Drama, Dance, Music, & Sport for Kisumu Youth

Greetings Global Giving friends and supporters! We want to first start by thanking everyone who has helped keep our programs running since we met our fundraising challenge on Global Giving in December 2012. The support Equip Manyatta receives from people like you has been crucial in helping us meet our monthly monetary goals to fund the Manyatta Youth Resource Centre (MYRC) in Kisumu. It is never a simple task finding enough money to sustain our programs, which support close to 200 youth in sports, performing arts, education, health, and environmental awareness.

Unfortunately, we were not able to raise enough funds to send our team to Sweden to participate in the Sodertalje International Football Cup in July. Our fundraising efforts fell far short of that goal, but with the funds we did raise we were able to send our team to Tororo, Uganda to participate in the 2016 Hope for Kids International Tournament. For many of our players, this trip was their first outside of Kenya, and they were able to play with teams representing countries such as Uganda, Tanzania Burundi, Lesotho, The Congo, Ghana, Rwanda and Sudan. Though our team lost in the semi-finals, our goalkeeper, Silas, was recognized as the best goalkeeper in the tournament and our striker, Brownie, came away as top-scorer. This was our first international trip as Manyatta United, and though we didn’t travel as far as Sweden this time, we continue to believe that getting our youth international exposure will help them grow not only on the soccer pitch but also through life experiences and cultural sharing.

The MYRC is also proud to have two players, Ian Samwel and Shem Hazard, representing the Nyanza province in the Kenya National Secondary School Football Games. They will be playing for Barding Secondary School and first face Bukembe Secondary School at Moi Stadium in Kisumu. Ian has been recognized as a powerful force in youth football and has also represented Kenya in the Copa Coca-Cola Under-15 tournament in South Africa.  

In performing arts news, we are excited about the release this month of Nahna’s newest video, Paro. The video was filmed by Crizo Mzeyah. Nahna has been working hard year after year. We are also proud that she was selected to join a new singing group, She’s Dada, which is sponsored by the Doris Kwaka Foundation. Together with two other Kisumu locals, Lucky and Dena, Nahna is recording tracks in Nairobi at top-tier studios, and she will be traveling with a tour sponsored by both the Doris Kwaka Foundation and the United Nations. It seems like a tremendous opportunity and we wish all three ladies the best of luck.

In another indicator of how well established the MYRC has become in its seven years, the Standard Kenya, a prominent national newspaper, recently ran a feature article about the MYRC and its General Manager Antony Oballa. We appreciate the recognition and hope that the publicity will lead to additional support.

The MYRC continues to maintain its support for education in Manyatta. Along with primary and secondary school support, we dream of being able to help the youth who have been with our organization since its beginning and have already finished secondary school to go on with higher education. One of our players, Frank, was recently accepted into the Kenya Medical Training School. He performed well in secondary school and has shown himself to be a disciplined player over the last seven years playing for Manyatta United. The cost of attending this school will be about $800 for the next three years.   Frank is working while playing soccer for our provincial team but the costs are more than he can afford. His family is unable to help as he has siblings who are still in secondary school and need fees paid to complete their education there. We support so many youth in primary and secondary school that it is extremely difficult to help make Frank’s wish of attending a university come true. Imagine the difficulty of earning such an opportunity but not being able to take advantage of it because you don’t have enough money! We continue to look for a supporter who can help Frank and we are strategizing about ways that we can help our senior youth continue their education past secondary school.

We are grateful that so many young people have been able to participate in the wide-ranging MYRC programs, which provide opportunities to develop all sorts of talents. Through their participation, these youth will also have learned perhaps the most valuable lesson of all—working together can help make a better world.