Interview with Coach Kelvin

“At school they teach through lectures, you see? And Live Safe, Play Safe teaches through games.  The games leave a lasting impression on the minds of the children, they get involved, they have fun, you see? And they can play the game at home with friends even not necessarily at the grounds. So just from there they keep discussing about HIV/AIDS because they do it in the games, you know? So that’s how beautiful it is children get involved, it leaves a lasting impact on them.”

“Really what I can say is that I look at my own background.  I grew up without role models, yes, and it was a very difficult life, you know?  We were not…like having time to play.  We were all working, you know, working to sustain the family’s income.  So we didn’t have this kind of opportunity to play.  And also we were not learning, we were not learning anything about maybe HIV/AIDS issues or anything.  There wasn’t that kind of forum or avenue for us to meet and talk, and also to play. I saw that the children also here were lacking sport and play activities.”

“I look at my background and the need for my community. It’s a rural area, the rural areas are neglected. You can see the roads are bad.  You can see we only have one clinic in the entire place here, so the children do not have access to information on health.  And also all these people here are affected by HIV/AIDS. If you ask, most of these children here are orphaned.  And we are seeing our parents dying, relatives dying.  I’ve lost four uncles to HIV/AIDS, seen them suffer and sometimes you are there seeing your aunt dying.  And I’ve decided that I must do something.”

Elina >>