Increasing forest cover through play in Nairobi

Mindful living as a community

Dear Global Givers, I hope you ushered in the New Year in style just like I did. It is yet another month come new year that is promising we have to put our minds together and be the change that we would like to see.

First and foremost, I would start by acknowledging that we received feedback from Global giving, that apparently had come from you, saying that you are likely to recommend our project to a friend. This is so encouraging and I would like to express my sincerest gratitude. Secondly, I will take you through the last two months of 2016, that is, November and December and personally thank you on behalf of Green-Kenya team for your great support in giving towards our Community Impact Program especially during thanks giving day, matching fund and recurring donations in December. Because of your giving and sharing our story with your family and friends, Green-Kenya is now at Superstar position in terms of ranking, the highest position for non-profits on the global giving site.

During the two months, we followed our participants at the community centers since the schools were closed for 8 weeks, Children were not allowed to go for holiday tuition so many of them were in the fields and at home for that matter. We organized a Sports for social impact clinic in one of the centers in Eastleigh where the Somali community came to seek refuge due to atrocities in their country. On the first day at center, the field was packed with 110 young people aged between 8 – 14 years, eagerly waiting for us. This was way past our target, but we could not send some of them away because the  number of our Community Impact Coaches was less compared to the participants. I was also surprised to see girls coming to take part in the sessions. Normally Somali community has strict rules for girls and women participating in sports.

During the one week, we spent at the center the number of participants grew steadily to 200 in one community center, 21 of them being girls. We had to divide them into manageable groups and work with them in bits because they could not fit in the 7-aside field. The owner of the field was so impressed and even told me that he would allow us to use the field for free to carry out our Community Impact Program in the afternoon from 2:00 PM during the weekends even after schools re-open. Normally the field is used for income generation activities but he loved the Community Impact Program. He added that, and I quote, “This program will give Children an opportunity to think about their lives and the importance of participating in sport and prevent them from being recruited into illegal gangs and eventually take part in the violent extremism that has claimed the lives of many young people in Eastleigh”.

This is just but one of the many stories that we have gathered from the field. Whenever I pass near the centers, I always hear some of the participants shouting my name and asking me when are we going to play again. This is so encouraging and fulfilling bearing in mind that the success has not come from one person but from different people who have given out their little resources to make the world a better place than they found it even though the transformation might take place thousands of miles away from them. What can I say more than this quote from Nhat Hanh, “It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual, the next Buddha may take a form of a community, a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living. This may be the most important thing we can do for our survival on the earth”.