Washington Post Profiles Girls Soccer Team Traveling to South Africa to Learn About HIV/AIDS

The Washington Post on Tuesday in the first of a series of articles profiled the D.C. Blast -- a Washington, D.C.-based girls' soccer team that is traveling to Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to learn about HIV/AIDS and teach local girls about the sport. The team is collaborating with Grassroots Soccer, a U.S.-based organization that works with children in Africa and teaches them life skills aimed at preventing HIV/AIDS, the Post reports. The soccer team raised $60,000 to cover the cost of the trip -- $10,000 of which will be used to maintain a street soccer program for girls in Port Elizabeth after it leaves the country. In the weeks leading to the trip, Blast coach Ian Oliver, who coordinates sports-based programs for the not-for-profit Academy for Educational Development, brought in experts to teach the team about HIV/AIDS and other issues in South Africa, as well as the country's history and culture. Oliver said the team hopes to work with 150 girls in Port Elizabeth (Sessions Stepp, Washington Post, 6/26).

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