Email
PrintKick it to me
Targeted AIDS Intervention (TAI) organises friendly soccer matches in rural communities to help young men develop confidence and to build HIV and AIDS awareness. Photo: Matthew Willman/OxfamAUS
With most South Africans mad about soccer, a sure way to gain popularity and peer respect is to excel in the sport. So if you’re wanting to spread messages about HIV and AIDS prevention to young men, who better to help than local soccer heros?
That’s what Vee Motolo, youth coordinator with the Targeted AIDS Intervention (TAI) program, thought in ‘98 when the program started. With one in five South African young adults living with HIV, getting the prevention message to young people is critical. Vee says that knowledge about HIV and AIDS and protection against the virus is limited. “As young men, we simply don’t understand it – we only know it’s a killer disease.”
In a culture where it’s not traditionally acceptable to discuss sex openly, particularly between young people and adults, educating youth about HIV and AIDS can be challenging. That’s why soccer provides the perfect opportunity to get the message out. “We wanted to use soccer because that’s where we can speak with young men, where we can convey our message,” Vee says. “And it’s always ‘cool’ to talk about sport with young people.”
The program provides young men – usually aged between 15–18 – with HIV and AIDS information and peer-education training to help change their attitudes and sexual behaviour.
The message is resonating with young soccer players says Vee, who can see the devastation HIV and AIDS is causing in their communities. “These young men see their future in soccer. But they now see that HIV and AIDS can stop them reaching their goals.”
Through soccer games and district competitions, young people are able to educate friends, family and other young players, helping to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS and lessen its impact on their communities.
Jerome Dlamini, soccer player and peer educator, explains how talking about the issues can be effective. “A lot of the boys I talked to at first thought it [HIV and AIDS] is a joke, they didn’t know what’s going on. But they’re beginning to understand that HIV is here in South Africa, that they need to learn to prevent the disease.”
Participant Andile Sithole says the program is also helping to reduce discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. “Kids know that we must not discriminate against people who are HIV positive. They must give them love, care for them and do whatever it takes to make them happy, because maybe some day it will be their mother or father who is having the same problem."
Andile has big hopes for the program, and for South Africa's future. "I think our lives will change and go back to normal," he says. "Maybe in the future we can live a better life as an AIDS-free generation."