Use soccer as a tool to educate 2500 Kibera youths

The past 3 months have been busy for the team at Kibera Mpira Mtaani. The organisation has gone from strength to strength and their education program in particular has made great steps forward with a new resource centre being built. This will allow them to provide study space for students who have joined secondary school after being part of the organisation’s after-school tuition program.

In the month of August, schools in Kenya are closed so this is usually the time when the annual “Manchester for Kibera” tournament is hosted by Kibera Mpira Mtaani. Unfortunately, the funding was not available for the tournament this year but the committee resolved to provide activities for the children who use the resource centre. Working with a local church, sponsorship was found to send a group of children to a Christian holiday camp. This gave the children an opportunity to spend a week outside of Kibera taking part in planned activities. A great time was had by all who attended and the chairman of Kibera Mpira Mtaani reported that the children came back refreshed and strong.

Thanks to teachers from two international schools in Nairobi, another group of children enjoyed a day out at the National museum. A third group was taken to the Special Olympics which were held in the Nyayo National Stadium. After each of these outings, the children were encouraged to write about their experiences.

Through Twitter, a local volunteer came forward and offered to start up art classes for some children at the centre. Working with a group of around 15 to 20 children it is hoped that he can help them develop their talents and explore their creativity. As art does not appear in the Kenyan primary school curriculum there are very few opportunities for these talents to be explored so we hope the art classes at Kibera Mpira Mtaani will be a great success. Another local group is working with a small number of children from the centre to train them in photography and film-making. Again, this is a fantastic opportunity for the children and could possibly lead to a way to earn a living when they leave school.

In terms of football, Kibera Mpira Mtaani has been working with CARE Kenya to help facilitate a tournament and is also planning to host its annual tournament for informal schools which is due to take place in October. Funds permitting, this will allow 16 schools in Kibera to put forward a boys team and a girls team to compete for awards such as books and sports equipment. The informal schools are those not funded by the government and cannot generally afford to take part in government run sporting activities. Kibera Mpira Mtaani’s tournament offers a unique opportunity for students from informal schools to show off their talents. An additional benefit is that players move among the 13 villages of Kibera to play in matches and this allows them to make new friends and break down barriers between villages.

At the start of the World Cup, Kibera Mpira Mtaani launched its first income generating activity. Through a grant, a satellite dish was installed and local residents can pay a small fee to watch games from the English Premier League, European Champions League and various other events. It is hoped that once this enterprise has built up it will allow the organisation to make a contribution towards its running costs.

In the meantime, the project relies on donations to continue with the great work it is doing in the community. Our thanks go to everyone who has contributed to this project through Global Giving and we hope you feel part of something great that is happening in Kibera and will spread the word so we can involve more people and give Kibera Mpira Mtaani as much support as possible. On behalf of the Kibera Mpira Mtaani committee....asanteni sana (thank you very much!)

Links:

• Video about 2009 Informal Schools Tournament