Westford Man Helps Fight AIDS With Soccer

While the global AIDS panemic has claimed millions of lives, one recent college graduate from the area is trying to step the tide with the power of soccer. 

22 year old Westford resident James Morrissey is looking to raise money for Transcape, a South African charity that helps battle HIV and AIDs as well helping rural South Africans in microfinance, building infrastructure and other areas.

Morrissey, a 2007 Westford Academy alum and recent James Madison University grad, recently volunteered in Mdumbi, a small village on the eastern coast of South Africa eight hours from the nearest large city and two and a half hours from the nearest hospital.

There, he worked on a program where local residents received entrance into a soccer league funded by the group in exchange for HIV and AIDS testing and treatement.

The experience gave Morrissey an understanding of things taken for granted here in the United States.

“We are extremely privileged, not only do we have paved roads, but we take water for granted. Here we have three bathrooms in each house, there 75 people had to share one single water pump,” said Morrissey. “Let alone having things like cars or supermarkets, these people had no electricity and subsisted on a diet of rice and e’Pap.”

Morrissey also noted the economic conditions in Mdumbi, claiming the local unemployment rate was approximately 95 percent, due in large part to the area’s remoteness.

He hopes to return to South Africa in a year and a half, but for now he’s at the Westford Farmer’s Market, raising money for the cause and helping spread awareness of what life is like elsewhere in the world.

“I’m just looking to educate people back here in Westford,” he said. “It’s amazing how much you can learn about other countries outside of the classroom.”

More information on the non-profit Morrissey worked for can be found at www.transcape.org while Morrissey’s blog on the experience is online at jamessouthafricanexperience.wordpress.com