By: Matthew Armstrong
Seven high school women from South Brunswick are going to Africa to learn, teach and understand.
They will teach the game of basketball at a camp to African teen-age women. They will learn about Kenya and South Africa and interact with African girls. They will better understand these cultures and, just maybe, gain a better understanding of themselves.
“It’s a wonderful project as a cultural exchange between teen-age girls,” said Glenda Jones, managing director of Africa One, a multinational communications corporation in the process of installing a fiberoptic communication system in the continent.
Ms. Jones helped organize the Kenya leg of the trip.
“I’m really looking forward to living with the African girls and spending time with them,” said Bayyinah Gillespie, a senior at SBHS.
The SBHS players will put on a basketball clinic for a group of African high school girls, teaching technique and strategy. But this is only part of the program. A professional development program will teach the American and African girls leadership skills, conflict resolution, communication skills and team building.
Professionals from corporations and representatives from the U.S Embassy will speak with the young women about professionalism, confidence building and personal awareness as well as available professions in everything from sports to communications to foreign service.
“When you’re young sometimes you don’t even know the opportunities are out there,” said Diana Tyson, who is organizing and raising money for the trip. Her daughter, Ursala Kirk, a senior at SBHS, is one of the participants.
But defining this trip as a basketball clinic and a professional development program fails to capture its scope.
Basketball in Africa is still overshadowed by other sports like soccer and track, and even more so for women. The young women from New Jersey could learn about professional development without traveling thousands of miles.
The real point of the trip is a cultural exchange, one that is of more significant because all the women traveling are African-American.
“The objective is to facilitate interaction and communication between African-American and African girls,” said Ms. Tyson. “It’s a real eye-opener for African-Americans. And for the African girls, they only know about African-Americans from what they see on TV.”
First they will go to South Africa where they will live, play and learn with 21 South African girls for more than a week. The American girls will fly into Cape Town where they will visit the prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated and see sites that were integral to the slave trade, including Robben Island where slaves were held until they could be put on boats.
“It gives them a sense of history and a taste for the country,” said Ms. Tyson. “The struggle against the slave trade was really hard fought in Cape Town.”
The girls will then travel to Johannesburg for a week of camp with their African peers, and then to Kenya where they will stay at the Leakey School for Girls in Nairobi with 15 African girls.
“There’s much to be gained through this trip, especially for African-Americans to see the richness of the heritage,” said Ms. Jones. “It gives them a sense of connectedness and helps ground our young people. There’s a void in African-American ancestry. We can only trace our ancestry back a few generations It adds a positive image and gives you a sense of self-worth. I say this from my own personal experience.”
The seedlings of this program took root when Ms. Tyson’s daughter went to Ivory Coast for an exchange program as a sophomore. The exchange program did not live up to expectations, so Ms. Tyson organized a trip the next summer, centered around the idea of a basketball camp. Ursala and two other girls went to Ivory Coast to teach basketball.
This year, Ms. Tyson, with the help of the U.S Embassy in both South Africa and Kenya, and her friend Ms. Jones, added the professional development program to the camp.
The seven high school girls going on the trip went to school together in South Brunswick. Some have moved out of the area but are still in contact with each other. They are: Bayyinah Gillespie a SBHS senior, Jennifer Salomon a junior at St. Elizabeth’s in Rahway, Jessica Allen a junior at Woodrow Wilson High in Camden, Tykeria Muhammad a junior at Franklin High in Somerset, Wakdyrea Baker a senior at North Brunswick Township High School, and Ursala Kirk, an SBHS senior.
They will be traveling to South Africa and Kenya from Wednesday to July 18. Latana Lillard, a Rutgers graduate who played for Rutgers women’s basketball team, will be their basketball coach. Talia Hicks, who now lives in Maryland, will be the photographer for the trip.
Ms. Tyson is still raising money for the trip. The camp needs to provide room and board and travel expenses not only for the American girls but also the African girls, and supply them with sneakers, shorts, shirts and other basketball gear. The estimated cost of the trip is $30,000.
With two weeks remaining until their flight departs, Ms. Tyson has raised $7,500. To contribute to the program contact Diana Tyson at (732) 457-7118 or you call the travel agency putting the package together at (212) 246-2116.
