Drama, Dance, Music, & Sport for Kisumu Youth

2017 has been a busy year for everyone working at the Manyatta Youth Resource Center (MYRC) in Kisumu, Kenya.  In April our guest interns from Norway departed after spending close to three months working in partnership with the MYRC management and programs. They conducted research for their study abroad program and also offered hands-on guidance for community-based project management.  The contribution of their time and energy towards our projects is greatly appreciated and the impact of their work will continue to be felt.  We love and welcome opportunities for cultural exchange and invite guests and interns to contact us about arranging short-term and long-term stays. 

We are so proud of our good friend and artist Nahna who has been traveling across Kenya performing from the clubs in Kisumu to the beaches of Mombasa.  She continues to make new music and has had the opportunity to perform with live bands.  The thing we are most proud about all of this is that Nahna has been doing it on her own. She has worked hard and put herself in niche of recording and performing across the country.  She took advantage of all the support she has received and made her career her own.  She also helped pave the way for the talented musician Asen-B, who used to do backup with Nahna at her live shows. Asen-B all along has also been working with the MYRC’s recording studio, Starbell Records, and he is now taking off as an artist of his own. 

Asen-B has just released a new song and video titled, "Nikimwona".  The video was made by our close friend Crizo Mzeyah who has made almost all of Starbell Record’s music videos.  Asen-B’s love song features traditional beats with aspects of R&B and East African hip-hop.  You can view his video by following this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okqJBINVHo4&feature=youtu.be

Please show him your support by watching and liking the video.  Leave a comment and let him know what you think!

 We were so proud of our free-age ladies soccer team for their performance in the KYFA Ladies Nationwide Tournament in April.  Each year teams from across Kenya come to Kisumu to compete in this weekend long tournament.  Though our team lost in their last two matches they fought till the last minute in each game and gave it their all.  We thank KYFA for taking the initiative to keep this tournament ongoing and bringing high class competition to our teams in Kisumu. 

The 2017 season for our Manyatta United senior team in the Kisumu County League has begun.  We tied our first match 2-2 against a tough side, Lela Football Club.  You can follow this link for a full report on how the match proceeded: http://www.soka.co.ke/news/item/kisumu-county-league-lela-rallies-to-hold-manyatta-united.  This is the same senior team that has continued to open up doors for its players to follow opportunities playing for the Kenyan national team and professional clubs in the Kenyan Premier League.

Before our league season began, our senior team took time out between trainings to hold a community clean-up.  They cleaned churches and the surrounding neighborhood near their training ground at Shaurimoyo Primary School. Giving back to the community we live and work in has been a fundamental facet of our programs since we started in 2009.  Our soccer club aims to help our players reach new levels of competition, but it also hopes to instill a sense of community pride and volunteerism in its players. 

While our performing arts and sports programs continue to be successful, the numbers of youth we are serving continues to grow.  This means that more than ever we need your support in keeping our youth in school by assisting in paying some or all of the school fees for our musicians, actors and athletes.  Elections will be taking place in Kenya this year and this makes it all the more important for us to find ways to ensure that our vulnerable youth stay in school.  Elections are highly volatile in Kenya and Kisumu is often a hotspot for protests.  The MYRC continues to provide programs for youth living in the slums of Kisumu, so they have positive options during difficult times. It is important to help our youth stay in school and have positive safe spaces so that they don’t somehow get caught up in dangerous situations.  We will continue to work to find new pathways towards peace in our community through our programs and our support of youth. Please help us continue to provide these programs by supporting us this month.  With your support we will be able to provide consistent programs that benefit youth in a variety of ways.  

2017 is already looking like a year of breakthroughs. In the past few months, three youth who have played all the way from our youth soccer teams to our adult team, have been selected and honored to play at the highest levels of soccer competition in Kenya. First, we are proud to announce that one of those youth players, Abubu, has been asked to represent Kenya on the Under-21 national team. Abubu has been playing for Manyatta United since the teams were created in 2009. This team will give Abubu international playing experience and also get him more exposure and chances of getting signed by professional teams.

Another young player we would like to honor is Tobias. Tobias was asked to play for the Kenyan Premier League team Sony Sugar FC. Tobias always carries a smile on and off the field, and it is his pure love for playing soccer that has driven him to never stop working and on to success.

Finally, we are so proud of our player Sidney O, who was signed by Kenya Premier League defending champions, Tusker FC. Sydney has played for every level of team we offer, from U-14, through to our adult semi-professional team before he was brought up to play in the Kenya Super League and finally the Premier league. Sidney was one of the driving forces behind creating a youth soccer team back in 2009. Equip Manyatta Co-Chair Meghan identified Sidney and his younger brother, Austin, as having considerable talent and, if developed, having potential to be great players. Meghan understood that great players are not made overnight. These youths needed consistent training and opportunities to compete at high levels and this training had to start young and last into their early adulthood. Meghan formed the Manyatta United’s first team, an under-14 team that had kids as young as 9 years old playing. A large percentage of these founding players continue to play for MYRC teams or have been asked to play at higher-level teams.

Our aim is to be able to provide a consistent program that nurtures talent. We look forward to seeing more and more of our youth grow beyond our own organization and do great things on their own. We are proud that these players have been able to use our organization as a stepping-stone to finding opportunities at the highest levels of competition offered in Kenya. Playing at these levels opens doors for youth to be discovered by international teams as well. These successes are just the beginning for these players.

We are also excited to welcome six interns who have traveled all the way from Norway to do internships at our youth center through an organization called Cardiff Kenya. They will be conducting research and working with our management board and youth until April. This is a great opportunity for our members and interns to benefit through this cultural exchange.

As the new year begins, the pressure that families face finding school fees persists. This year we have several youth who are gaining sponsorship financially from donors or through scholarships related to athletics, but more youth are constantly searching for fees. Please help these students stay in school. As much as we want to provide consistent support within our programs, keeping our youth in school consistently is equally important.

We thank you, our supporters, for making these successes possible. With your help, the lives of young people in the Manyatta slums of Kisumu, are greatly enhanced!