The past days we ran our first two tournaments of the second term of the Life Skills Training in 2010. In total about 400 kids from Esigodini Primary School attended to the World Cup tournaments in Edendale. It was not only for the children of the seventh grade , but also for me as I really enjoyed both days.

When we arrived in Edendale we welcomed the trainers and the volunteers and gave them some introductions to the event. After that we built the goals, sized the eight pitches and divided the kids into the 32 teams which are taking part in the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

After the preparations the vuvuzela sounded which was the sign for the kick-off. To see the kids playing football was really impressive for me, because I saw so many smiling faces and after a goal sometimes the kids started to dance.

After the finals there was a big celebration. Round the pitch the kids stood in a big circle which replaced the usual line of a football field. While the two teams fought to win the tournament the kids were cheering, dancing and singing different songs in Zulu.

To see the kids having fun, showed what a great reward the tournaments are and a sign for me that the trainers are doing a great job in the field. Next week we´ll run six tournaments in a row in Rustenburg and I´m really looking forward to it.

Africaid has just began field research for a study that has been in the making for over a year. After so much buildup and anticipation it is great to finally get things rolling! As the WhizzKids United Health Academy in Edendale will open its doors on June 1st, we are carrying out a baseline survey of a random sample of primary and secondary students in Edendale schools. In this way we hope to produce scientific evidence for the impact of the Health Academy, as well as identifying the needs of its target population so that we can better serve them.

The field researchers are Ms. Lungile Maziya, a research nurse from Edendale Hospital, and Ms. Zanele Khanyile, our own M&E Facilitator. Both of them are a lot of fun to work with, and are great at communicating with the kids.

One of the coolest things about this research is the way we collect data: kids enter the survey on mobile phones! Each question pops up on their screen and they choose their answer. Once they are finished, they hit "Submit" and the survey is instantly uploaded to our supplier′s server over the cellular network (and deleted from the phone)! This method has several advantages:
- No data entry!
- Environmentally friendly (no printing, no stapling, no paper waste)
- Data is more secure
- Respondents find the survey more engaging
- Best of all, respondents have greater privacy during the survey, as a phone screen is much easier to shield from prying eyes than a sheet of paper. If you imagine 40 kids in a cramped classroom answering the question, "How many sexual partners have you had in the past 6 months?" you will understand how important this added privacy is.

I am very grateful to Medical Research Council for their generous support by purchasing 50 Nokia handsets and allowing us to use them for research. The "Mobile Researcher" software and technical support has been provided by Clyral Creative Studios (). We are also thankful to the ten schools in the sample who all readily agreed to participate in the study at such a busy time of year!

Only 31 days until World Cup 2010 in South Africa kicks off and it is not only the host of Africa´s biggest sports event ever that is very busy at the moment. The staff of WhizzKids United have a lot of tasks to finish, too, in the following weeks.

During the upcoming weeks we have to prepare for 16 of our World Cup tournaments for graduates from our programme. In this term more than 4,000 kids attended the Life Skills programme. Last year we organized 25 tournaments in South Africa and we are looking forward to surpassing this number this year.

Furthermore our staff are organising further projects like the Castrol Summer Camps in cooperation with Castrol and Grassrootsoccer. A big highlight of this programme for the kids will be watching some of the World Cup games which surely will be an unforgettable experience for our young football players. In addition we will be running feeding schemes at our youth centre in Lamontville and our Health Academy in Edendale.

Another project we take part is the FIFA Football for Hope Festival, a big event where 32 teams from all over the world will meet at Alexandra (Johannesburg) at the end of the World Cup 2010 to celebrate the social power through the medium of football. Four kids from the township Lamontville and our trainer Sithule will attend to the Festival 2010. We would like to thank our partner streetfootballworld from Germany, for all their work on this project.

And of course we are looking forward to the opening of the Health Academy in Edendale (KwaZulu-Natal) on the 1st of June. We keep you informed!

On Saturday we played a 5-a-side football tournament which was organized by the First National Bank in Durban North. We had ten players in our WhizzKids team which consisted of staff from the office, two Life Skills trainers and two kids from the township Lamontville who will also attend to the Football for Hope Festival 2010.

After the host had explained us the playing schedule and rules of the tournament, our CEO Marcus told everyone of the 12 teams about the WhizzKids programme and what we hope to achieve through the programme. A few minutes later the tournament could start!

During our group games we had a lot of fun and won the first three games. First of all our kids Onke and Songezo from Lamontville left a mark because they shot very important goals which we needed to reach the semi final.

In the semi final the WhizzKids team again was very successfull and didn′t concede a goal, which was the reason why the 15 year old Songezo from Lamontville started to dance after the final whistle. All of us were really happy and of course we were looking forward to our last game of the day - the final.

The final was a really rough game and our opponents did everything conceivable to defeat us. Because of our enthusiasm, a lot of spectators supported WhizzKids United and although we lost we became the secret winner of the tournament. Congratulations to our opponent!

The second place was a big success for all of us and at this point the whole WhizzKids team wants to thank the organizers of FNB for a well prepared tournament and a lovely day in Durban North.