the shosholoza aids project

The Shosholoza AIDS Project (1998) works with young men between the ages of 15 and 22 years in SAFA affiliated soccer teams. It was felt that soccer would be an excellent way to engage young men because it is such a popular sport in South Africa. Soccer players are also popular and respected by their peers.

The project works with an entire team, provides relevant training, ongoing mentoring and support and support for the teams outreach work. A number of different topics are covered in the project year including gender issues, cultural beliefs, myths, puberty, HIV prevention, strategies to reduce the impact of AIDS in the community, etc.

This project has been very successful in working with young men and helping them to change perceptions around abstinence, starting to have sex at a later age, condom use, reducing the number of multiple sexual partners at the same time, gender rights within sexual relationships, the right of women to say no to sex (it is widely felt that women do not have the right to decline sex, especially in sexual relationships) and other similar issues. The young men have included topics such as drug and alcohol use in their outreach work.

Some key learnings from the Shosholoza AIDS Project included:

• Despite its success, information collected showed that many of the young men were sexually active when they started the project, and so potentially HIV positive. There are a number of myths around puberty that encourage young men to start having sex when they enter puberty, such as that when wet dreams start you need to start having sex or the sperm build-up will make you go mad. It was felt that TAI needed to expand the project to include a younger age group.
• It is very important to involve the adults around the young men. This especially includes members of the SAFA structures and the parents/guardians of the young men. The SAFA officials help the young men access resources. The parents/guardians need to understand what the young men are going through to provide them with support. A story to illustrate this: a father once shouted at a project manager because she had "broken his son". The father said that his son used to be a "real man" before the project because he had many girlfriends going in and out of his room. Now, he only has one!
• The young men want to become more involved in activities that provide care and support for vulnerable children. A number of groups have told TAI they would like to include this in their work. One team have, in partnership with community members, started a crèche to provide education facilities for children in their area.