As part of Dollars for Change’s HIV/AIDS awareness week in Kurland, six Grassroot Soccer coaches traveled from Port Elizabeth to run a five-day intensive HIV/AIDS awareness curriculum for about 70 students at Crags Primary.
Grassroot Soccer’s curriculum, known as ‘Skillz’, focuses on building basic life skills that help boys and girls adopt healthy behaviors. Through a series of interactive activities and discussions, students gain a real understanding of HIV and AIDS and get a chance to practice the skills necessary for sustainable behavior change. Key curricular topics include making healthy decisions, avoiding risks, building support networks, reducing stigma and discrimination, increasing knowledge about testing and treatment, addressing gender issues, and assessing values.
A graduation ceremony was held on Saturday, 14 August, where all students who completed the program received a certificate of achievement, and some special prizes were given out to students who excelled in their participation.
