It’s Saturday morning. The server is down so I cannot upload the blog. It’s 07:00. It must be down to the terrific thunder storm last night. This is the beginning of the rainy season in Kenya.
Fred and Mike, the SCI-K director and the soccer academy assistant coach, spent until after midnight sorting kit for the Mumias trip. We had transferred it from our hotel on the return from Kibera.
We made our way to Peter Kibukusya Primary School where the SCI Umoja Soccer Academy. Hmm? SCI USA; not sure about that title. Football is always called soccer in Kenya. The 2 hour journey of about 8 miles passed a truck that had gone over an embankment. This added to the chaos on the roads. Such grid lock must have a massive effect on productivity in the city.
Steve Mucheru, the head coach, had planned well. He has an eye for every detail. By the time we arrived all four pitches were in use, with U.10, U.12 and U.14 competitions going on. Each group had 8-10 teams of 6. Many of the teams were wearing kits donated by SCI; some from a number of years back. This tournament was a celebration of the first use of the school facilities. The only ground was full of stones and all manner of debris, not really a pitch at all. It was so hard to find a school to work with.
Former SCIFC team members helped with refereeing and organization. A corner of the U.12 pitch was more like a duck pond after the rain. The boys loved the excuse to slide and splash around in it during their matches. All the games were well contested. We even had teams of Sudanese boys playing. They are refugees from war torn Dafur; very fit, tall and lean.
The whole day was a triumph, a worthy celebration of the ten years SCI has worked in Kenya, since meeting Steve Mucheru in July 1998.
The flight to Kisumu is only 30 minutes, but it saves a nine hour drive. From there we were driven on good roads to Mumias. This is the home of SAIPEH, Support Activities for the Intervention, Prevention and Education in Health, a hefty title, but an excellent CBO, recently turned NGO. CBO is community based organization, NGO is non government organization. The former has access to limited funding and is local. SAIPEH intend to increase their funding in their fight against AIDS and STIs.
We had a meal at the home of Justine and Linette. He is the SAIPEH director. We have worked with them for several years. Bonus: He has satellite TV and Man. Utd. were on, beating Aston Villa 4-0 as we left for our somewhat rustic accommodation. But we had a bed, a hot shower and a gecko on the wall to greet us. The end of a great day.
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