I’ve been threatening a new web site for a long time now, and today is the unveiling. You can now access all Personal S.A. content – and a lot more – at the newly-launched www.kephsenett.com.

I hope you’ll continue your subscription over there by adding your email in the top right sidebar. PersonalSA.wordpress.com will be discontinued in the coming week.

Thanks, everyone, for your continued support,

K-

The one-year anniversary of this blog was supposed to also mark its completion.

In the original draft I imagined August 29 to August 29 as a perfect circle, like a ball. It was a natural metaphor for a blog about soccer and community. So what does the inconvenient addition of these extra 15 days do to my analogy? It makes my ball a little flawed, slightly misshapen – just like its imaginer.

In the end, I think I’m alright with the addition of a little chaos. People and communities and games of soccer all somehow remain great and complete despite their asymmetry. It’s time for me to wind up and send this imperfect ball long.

I’ll see you all at the next match.

I’m not surprised by this, but the 55-page report written up all academic-like (the Table of Contents presents no fewer than 15 “findings”) is like a professional reference for the game I love. There’s been a study, there’ve been findings, and they’ve proven what players and fans have known all along: that this people’s game that can be played anywhere in the world with nothing more than a ball is much more than a diversion – it’s a viable delivery model for life-saving messages.

OK, so here’s the thought that provoked me:

3.2 Gender Inequality
The spread of HIV has much to do with gender inequality. HIV is prevalent much more among women than men, and about two thirds of newly-infected young people aged 15-19 years in sub-Saharan Africa are female. Grassroot Soccer stresses the importance of girls benefiting from  prevention efforts by making sure that half its participants are female. In Grassroot Soccer’s Street Skillz Sessions…, football game rules are designed to involve girls as much as possible, for example by counting each goal scored by a girl as two points.
– “Using Football for HIV/AIDS Prevention in Africa”

For some context, Grassroot Soccer is the organization co-founded by former professional soccer player and (TV show) Survivor Ethan Zohn. It’s an organization with a mission I support (“… to provide African youth with the knowledge, skills and support to live HIV-free”) but I’m put off by the practice of handicapping by gender. Ensuring that half of the program participants are female is an obvious and justified mandate, but how does a differential point system play into this? I just don’t get it. [Note: Check out Zak from GRS’ response in the comments. It would appear that this rule in the Street Skillz program is no longer in use, and was never aimed at the AIDS and HIV-prevention aspect of the program. Rather, it was an attempt to facilitate girls’ inclusion by encouraging passing to them.]

I don’t want to take a perfect cause for celebration (yet another example of soccer saving the world) and diminish it by focusing on a single aspect of program delivery. Instead let me present this thought, provoked: Does counting girls’ goals as more than boys’ goals somehow ensure that girls benefit from prevention efforts, whether by encouraging participation in the program or by diminishing gender inequality? If so, how?

For more soccer-related provocation and celebration, download the report here (I found it via Play the Game, which “aims to strengthen the basic ethical values of sport and encourage democracy, transparency and freedom of expression in world sport” – highly recommended reading for the sports development geek.)

The group offers workshops to young (10 – 25 year-old) participants in their communities and at no cost. The entire programme takes three years to complete. Films are distributed using social media channels, the web site, and are entered into film festivals.

What do I have in common with kids? Soccer! It took me all of 27 seconds to find “Township Tournament”, 2:08 minutes on an alternative World Cup competition that took place in the townships around Cape Town.

“I felt like I was in front of God.”
– Answer to the question “How did you feel when you scored those goals?”, asked of a participant in the tournament, “Township Tournament“, World Film Collective

Highly recommended, but beware: it’s dead simple to lose hours on their YouTube channel.

Eri Yoshida, from kickitout.org

Yoshida’s maverick balling began in Japan when at 16 she was drafted to Kobe Cruise 9 in the minor Kansai Independent League, making her the first female to play professionally in that country. Now, playing for the Chico Outlaws, she’s the third woman ever (and first Japanese woman) to play in the US men’s professional league.

“There are probably ladies who think they might be able to compete at a high level, but maybe don’t have the confidence. This will give them the confidence. This will open doors.”
– Chico manager Gerry Templeton

Elsewhere in the sport and gender universe, Caster Semenya is competing again, but news reports are still consistently muddied by rumors of official wrong-doing related to the six months of “gender testing” forced on the runner. At this point, I really haven’t the foggiest idea what the official line is, but it’s clear that Semenya’s name will be associated more with a gender panic than with her astonishing athletic contributions for some time. Pity.

And finally, the Iranian girls’ football team is competing at the Youth Olympics in Singarpore. You’ll recall that the team was originally banned from participating in hijab and removed from eligibility.  Then, a modified uniform was presented that met Youth Olympic guidelines for sport safety, but prompted Marzieh Akbarabadi (who’s in charge of women’s sports in Iran) to protest, calling the outfit “inappropriate”. It would appear that a compromise has been reached, because the team is in Singapore competing.

Photo from The Ledger Independent, (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

FIFA president Sepp Blatter was on hand to watch the Iranian girls’ game, and offered this:

“It’s very important,” Blatter said. “It’s very important for football, that football be played by and in all cultures. Especially at this level of the youths, and the Olympic idea, I think it’s very important.”
– Sepp Blatter, “Headscarf issue solved, Iran girls focus on soccer“

Finally, the event is in the voting phase which goes until August 18, 2010. Finalists are eligible to win prize money totaling $90,000 USD to foster real change in the world. I voted for Soccer 4 Hope (and you can, too, here) because they’re operating out of Cape Town and focus specifically on the empowerment of girls and women through soccer.

And in soccer-changes-the-world news from much closer to home (like, Lamport Stadium), I’m only three days away from participating in the Rock the Pitch Charity Soccer Tournament. That’s only three more days of fund raising, the proceeds of which will go to Athletes for Africa’s partner organizations in northern Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan. If you think this is a worthwhile and effective example of social innovation, sponsor me at www.myathletesforafrica.com/ksenett. EVERY donation get a tax receipt.

*Interested in learning more about social innovation? Check out these organizations currently on my radar: the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto and Open IDEO, an online crowd sourcing platform.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

A4A is the organization behind Rock the Pitch, a charity soccer tournament taking place at Lamport Stadium on August 14. Participants include commoners like me and local celebrities, and everybody raises money to send to A4A’s partner organizations in Africa.

I’d like to direct all readers to my team’s fund raising page:
http://www.myathletesforafrica.com/sweetcleats

Click, give a little, and then come out to Lamport on the 14th to watch us compete. The first celebrity signings were confirmed yesterday and include former Toronto FC captain and Canadian national team member Jimmy Brennan. (This is going to be so embarrassing.)

*A4A organizes charity sporting events to raise money that goes towards assisting their partner organizations:

– Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (Uganda)
– War Child Canada (Democratic Republic of Congo)
– African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) Canada (Southern Sudan)

More details available on the A4A Programs page.

P.S. Safe travels and good luck to all my friends currently converging on Cologne for the Gay Games 2010.

Here’s what’s going on in my world:

1) Caster Semenya has (finally) been cleared to race “as a woman”.
You all know what I think about this (for those just joining us, go here), but I do want to add that the IAAF is not disclosing any details. Their statement was brief (or “terse”, according to Barry Petchesky, author of
“Explaining The Caster Semenya Decision, Because The IAAF Won’t,” published on Deadspin), which makes a wrap-up difficult. Suffice to say that I still see this as a sad chapter, and one we will regret.

2) Iranian girls team may be banned from youth tournament… again.
You will remember that back in April 2010, FIFA banned the Iranian girls’ team from competing in the Youth Olympic Football Tournament based on the fact that the players were beholden by their religion to wear hijab (head scarves). Cue (righteous) outrage. By early May FIFA had about-faced and allowed the girls to play in a game-modified uniform.

A month passes.

Iran may not send its girls’ football team to the Youth Olympics in Singapore next month because of a dispute over the players’ Islamic attire, Iranian media reported on Thursday. The deputy head of Iran’s physical education department, Marzieh Akbarabadi, was quoted by newspapers, including Khabar Varzeshi, or Sport News, as saying the newly designed dress was “inappropriate.” [The uniform] was unveiled during a practice session on Wednesday, which Akbarabadi, who is in charge of all women’s sports in Iran, left in protest.
– Nasser Karimi, “Iran girls’ football team may miss Singapore event,” Associated Press (July 8, 2010)

You know what? I said this before and I say it again, and this time with feeling: Let them play! These girls are athletes. They’ve trained (despite mighty opposition) to become good enough to qualify, yet all around are powers-that-be lining up to play Daddy to them.

I am not qualified to comment on the rightness or wrongness of hijab, but I can tell you with utter certainty that these players should be accommodated. No person should be forced to cast aside one love (football) for another (one’s religion).

3) Grannies Grannies find a way
Way back on the first day of the World Cup I wrote about Vakhegula Vakhegula (Grannies Grannies), a South African soccer team comprised of women between the ages of 49 and 84. A month ago they were hoping to inspire South African president Jacob Zuma to provide the finances to send the team to compete at the Veteran’s Cup, a tournament for teams with players of 30 years and older that takes place in Lancaster, Massachusetts (Source: “For the Love of Soccer and a Lasting Sisterhood“, New York Times, June 6, 2010). Apparently Zuma left their exhibition game without seeing their victory (8-0, defeating the Waterfall Grannie Soccer team).

Yesterday Herbalife (Yes, that Herbalife) issued a press release:

Herbalife Ltd. has teamed up with the United States Adult Soccer Association…, the Massachusetts Adult State Soccer Association (MASS), the Veterans Cup committee… and the Lexpressas women’s soccer team to help the Vakhegula-Vakhegula soccer team come to America to compete in the annual Veteran’s Cup tournament this week.
– “Soccer Grannies to Compete in Veteran’s Cup,” Marketwatch, July 13, 2010

Apparently, in return the players will play in jerseys sporting the Herbalife logo. Zuma missed a brilliant opportunity. He could have been the dream-maker. It’s a shame but it’s his loss. Grannies Grannies found a way despite his indifference.

Who’s up for a road trip to Lancaster? I hear there’s some world-class soccer going on.

Can you imagine the massive outcry if someone stopped the World Cup after the semi-finals? Or if the referee just allowed the final match to be played until halftime only? Yet right now the battle against the HIV/AIDS emergency is being stalled before half-time, risking the lives of 9 million people in need of treatment.
– Dr Gilles van Cutsem, MSF project coordinator in Khayelitsha, South Africa, from “HIV patients refuse to be sidelined by international community in unique football tournament,” published on MSF/DWB site.

Allow me to digress here for a moment. Did anyone watch yesterday’s match between Uruguay and Ghana? Because Ghana was the last African country to have a chance to advance, the game took on a significance way larger than the Cup. The press dubbed the Ghanaian team “Ba-Ghana Ba-Ghana”, a reference to the South African national team’s name “Bafana Bafana” (Zulu for “the boys”), and a tidy way of claiming Ghana for all of Africa. In an event steeped in symbolism (and tribalism), Ghana’s performance would “prove” something about Africa to the world.

At the end of 120 gutting minutes Ghana lost in penalty kicks.

I bring this up because I see a connection between the international response to HIV and AIDS in Africa and the goings-on at the Cup (and clearly, given the many alternative events and initiatives I’ve reported on in these pages, football is an effective language to address these issues).

Predictably, the Cup has shone a spotlight on Africa and has ignited some dialogue about non-football issues facing the continent. For example, the Ghana-Uruguay match was “dedicated to the global fight against racism”, and an anti-racism message was read aloud to the crowd by the team captains. Sure, that feels good, but is it meaningful?

What I am getting at is that piece of this story the rests on Africa’s ability (or not) to “prove” something about itself. The continent is beleaguered by AIDS/HIV, yet the international response is spotty, ineffective, and slow. That’s the issue that MSF/DWB’s HALFTIME! is highlighting. Racism is part of it (in the west, testing positive for HIV is no longer an automatic death sentence; why is it acceptable to see so many Africans die of AIDS?), and it’s gratifying to see this issue brought to the Cup, even if the delivery was stilted and tokenistic. But what happens when everybody goes home?

I think that’s the pressure placed on the Ghana team, cast as they were as “Africa’s hope”. There’s the sense that a win for Ghana would have meant a win for Africa, not only on the pitch but on the world stage.

MSF’s recently released report entitled “No time to quit: HIV/AIDS treatment gap widening in Africa” reveals, through analysis of eight sub-Saharan countries, how major international funding institutions such as PEPFAR, the World Bank, UNITAID, and donors to the Global Fund have decided to cap, reduce or withdraw their spending on HIV treatment and life-saving ARV drugs over the past year and a half.  “Only one in three people living with HIV in urgent need of ARVs have access to it –so we are not halfway there yet in treating everyone. The HIV/AIDS emergency is not over and halftime is no time to quit! Millions of people are at risk dying within the next few years if we don’t do more now to keep donors to their promises. They committed to it, publicly and they knew the treatment is life long,” says Dr. Van Cutsem.
– From “HIV patients refuse to be sidelined by international community in unique football tournament“

Why is this acceptable? I believe that some of the answer lies in the subtext of how the world sees Africa. Let’s not forget that there are people behind these numbers.

Playing soccer makes me feel like I am alive. Before going on treatment people were actually counting down the days until my death. Now, with treatment, people see me as a person, and not as a corpse.
– Janet Mpalume, a Zimbabwean MSF patient playing in the HALFTIME! tournament, From “HIV patients refuse to be sidelined by international community in unique football tournament“

It’s easy to get caught up in the drama of an international tournament like the World Cup, but let’s remember that while we are watching elite athletes create spectacle on the brand new pitches of South Africa, there are real people waging real wars against AIDS and HIV. And that the worth of a continent or a nation or a person has nothing to do with football.

Make a donation to Medecins san Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders here.