I sat on the plane and kept looking at my watch to a point that I stopped. The overall journey from Cape Town to Socialist Republic of Vietnam travelling through the self-acclaimed capital of Asia, Malaysia took me more than 20 hours. The humid and hot atmosphere greeted me, as the green rice vegetation reminded me of the Missing in Action Chuck Norris movies.

My visit entailed travelling from the North (Hanoi) to the central (Hue) and finally Ho Chi Minh City in the South of Vietnam. Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia with a population of over 89 million people making it the 13th most populous country in the world. It is in this historical country that Football for All in Vietnam (FFAV) was founded in 2001 funded by the Norwegian Football Association (NFF) with support from NORAD. This was in Hanoi before moving to Hue city in 2003 where their offices are based to date.

The focus of FFAV has been to provide opportunities for play and learning among marginalised children and youth between 6-15 years old in the grassroots level in Vietnam with a vision of playing a role in enhancing communities as a healthy, safe and fun place to live through “Football for All”. To date, the organisation has more than 100 football clubs, 10, 000 players of which 5, 000 are female. The organisation has employed 18 full time staff members, 8 part-time staff members and has an amazing 50 volunteers. FFAV provides opportunities for children and youth to participate in football for the joy and the love of the game and not competition. In fact one of its policy states that, participation in football activities shall be inclusive with 50/50 participation of boys and girls at any given time and substitution during a match is open with an emphasis of every player participating. During training sessions, all coaches are obliged to provide one football for every two players which create an opportunity for the participants to have more contact with the ball, develop their skills as they are having fun in a non-competitive environment.

All sports activities have an integration of life skills education through the use of the Kicking AIDS Out! Concept. I got an opportunity to visit two school clubs and was amazed to see the kids playing and enjoying the day despite the heavy rains and storm led by trained Leader Level 1’s. It seemed as if they were not perturbed by the muddy, slippery grounds.

I became a celebrity as my appearance in the schools caused a stir among the pupils. My mission was to see first-hand how the club activities were organised, the structure/ management of the clubs and witness first-hand the integration of life skills education and the impact that the project was having on its beneficiaries which after the club visits was evident. I was glad to see the relationship that FFAV has with the schools board/ management and the department of education. In fact, there is no one particular occasion that I visited a club or school and missed a representative from the Department of Education; true meaning of partnership. All clubs are coordinated by gym teachers whom in African context will be physical education teachers since the clubs were based in schools.

My club visit was followed by a Curriculum Guidelines Orientation workshop for 27 Kicking AIDS Out! trained Leader Level 1’s from the 22nd to the 25th Sept, 2011. The workshop was officially opened by Mr. Anders Krystad, the Director of FFAV on the 22nd Sept, 2011 morning amidst a stormy weather. Protocol was observed as the right procedures and arrangement of tables and chairs as well as seating arrangement was not compromised, so was the dressing code – formal. Mr Duong Ba Lan and Mrs Phan Thu Huong who were the lead facilitators complimented each other during the training as they expertly took the participants through the modules and practical activities. They were flexible and open minded as they made the modules fit in their context. Despite the first day of the training participants being passive, the following day’s methodologies and approaches were tailored to meet their needs and a lot of practical and participatory activities were used. At the end of the workshop, an evaluation was done and out of 27 participants who undertook the evaluation, only 3 were not satisfied. The overall feedback was that they needed more resources for the implementation and integration of Kicking AIDS Out! in their clubs. The workshop came to a closure on the 25th of the same month, with the Director of the Department of Education and FFAV country Manager gracing the occasion.

I was privileged later on to see some of the trained Leader Level 1 conducting Peer Leader training immediately after the orientation workshop using the newly developed guidelines. They did very well that made me see the impact that the previous training had on them. According to evaluations that I had with the two lead facilitators Mr Lan and Mrs Huong, “the course was a success and the participants were very happy” is how they described it. It is worth mentioning that, FFAV has gone beyond organising workshops to translating all training materials to Vietnamese which makes it the first organisation and country to translate Kicking AIDS Out! Materials in the local language. I believe this is a lesson to other network members of the contribution that an organisation can have in the network. The translation was done entirely by FFAV staff and volunteers.

The culmination of my trip gave me a good impression of FFAV and a better understanding of the context at which they work in. Learning to use chopsticks and seating in chairs half-way my knees are memorable experiences that I shall never forget. The expertise at which the volunteers of FFAV endeavoured to make sure that every detail and word was translated for my understanding as well as for the participants is commendable. The green tea, cold coffee hot fizzy drinks, made me see what polar opposite means. I could not understand how coffee can be served cold with ice, until I tested one. In conclusion, the assessment of the two leaders went well and I was glad that it took place at this point in time as the network is looking at expanding and utilising regional leaders more in our work. I would therefore no hesitate to commend them and recommend that they be utilised within their region fully. In addition, they should be the overseers of all Kicking AIDS Out! Trainings and where possible provide support and mentorship to the upcoming leaders. I am so grateful and appreciate the support and hospitality given by FFAV staff during my visit. I wish them all the best in their endeavours.