A life skills presentation by a PPI-SA participant before the basketball tipped off this weekend. Photo by Chris Middleton.
This weekend, PeacePlayers International – South Africa held its semi-annual City-Wide Tournament, a celebration of the work that’s been done by participants and coaches alike throughout the year. More than 1,200 children participated. We’ll have more from the City-Wide shortly, but as a preview, check out this article by Chris Middleton of the International Platform for Sport and Development:
Each school attending the event was requested to organise life skills presentations, with a specific focus on HIV/AIDS awareness. Group presentations provided basic information to their peers about HIV/AIDS, stigma related to the pandemic were discussed in a second stage, and issues related to decision-making and peer pressure were finally addressed.
According to Magwaza Edwin, teacher at the North Crest primary school, this is the added-value of such initiatives: “These events, and the work carried out by PeacePlayers throughout the year, enable to get the message across to the youth. We assume that life skills are dispensed within the families, at school or at church. However, in some cases, the connection with the youth is lost due to age difference. The coaches who are part of this programme help bridge this age gap, they represent role models for the participants and have established an important trust relation with them.”
