Nguvu Wasichana

Today was the first opportunity I had to work with an all girls team. In Kenya, I have found that most fields have many children playing football for all hours of the day but mostly they are boys. In the Shaurimoyo area of Kisumu, I made my way over to a training session that saw 6 teams practicing on one field. I took our cone and ball, and the 8 girls in their green school uniforms and we went to the center of the field. I know I can run a session in a small space and I knew I wanted all the boys to see how good these girls can play. So, after a few minutes of some warm up, we really started to have fun, mostly at my expense through some awesome "stretching" or "ugali" dancing. After 20 minutes of finding our mojo I learned the Luo words for Girls' Power. Yup, Nguvu Wasichana. And from there, the boys knew these girls could play, and for the next hour they ruled the pitch. So to all my nieces who knew Nguzu Musimbi, I share with you your new sisters from Kisumu -- Nguvu Wasichana!

Uncle Mr. Bean

CSI -- Nairobbery

One of the sad realities of working in extremely poor communities is that survival can often depend on stealing. I was reminded of this lesson on one of my nights in Nairobi. I was staying in a reasonably priced hotel in a safe area with two guards and a receptionist. For three days we travelled to and from our fields for work and returned to take a luke-warm shower. Because we didn't have a kitchen, we needed to head out for dinner. When we went out for some brown ugali and samaki (fish), we left our room keys with reception. After two hours we returned to our two rooms to find them ransacked, but with no apparent forced entry. Missing from the two rooms were a laptop, camera and the short-lived Kindle:( So sad. Although we reported the situation to the police, and to the hotel manager, and I conducted my own CSI investigation (including getting HP's security team involved), we had no luck with our search. Although life is a bit harder to write blogs, or check e-mail, or read in the dark, in comparison to the issues the children with whom we are working are dealing, I will take my challenges. I have even found my grammar to be challenged since this event as evidenced by the last sentence.

I will be traveling to Kisumu by matatu soon. When I get settled, I will catch up on my new locale.

All the best,
Cristiano Ronaldo

VAP-ulous Coaches

I spent my first week in the Eastleigh section of Eastlands in Nairobi city working with Vijana Amani Pamoja (VAP). This name translates to Youth Together for Peace and aptly fits the goals of this fine group working with the children in the slums of Nairobi. We have completed our training of over 25 coaches and I must say they are amazing. For those that don't know the slums, they are struggling with unemployment rates over 40% despite efforts to work by many. This situation leads to some awful circumstances for children who are often sold for various services, including sex. We worked with VAP who focuses on HIV/AIDS issues to teach ways for kids to find resources for support emotionally and physically. We created games of football that will educate the children on where to go for safety and the importance of communication. Truly it was a gift to me to work with these coaches to find ways through football to address difficult issues.

I will provide an update on the living situation in Nairobi in my next post!

All the best,
Cristiano