Drama, Dance, Music, & Sport for Kisumu Youth

Football season has returned to Kisumu, and the Manyatta Youth Resource Centre (MYRC) is sponsoring six Under-18 teams, both girls and boys, and a male adult semi-professional district level team. The MYRC makes it possible for close to 200 youth living in Kisumu, Kenya to grow through healthy competition organized in a safe environment and sanctioned by the Kisumu Youth Football Association (KYFA).

A huge step forward for the MYRC Sports department this season is fielding an adult men's team in the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Kisumu Sub-County District League. This team is made up of young men who came up through our youth soccer program and who have grown beyond KYFA’s age eligibility. It is energizing to realize the MYRC has been operating this long—more than 4 years. Though our team, Manyatta United, lost their first game last weekend, we are confident that they will play competitively within this league and will grow tremendously with the opportunity to face professional competition. The MYRC still faces the problem of funding for this team though. The MYRC has only been able to raise one-quarter of the funds necessary to see our team complete the season. Most of these funds have already been spent on registering the team and getting the proper paperwork taken care of with the FKF. We need your help to raise funds for transportation to away matches, lunches, and equipment maintenance.

The MYRC Sports department was so proud of our MYRC girls under-14 footballers, when they won the under-15 division of the 2014 KYFA Ladies Nationwide Football tournament at the beginning of May.   The MYRC team beat the Soccer Queens from Nairobi in the final match 2-1. They were awarded a small cash prize, uniforms, medals and a trophy!

The MYRC is happy to welcome a new intern from the Kenya Institute of Professional Counseling at our center. She has been sent with a focus on health and social issues and will be offering guidance and counseling to MYRC youth for the next two months. We hope that she can help us get a new program started that will be dedicated to helping our youth make healthy life choices.

The MYRC also welcomes new partnerships with the YMCA Kisumu and the Youth Network for Community Revitalization. Both programs will offer our youth opportunities to participate in their skills training programs. The YMCA Kisumu is well known for helping train youth so that they can work in the auto repair and metal works industries, which are among the largest sources of employment in Kisumu town. We hope that through these partnerships our youth will gain greater access to opportunities that will promote their talents and lift up their outlook on the future.

The MYRC Performing Arts department is eagerly awaiting the end of registration for the Kisumu Vybez Awards. All of Kisumu’s top performing artists compete to be nominated for an award and the chance to participate in the award’s show later this year. The MYRC produced the best music group, best female solo artist and song of the year at last year’s Vybez Awards. We anticipate that the MYRC will have many nominations again this year and we are confident that we will take away a few more trophies.

Time moves quickly at the MYRC and we are constantly under the pressure of chasing funds to keep programs operating. We must succeed or we will be forced to make cuts. We are determined not to have these young people miss out on opportunities they are only just beginning to have. The MYRC has become a center of positive activity in Kisumu and is making such a difference in young lives. Thanks for whatever help you can provide to keep the programs moving forward!

2014 has begun and the Manyatta Youth Resource Centre has high hopes that it will be the best year yet since we began in 2009. Keevan Labowitz, a Co-Founder of the MYRC, arrived back in Kisumu in December and has seen that our programs continue to grow both in size and success. 

On Christmas Eve, the MYRC sponsored a bash to celebrate how far we have come and to bring all the members of our different programs together to share food, fun and stories.  The day started with several friendly football matches at our home pitch.  Our teams entertained the community, had fun, and showcased the high level of talent that the MYRC football club has been producing.  The match that brought the most laughs though was when the MYRC management board played against the MYRC performing artists. Our chairman, general manager, secretary and management board members played against musicians, dancers and drama members.  It was quite a scene. Afterwards, everybody returned to the MYRC office and ate goat, chicken, rice, vegetables and juice. On this day the MYRC fed close to 200 youth athletes, performing artists, management members, and local community members.  It is get-togethers like this that bring our community closer and help unify our various programs and participants.  We look forward to repeating it again.

A particularly important success this year was the graduation of our youth member, Joseph.  Joseph is our first sponsored youth to complete secondary school, and we look forward to many more.  The MYRC has sponsored Joseph since 2009 as he finished primary school and headed on to the next level.  It is important to ensure that the MYRC’s sponsored youth get a continuous, consistent education from primary school through graduation. This is the best hope for the future for our youth and the community. 

After completing secondary school, the MYRC assisted Joseph in creating a resume and job application letters.  Joseph was hired as an assistant teacher at a primary school he had previously attended.  Though the work is tough and the hours are long, Joseph believes that the experience he is gaining will help him move forward in his career. He is already getting offers to transfer to a nearby secondary school where he is likely to earn more. Joseph and the MYRC still have hopes that he will soon attend a university, but he needs more financial support than the MYRC is currently able to offer.  We hope that as he works and gains experience more opportunities will open up for him.

As schools are opening here we are faced with the difficult task of getting our most vulnerable youth sponsored in both primary and secondary school.  We hope to see many youth sponsored for education just as Joseph has been. While the MYRC is currently sponsoring over 15 youth in school, there still remain many MYRC youth who we are unable to provide for, and fees continue to climb.  By giving just $200 you can help to ensure that one more young person gets a complete year of schooling at the primary level.

An exciting new opportunity for the MYRC is the hoped-for creation of a district level soccer team so our youth can continue in the sport. When the MYRC began in 2009 it started with a group of Under-14s and U-12 soccer players.  Today many of the players who started with us in 2009, as well as many new faces, are now too old to play in the local league, which ends at U-18.  Just as we hope to offer continuous support in education, the MYRC wants to build talent in soccer by staying with youth for extended periods of time to really nurture their talent to the highest levels.  By creating a district team, the MYRC would compete against teams from throughout the county, thus giving our youth exposure to higher levels of competition and opportunity. This will make them stronger and better players.  As time goes on, the MYRC has dreams of reaching the nationwide league and finally the Kenyan premier league.  The district league will cost the MYRC close to $2000, which is a major challenge. With your help, the youth we have been nurturing for close to five years now, will have the chance to climb to new levels of competition and eventually become professional players in their home country and abroad. 

With your support, in the last five years the MYRC has grown from nothing to a multi-faceted organization helping to build a future for a diverse group of youth.  Don’t stop now!  Help the MYRC continue to serve these young people on their journey to a better life.  We wish you a happy 2014 as we look forward to the time ahead.