WhizzKids United

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WhizzKids United is a program that provides HIV and AIDS education for children and young people worldwide through the medium of football . WhizzKids United is operated by Africaid , an organization registered in the United Kingdom (Reg. No. 1045461) and South Africa (Reg. No. 051-379-NPO) based in Edendale, South Africa .

background

WhizzKids United was developed by Marcus McGilvray, a Welsh HIV nursing professional . KwaZulu-Natal was chosen as the region for the execution of the program , as the province still has the highest rate of HIV-infected people in South Africa with an estimated 25 percent in the 15 to 49 age group.

In 2006, the first activities took place in the Edendale township near Pietermaritzburg , which was then expanded to include the Umlazi and Jozini townships within KwaZulu-Natal . A little later, the program was also expanded to Rustenburg in the Northwest Province and some areas in the Western Cape . The Africaid organization also operates other programs in Ghana , Uganda , Australia and the United Kingdom, with some youth teams from various English Premier League clubs acting as partners of WhizzKids United at the latter location .

Program overview

WhizzKids United is a program that focuses primarily on HIV prevention for sixth and seventh grade students and is divided into three main modules, namely On the Ball , Peer Education and the Health Academy .

On the Ball is an eight-hour teaching unit in which the students use the medium of soccer to do various exercises that they should transfer to everyday life and thus train their sense of responsibility and become aware of the risks and dangers of the immunodeficiency disease. Football itself can be seen as a metaphor for normal life.

After these teaching units have been completed, further workshops follow, which deal exclusively with sexual health. Some selected children are trained as HIV and AIDS experts themselves and should therefore be the special contact for their classmates in order to clear various ambiguities out of the way.

The third component of WhizzKids United is the so-called Health Academy , of which the first of its kind was opened on June 1, 2010 in Edendale. The Health Academy is a clinic that focuses on sexual health and only cares for young people. They have the opportunity to take free HIV tests and receive support in other social problem areas.

Cooperation with Football for Hope

Africaid's WhizzKids United has been a member of the Germany- based organization streetfootballworld since 2007 . Since 2002 these have been networking relevant actors in the field of development through sport with the aim of promoting global partnerships.

Finally, a strategic alliance between FIFA and streetfootballworld is the Football for Hope movement, in which WhizzKids United took part in the Football for Hope Festival 2010 in Alexandra in July 2010 , an official event as part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In August In 2010 FIFA named the Edendale-based Health Academy as one of the 20 Centers for 2010 .

Individual evidence

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