the virus, is one such activity.
The activity sets a person in the middle of a small circle where those around the circle have their arms stretched out in front of them. The person in the middle is then required to lean back without holding himself back, where the stretched out arms of the other participants comfortably support the weight of the person, preventing him from falling on his back. The message is depicted through the trust of the person in the middle on those around him, as his supporters.
The other is an illustration of “sexual networks”. The activity illustrates how many people are involved in one sexual network without them knowing about one another.
With such programme in place, therefore, there is definitely hope as the struggle against the effects of HIV/AIDS on Namibians continue.
With the evening darkness slowly descending on the youths from Okahandja Park, it is time to pack up and head for home.
In tomorrow lies another day, in which another activity has to be carried out, therefore enough rest is a prerequisite.
Soon the open piece of land is cleared, and all that remains is the marks made on the ground – reminders of the commitment of these youths.