CAUSES
Futbol Mas Kenya: the dream becomes a reality in Africa
The ball just enter the arch. The little that has scored the goal not enough to lift the arms when from out of the court, a hundred girls and boys enter as if it were a gale of joy. It is a crowd of people that runs after the boy to celebrate. Not only enter the supporters of the team, celeste, also the players and the bar visitor addition of course to a feast. You say Futbol Mas, that the celebrations more memorable are those which occur in Kenya.
The story of "Futbol Mas Kenya" began in 2016, even though you may have started a little earlier, when Seppe Verbist, a belgian working for the branch of UNICEF in Lima, received in his office a trio of chileans who wanted to get the support of the United Nations Fund for Children for a program that called for the football as a tool of social transformation, the same that was already installed in Chile and Ecuador. Although it was not possible for the management of resources, something was circling inside the head of Seppe, something that months later led him to be one of the two elected for installing the cause of Futbol Mas in african soil.
Seppe and the other selected for the task, Sebastian Garcia —accompanied by Victor Gutierrez, co-founder of Futbol Mas— landed in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, without having too much clarity about what they were going to find. They came from an intense two-week training in Santiago of Chile, but never imagined that the reality that awaited them in the informal settlements of Mathare and Kibera —two of the largest in the world and where they live is home to more than half a million people— would not have to look like anything they had known.
There were three months of diagnosis and adaptation. In addition, Seppe had to translate the entire methodology of the Futbol Mas from Spanish into English; a manual of eighty pages, which, in addition, had to consider an additional adjustment to the culture of the neighborhoods of Nairobi.
The project was, with the support of the NGO chilean EducaAfrica, in the two settlements mentioned: Mathare and Kibera. The call exceeded any expectation: there was a series that had fifty participants! But in the face of the enthusiasm overflowing, the reality gave her face more raw. The levels of poverty and marginality were extreme, but the social capital and the wills were abundant.
The program that is worked in both settlements was a hybrid between "Neighborhoods"and "Schools" . Since the start is raised a partnership with schools, the majority of them were informal and could have a thousand students. It was the kind in the neighborhood, but it was part of the school day for children and, in addition, the contents were aligned with the curriculum of the schools. Everything was very community and from the logic of the support that had both Seppe as Sebastian on the part of local leaders was significant. Perhaps more than ever, the viability of the program passed by the commitment of the community.
In Kibera, the figure of the Gaucho was fundamental. He was the monitor, the man in the field, who worked with the boys and the girls, and he was also the one who took care of the pitch where we performed the sessions. In the case of Mathare, this role did Austin Ajowi, also known as Baba Yao, that is to say: the father of all. Austin was a goalkeeper who played in the Second Division of the football kenyan. It still maintains the robust appearance of the archers: good height and large hands. He was on the verge of getting to the selection of his country, but a knee injury prevented him to continue under the three sticks. The club did not have the resources to pay for the operation. He hung up the gloves.
From then on, he turned full-time to the training and care of children in your community. Asked the club argued that gave him the balls which were deteriorating. Wanted to take them to the children so that they could play. On the other hand, sought the help of a few friends to move and clean the ruma trash-two meters high that are not allowed to see the other side of the street. With a couple of shovels and without any machine that would help, took on the task. It was a difficult mission, but not impossible. After a year, the landfill was transformed into a small field of earth. New in the neighborhood. Finally, there was a space for play!
The workshop of football for children under 12 years of age Austin longed for was a reality. He competed at the local level. Even, reached around and held up two times the cup with the category of girls in league women's. But not only wanted to have fun, but that could educate yourself. The meeting with the program of Futbol Mas was almost a blessing to each other. Right at the time that Sebastian, Seppe and Victor came up with the pitch that Austin had enabled in Mathare, they saw the potential that the place had to develop the program and, in Austin, the right person for the execution of the sessions sociodeportivas. Only had to train.
Prior to that, the trident of Football toured with Austin around the neighborhood. You were giving an account of the ancestry that had Baba Yao in the community. His leadership was left to see in how to allocate roles and marking guidelines. Respected for his actions and his commitment to the children of the sector. Without knowing it, Austin was what the professionals the Foundation identified as a community leader, key to the development and sustainability of the program. It ended up being the first guardian of the Foundation in Africa and today an expert in the methodology of Sport for Development. A reference in all the senses.
The great value of the project in Kenya is that the heart of the entire program is in the neighborhood. Seppe and Sebastian went every day to the ground. In fact, the office of Seppe, the former executive director of "Futbol Mas Kenya" was seventy meters Austin Grounds, which in English would be The Court of Austin, named in honour him for his dedication and work to enable it. Both Gaucho as Austin represent the strength of a community that has lived in the face of adversity and doesn't stop to dance, sing, and laugh.
In the nine years leading the program, the offer of the Foundation has become increasingly diversified. Still working in Kibera and Mathare, where Futbol Mas came to intervene in six schools, three in each settlement, with a coverage of one thousand 200 children per week. But such a procedure is in addition to the work on the northern border of Kenya, which borders with Sudan and Somalia, to where they get displaced persons from the wars. Futbol Mas concentrated his work in Kakuma, one of the largest centres for the refugees of the world. You are more than 160 thousand people live in this camp and of them 14 thousand are children who have lost their parents. In both Kakuma as in Dadaab, the work done by the Foundation has been linked to a lot of the recognition of the rights of girls, especially in regard to the practice of sport and, in particular, football. This is because in countries such as Somalia, the dominant culture is very conservative and has restrictions serious for women to run certain activities, such as, for example, to play football. But the idea, at least for the Futbol Mas, one of the organizations that deliver the funds and the girls themselves, is that these prohibitions do not exist. In fact, when they did the sessions sociodeportivas, the girls were located at the edge of the pitch as if to say, "what about us when?".
Had to mediate a hard work of management and dialogue, for the elderly to access that girls could play soccer. However, the consensus is achieved if and when they did it in a closed space. To them, what they cared about was playing and accepted the terms. Unfortunately it was not possible for them to participate in the leagues, but at least it was possible to attend to witness the matches.
It was not something minor. The links in Kenya, in Nairobi as well as in the northern border, are a real feast. In any way, does not exist, in the other countries, a League as that of Kenya. We live in a very special way, even from the names that are given to each of the categories in the language of swahili: the smaller the Sungura (rabbits), then follow the Swara (antelopes), and a step above the houses Chui (leopards), while the largest are the Nyati (buffalo). For the teachers of Futbol Mas also there is a name, they are the Ndovus (elephants), because elephants are the animals who lead, those who guide the group.
This has helped to build a whole culture around Futbol Mas. Not only because those who are in the second level of school once they reach the end of their year is excited about the idea that the next year will be able to enter the program, but also because it gives a respect between the different categories, especially on the part of the sungura towards the ñatis.
Now, the dynamics around the league are beautiful. Already the fact that you have a football shirt and a pair of shorts, or running behind a ball of truth, are longings which are finalized after being long delayed. When you reach the League and the beneficiaries of the program will rise to the top of a bus that takes you to another neighborhood and that it is also a new experience. There are boys and girls that have never before been climbed to the top of a motor vehicle, or who have never left their neighborhoods. From there, cross the city in a carriage is a real milestone.
Today, in the communities of Kibera and Mathare, Austin and Gaucho continue to have a leading role. All and all continue to experience the same joy as they participate in a session of Futbol Mas. The program is now in the hands of the community, which continues turning to the court, such as the time in Mathare, when in the first matches, on a pitch of earth and stones, over two hundred people entered the field in each goal, thus demonstrating that in Kenya, football can transform reality.