Drama, Dance, Music, & Sport for Kisumu Youth

It’s been quite a year!  And as Equip Manyatta looks back on 2021, we are amazed at how well the Manyatta Youth Resource Centre (MYRC) has been able to function in spite of everything.  Once again, the MYRC, with principal funding from Equip Manyatta, has proved itself to be an invaluable community resource.   Providing Covid information, establishing public water facilities for hand washing, distributing multiple donations of food to the hard-pressed community, and moving forward with regular programing—all have been accomplished, and the work continues.

When the MYRC was founded, the idea of creating girls’ soccer/football teams was, at first, met with considerable skepticism. But Equip Manyatta pushed hard to make sure that girls’ teams were established.  From the simple beginning of a single all-age girls’ team, the girls’ football program has grown. Many of our girls have received scholarships at private schools on the strength of their skills. 

And now, Sophy, who came up through our program, and has been playing on our U-20 women’s team as a goal keeper, has been signed by Vihiga Queens FC.  Sophy had been playing for the Manyatta United mixed-age ladies, having moved up from our Under-16 team.  She gained major tournament experience during the Chapa Dimba na Safaricom national tournament, helping her team reach the Nyanza provincial finals before being beaten by the Ndhiwa Queens.  Her efforts on the field did not go unnoticed by scouts and coaches.  Sophy recently was called up to play for the Kenyan national U-20 team called the Harambee Stars Rising Starlets.  In October, Sophy traveled to Uganda with the national team to play in a world cup qualifying match.  She continues to be in the starting 11 for the Rising Starlets. 

Upon Sophy’s return to Kenya, she received more good news.  She was offered a signing deal with the Vihiga Queens FC. The Queens are Kenyan Women’s Premier League champions, the top tier of women’s football in Kenya.  According to online sources, including Wikipedia, the club has won the Premier League title on three consecutive occasions from 2017 to 2019.  The team won the national league in 2019.  In 2021, they were selected as the representative for Kenya at the CECAFA qualifiers, which won by beating Ethiopian team CBE by 2-1 in the finals and qualified them to the inaugural 2021 CAF Women’s Champions League.  The CAF Women’s Champions League is an annual international women’s association football club competition in Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), involving the continent’s top women’s club teams.  It is the female counterpart of the CAF Champions League. Sophy now gets to be part of the best play in African women’s football!  This is a tremendous accomplishment for both Sophy and the MYRC.  

This sort of professional development is facilitated by the many years the MYRC programs dedicate to those of its young people who want to play football.  In early October, for instance, the MYRC hosted a multi-day Youth Academy. All our teams, boys and girls, got together for extra skill building. 

Joining our list of players who have gone on to play professionally and semi-professionally in Kenya, on the Kenya National team, and in Europe is Rodgers O, who was recently signed by Kenya Premier League team Tusker. It will be interesting to watch the play with Tusker’s rival team Gor Mahia, as Gor features two former MYRC players Sydney and Benson. We know our MYRC players will meet the challenge of facing friends and former teammates with positive attitudes.

Even as our many teams compete in various leagues within Kisumu and Nyanza Province, the MYRC hosts events like Supa Sato, or Super Saturday.  At Supa Sato, the MYRC hosts fun games, musicians, small tournaments, eating competitions, and more.  And our graphic arts team has another opportunity to create a vibrant promotional poster. We have known from the beginning how important it is for youth living in the Kisumu slums to have a safe and positive place to spend their Saturdays. 

As with the football program, it has always been a foundational aspect of the MYRC that the needs of young women and girls are addressed.  In that spirit, we hosted a Women’s Empowerment Initiative along with partner organizations, where sanitary towels were distributed and a guest speaker spoke to many of our girls. The lack of something simple like access to sanitary towels can prevent girls and young women from attending school for part of every month. One of our core missions is to make sure our participants can stay in school. The sanitary towel distribution is one aspect of how we accomplish that goal.

For over a decade, the Manyatta Youth Resource Centre has been supporting youth in pursuing their dreams, creating stepping stones that lead to a better future. Youth living in the slums of Kisumu are hardworking and creative, but there are so many barriers that can stand between them and their goals.  The MYRC empowers youth to be ambitious. The successes of our program participants are not only life changing for them, but serve as beacons of hope for achieving dreams.

Thank you for your support.  It has been vital through the years, and continues to help us bridge the gap between dreams and a positive future for Manyatta youth.