Journey

For the Belgium vs France semi-final game, we set up our screen next to the main road in the middle of Kalokol town centre. We were able to attract a good crowd of young males, a vital but hard to reach group in HIV prevention and a key target group for Africa Goal. The event started with enthusiastic reactions to the HIV quiz, creating an energetic vibe with audience members excited to participate in the discussions. We even had couples who had gone for joint counseling and testing volunteering to speak about their experiences in front of the audience. Although the crowd was primarily made up of men, both men and women were encouraged to take part in the HIV quizzes, and young children were involved in easier quiz questions and dance-offs which were appreciated by a cheering crowd. We had information bags containing HIV information booklets, posters, stickers, condoms…

The Croatia vs Russia quarter final was organised by PS Kenya with the District AIDS and STI Coordinator (DASCO) on a football field in Turkwell. Getting to Turkwell required navigating a maze of sand tracks, all the time wondering if we were heading in the right direction but on arrival we were met with an excited and growing crowd. Government devolution and the improved road network in the region since oil was discovered in Lokichar has led to an increase in mobility but also in the circulation of money at community level and an associated rise in inequality. This, according to our partners, is a major factor in the recent rapid increase in HIV prevalence in the local area, rising from almost nothing in 2012/2013 to about 2% today, with the highest rate of new infections amongst adolescents and youth aged 14-24 years. Whilst still relatively low compared to other…

Our first event in the Turkana region was in a communal open area in the centre of Lokichar, a small town which has gained recent notoriety with the discovery of oil – an event illustrated even by the name our hotel, Black Gold. While still a very impoverished town, this recent discovery has seen an influx of visitors and road construction workers, both with relatively more disposable income than the local community. Rapid and unequal wealth creation and distribution has lent itself to the development of a flourishing sex trade and, while talking to the neighbours, we found out we were precisely at the location where local sex workers take their clients. The health services in Lokichar are provided through the Reformed Church of East Africa who provide HIV and family planning services but do limited mobilisation around HIV prevention and testing so there was excitement about the on site HIV testing services…

On Tuesday July 3rd, we set up an Africa Goal event in downtown Kitale in an informal settlement area called Bondeni. A well chosen venue by our partners, PS Kenya and the County AIDS and STI Coordinator, set the stage for a great event; right at the entrance of a slum area, we were able to attract people most at risk of HIV in that area. Poor living conditions, weak sanitation infrastructure and the ease with which infectious diseases are transmitted in high density informal settlements like Bondeni increase vulnerability to ill health. High HIV prevalence as well as high rates of violence and abuse further increase vulnerability, making this an ideal location for an Africa Goal event. Sport in general and the World Cup football in particular creates a non-threatening platform to bring people together for open, accessible and frank discussion around sensitive issues. The partners identified very charismatic youth…

The Africa Goal team was excited to return to the football “stadium” in Mbita for the fourth time, having held events here in 2006, 2010 and 2014. Our first more urban location for this year, the football pitch is a fantastic spot for our events – as we arrived, children were already playing a game of football, though it was temporarily abandoned in the excitement of our arrival and the screen going up. Rainy season in Kenya this year has yielded a lot of rainfall and we were very much hoping it would be over by now but, alas, this event was another where we set up while the sky was flashing with lightning and rumbling with thunder. With the winds rapidly picking up, our screen began to act like a sail and almost took off! Needing a quick ‘plan b’, we drove the Land Rover behind it to block…

Our second island event was held at the K’Ongata fishing village on the island of Takiwiri. The location was right on the waterfront, ideal for unloading all our equipment and – since we set up the screen double-sided – it was visible from elsewhere on the island and the water, a cool way to attract our target audience of fishermen and their families to the event. Surrounded by boats, we even tethered the screen to a sesse canoe on the shore to keep it secure in the winds. A remote settlement with estimated HIV rates of around 25% and above and very little access to HIV information and services, we set up the screen and lights for HIV testing services early, to peak people’s interest and so that testing could begin long before the match. For the most part the audience was quite reserved and the crowd remained quite dispersed,…

Our second event was held in Sena, the main market area on Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria. We loaded all our equipment, materials, bags – and ourselves – into 2 boats and made the crossing from Mbita. After a session preparing materials in the hotel common area, we went over early to check out the event location. After the hectic arrival and set up of our last event, it was very welcome to have plenty of time to set up and talk to the local children who were very excited about the upcoming match. Partners PS Kenya had been mobilising people on the island all day, and many arrived long before the match began to receive HIV testing services, with a steady stream of people queuing throughout the event. Community health workers kicked off the awareness-raising activities with some initial information on prevention of HIV, including an explanation of voluntary…

The Sotik event was quite the nail biter. Whilst stuck in a traffic jam on the Great Rift Valley escarpment road for 5 hours, we all started to wonder if we would make it in time. Amidst great relief, we arrived with half an hour to spare and quickly pulled out all the equipment to set up, only to be faced with the next hurdle as a great clap of thunder signaled the start of a huge downpour. Quickly covering all of our electronic equipment to save it from the rain, we then had no choice but to nervously watch the clock again waiting for the rain to ease, whilst also coming up with several back up plans – including setting up a waterproof screen and arranging to set up under a tent. With just 15 minutes before kick off, the weather thankfully complied and we set about frantically putting…

The third place playoff between Brazil and The Netherlands was a much-anticipated match, which we showed in the small town of Alaska, near Chinhoyi in Zimbabwe. Alaska was once a prosperous mining town but has become a desolate area since the mine closed over ten years ago. We partnered with an organisation called Pamuhacha HIV/AIDS Prevention Project, which is the Shona name of an indigenous tree where people could traditionally go to seek food or healing. We set up the screen in an area surrounded by run-down shops and several bars. Most of the crowd were passers-by or those looking for entertainment in the small trading centre who took an interest in the huge screen and loudspeaker, although some had heard about the event through Pamuhacha's mobilization efforts earlier that day. The name Alaska could not have been more appropriate for what turned out to be an exceedingly chilly night....

The Epworth Africa Goal event which was organised and lead by SAfAIDS, in partnership with Young Africa, and Population Services Zimbabwe, was the culmination of a full day of activities including football, netball and volleyball matches, HIV information and quizzes and on-site Voluntary Counselling and Testing. Around 1,000 people attended the event during the course of the day, 76 were counselled and tested for HIV, and 22 signed up for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision. After a long day of driving from Chirundu on the border with Zambia, the Africa Goal team arrived in time for the end of the sports activities in time to set up, sparking great interest from the crowd. Faced with the option to project the match on to the side of one of the school buildings or set up the screen, the team opted to use the screen double-sided in the centre of the sports field...

After a relaxing couple of days by the Zambezi river, near the Zambia-Zimbabwe border, we were excited to have the opportunity to show the France-Germany quarterfinal match in the border town of Chirundu. Our original plans of reaching Harare that night fell through, but we were able to make a last minute plan with the National Employment Council Transport Operating Industry (Nectoi) in Chirundu, which gave us some additional time to relax and also to put together 600 information packs in preparation for the next couple of events. Shamiso Chisauka is the site agent for Nectoi and acts as an HIV peer educator for the town. We were a bit apprehensive about the choice of venue in Chirundu town – just next to a busy bar where truck drivers were already enjoying bottles of Sorghum beer. However, Shamiso assured us that this was the best option and we realized that...

We left Kampala early, heading west towards Masaka to get the 1.30pm ferry from Bukakata to Luku – on Bugala, the most populated of the Sesse Islands. The towns on the Sesse Islands have some of the highest rates of HIV in Uganda, fueled in part by poor economic conditions and associated high levels of transactional sex between fishermen and fish market sellers who exchange sex in lieu of payment for fish. The last 50km was on a dirt road which, having recently been flooded and now with an alarmingly steep camber, made for a slow, bumpy and skiddy drive. Just when we thought we had safely made it, 5km from the ferry dock, the Landy cut out suddenly and rolled to a disheartening halt, the ignition refusing to engage again. Aware that the ferry departure time was fast approaching, we frantically searched under the bonnet, looking for anything that...

We took advantage of the bright, sunny morning to dry out all of our equipment, wash the screens which had got muddied in the storm and and reorganize everything after the slightly chaotic pack up of the night before in the rain. With everything back in order, we set off to meet with our partners from The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO). The event location was on the outskirts of Jinja at the Masese Landing Site – the main landing site for the many fishing boats in the area – easily recognizable by all the banners that TASO had put up for the occasion. It was a great venue for our first event in Uganda! Turkeys, chickens and goats pecked, wandered and grazed around us as we set up the satellite dish, screen and projector, whilst children and adults looked on with interest. TASO had been on site for a few...

We had a beautiful drive along the Kerio Valley from Baringo to Eldoret, making for a stunning backdrop for a quick kickabout with Elias, a 14 year old boy who we spotted playing with his homemade football on his way to school. He was thrilled when we traded his ball made of layered plastic bags with one of the footballs which the One World Futbol Project generously donated to Africa Goal for distribution during the project. One World Futbol produce and distribute ‘nearly indestructible’ footballs which can survive being run over, kicked into barbed wire and punctured by thorns – they are perfect for the rugged environments in which the Africa Goal 2014 events are being held. On arrival, we headed to the University of Eldoret, where we had an event planned with the university’s peer educators to sensitize the students on issues around HIV prevention, testing and treatment. Our...

The very bumpy road to Kasarani for the match on the 12th left the Landrover a little worse for wear with a broken shock absorber so the morning of the 13th started with the team having to split – with Ben and Maciej setting off to find a garage whilst everyone else headed to Baringo for our second event. With, two members short, the set up was a bit more challenging than normal but we managed to get it all sorted in time – and even had a moment to take in the beautiful location just on the edge of the lake, near the main boat landing site for the village. We met with the Kabarnet Talent Theatre Group and Family AIDS Initiative Response (FAIR) on arrival, as well as the PS Kenya Coordinator. More dark clouds on the horizon had the team slightly on edge – particularly when we...