Football is a widely played and watched game all over the world, Kibera being no exception. It is indeed encouraging to see even children under the age of 10 years playing football with much enthusiasm and getting rewards as well as recognition in the wider community. We sought to find out exactly the situation on the ground.
Geoffrey Ekesa, ‘photo above’ a football coach with Marren FC when prompted to talk about what he likes most, he quickly mentions that football is and was his passion since childhood. He played football for a long time but never rose above Kibera since there was no mechanism in place to help him play in the national teams.
“Now that I was not progressing, I decided to help the young talented kids here in Kibera to nature their talents” With the skills gained in football all this time he felt that passing them to Kids will help them to;
- Avoid being idle
- Avoid bad morals
- Change their behaviour and socialise with other tribes since they train together and can share issues that they go through on a daily basis
- Be exposed to scholarship opportunities because of their talent
- Engage in different activities; community clean-ups, pro-awareness tournaments on several issues such as peace, HIV/AIDS, sexual gender based violence and education.
Even though the kids are being positively transformed, a lot more needs to be done.
- The need to expose the talent to the outside world so that they can play in other under15 clubs outside kibera,
- Accessing training facilities and materials to improve football skills.
“I want to see the players I coach play at the national level”-Geoffrey.
Abel John, one of the football coaches in Kibera shares same ideology as Geoffrey as he decries of the unstable state they are in as coaches in Kibera but he is hopeful that things will change for the better with shifting of the ground {the promulgation of the new constitution} He wants to see discipline instilled in the sport so that upcoming players can have a chance to play in any team hence their success and that they should play but get educated as well.
It was interesting to talk to this young Kenyan who can’t let a day go by without touching a ball. Clinspor Lokale, 12 years mostly known as ‘Deco’ is one such young talented player. He is a striker and he sees himself playing for Man-u in the near future so that he can help fend for their family that leaves in Kibera.
He continues to dream that some day someone will take the responsibility of putting up a football training institution right here in Kibera so that the much talked about talent can be put to use for the greater good of society. “My piece of advice to my fellow friends is that, they should not keep up but rather stay in the game and most importantly avoid bad company and success shall surely come their way in the world of football.
