October has been a great month for SWB-Ndejje. We have been working with multiple schools in the area to try to increase the number of kids coming for the Saturday soccer trainings, which has worked out really well. We have already seen a wider variety of kids at training, rather than only Hope Primary School kids. This is a step in the right direction towards getting the youth center recognized as an independent program rather than part of Hope Primary.
We also had a screening of a film that is part of a series called "Have you Heard from Johannesburg?" which was about how sport was used to help end apartheid in South Africa. Although the audience was mostly children and some of the content was probably over their heads, it provided a great opportunity to open up a conversation about racism and equality, two subjects that were pretty foreign to the kids.
In addition to those things, we have started to have 'open hours' at the youth center after school for the children. This is a time where the kids are allowed to draw, read, play games, and even get help on homework. One issue we have encountered with open hours is that parents have been calling their kids' school headmasters wondering why their kids have not been returning home right away after school. To remedy this, we have made letters to be given to the parts to explain what SWB is all about and what their kids are up to. Regardless of the minor setbacks though, this is great progress! The youth center is starting to actually feel like a youth center rather than just a storage space and locker room for football trainings! Hopefully November will be another eventful month here in Ndejje!
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