We have set our goal, and we are almost halfway there already. We are NOT stopping until we get all the way!”
- Nina Hjortlund, Founder and Managing Director, Australia for Cedar Tanzania

The 1st of July Australia for Cedar Tanzania launched ‘Football in ACTion’. Our goal is to be able to take 400 teenagers through a full year of sexual health education taught using football drills.

We are using Tackle Africa’s amazing format that we did a pilot on last year over a 3 month period.

This year we are building and expanding on those experiences training 20 local coaches in the specific methodology and specialised drills utilised in the Tackle Africa programme.

We don’t just teach in between breaks in a football game. We use the specialised football drills as visual aids to exemplify consequences of good versus poor decision making, whilst creating a safe and welcoming environment to discuss and ask about sensitive subjects.

Sex, menstruation and Sexual Transmitted Infections (STIs) are not often spoken about in families in Tanzania. HIV/AIDS is now the biggest killer of Tanzanian adolescents between 15-24 years old. Young girls get coerced into sex in return for gifts or favours and this has resulted in high teen pregnancies. In Tanzania, a pregnant teenage girl can no longer continue her education.

STIs are not a subject that is widely spoken about and as a consequence most teenagers don’t know the symptoms or how to effectively prevent themselves from getting them.

Many teenagers have no knowledge about menstruation and what it means, and some girls get shocked the first time it happens to them. Oftentimes young girls miss out on school while having their period due to lack of hygienic washrooms and lack of affordable pads.

Football in ACTion changes the level of knowledge and encourages all participants to know their HIV status. Only once your status is known is it possible to seek counselling and treatment, and learn how to prevent passing it on to others.

Changing the lives of these young boys and girls begins with you! Our goal doesn’t come without a price tag. It costs only $30 to take one teenager through this programme for a full year. Our goal is to raise enough money to take 400 children through this programme which amounts to $12,000

With you, and other fantastic supporters, we are nearly halfway there. If you, your neighbour, your work colleagues, your nephew or aunty, your school class or local soccer club would like to help us reach our goal you can do so by supporting us here:

https://chuffed.org/project/football-in-action

Every time you sponsor three children you can choose to get a ticket in the draw of our two amazing prizes: