Archive: July 01, 2007 - July 07, 2007
The End and A Beginning
By Jessica Cates-Bristol (Editor's Note: Jessica Cates-Bristol, who grew up in the Washington area, played soccer from the age of five through college. She was an HIV/AIDS educator in Zambia and currently works in Maryland for an agency that serves at-risk youth. This is the final blog for Worlds United....
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 7, 2007; 8:30 PM ET | Comments (4)
A Confidence Shared, Two Lives Changed
On Thursday, a group of girls came up to the window of our van and started knocking. One girl whom I didn't recognize held up a folded piece of paper and signaled me to come get it. She handed it over and walked away without saying anything. I started reading...
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 7, 2007; 8:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
Do You Remember My Name?
Molly and Zizipho (Alice Keeney for the Washington Post) Of all the Xhosa names I learned to semi-correctly pronounce, Zizipho was the first one I memorized. On the first day of camp, Zizipho came up to me and we started talking. She told me her name and said, "Don't...
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 6, 2007; 4:40 PM ET | Comments (2)
Last Day of Camp
By Natalie Hensley and Rachel Starnes Grassroot Soccer Coaches Titi, left, and Jessie Cates-Bristol, second from left, lead "Juggling My Life" on Thursday. (Alice Keeney for the Washington Post) Lying on our bed, enjoying our usual bowls of Rice Krispies and Corn Flakes topped with piles of sugar, we are...
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 5, 2007; 7:21 PM ET | Comments (3)
Eating Smiley
"Smiley." I used to think of the happy Wal-Mart logo when I heard that word, but my innocence has been stripped. "Smiley." (Alice Keeney for the Washington Post) When we first arrived here in Port Elizabeth we were told by South African girls that we had to try smiley, a...
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 5, 2007; 7:45 AM ET | Comments (3)
A Day for Two Flags
Every year for the past five or six years, I have watched the Fourth of July parade go down my street, had a barbecue, gone to the fireworks with my friends and all that jazz. Today, instead of celebrating American culture, I celebrated Xhosa culture. On a tour of a...
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 4, 2007; 6:14 PM ET | Comments (4)
Who's Holding the Disease?
At the clinic today we played a game called "Find the Ball." We split into two teams and lined up facing each other. Then we squished together as much as possible, and we would pass a tennis ball to each other behind our backs. The other team would guess who...
By Stacey Garfinkle | July 4, 2007; 2:10 PM ET | Comments (0)
One Versus 12
Yesterday, Ian warned us that today would be a very long day. Maybe that's why I'm sitting here surprised that the day is already over. Today, after Grassroot Soccer we all went for a walk through the township looking for girls to come to the clinic we were hosting later...
By Stacey Garfinkle | July 4, 2007; 8:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Photo Gallery: On the Field
The girls teach heading and other skills. Off the field, they continue to take AIDS classes with girls in South Africa. (Alice Keeney for The Washington Post)...
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 3, 2007; 3:14 PM ET | Comments (0)
Gifts for Home
On Monday evening we went shopping and to dinner on the boardwalk in Summerstrand, an upscale beachfront suburb of Port Elizabeth. I had mixed feelings about this; the boardwalk consisted of a string of affluent shops and restaurants, and I felt like we should be somewhere less like the U.S....
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 3, 2007; 2:30 PM ET | Comments (1)
Titi's Story
Once we arrived at Ndzondelelo High School in Port Elizabeth today, we were led to the soccer field to meet some new girls on what was the first of five days we will spend with Grassroot Soccer girls and coaches. I always brace myself when meeting new people here. I...
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 3, 2007; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Small Pleasures
To help prepare barbecue for a township in Richmond, our coach Ian said we were going to butter the rolls. We had no idea he meant 1,000 rolls -- and only eight buttering knives. D.C. Blast team members butter buns for a barbecue in Richmond. (Alice Keeney for the Washington...
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 2, 2007; 7:58 PM ET | Comments (1)
Praising God In Song and Blankets
If you asked anybody on our soccer team what she remembers most from Sunday's church service in Richmond, she would say the music. Of the 11 girls on this trip, only four are practicing Christians. Clare is half Buddhist and half Jewish; the rest of the girls are not religious....
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 2, 2007; 12:00 PM ET | Comments (6)
Dance Lessons
After our first township tour in Richmond yesterday, our guide announced to the children around us that there would be a disco in town around 7 p.m. The little boys ran up to us shouting, "Are you coming, are you coming? Will you dance with me?" Of course we couldn't...
By Laura Sessions Stepp | July 1, 2007; 7:22 PM ET | Comments (0)
