When working in slums you see many situations that shock you. The people that suffer the most in those cases are the kids. Kids are usually taken and taught the easy way of life, the gangster way. The way they do not have to work or respect others, as well as the path into constant drugs and alcohol.
East Lands center tries to keep them from entering that life through football, soccer as they call it. They organize every Saturday training sessions, as well as games on Sunday. You may think this is little but kids here spend long hours at school nurturing their minds and then going back home to continue with homework. Education is important in slum areas, as it is the way out of low class life. This is good so kids spend their time better instead of approaching these gangs.
I have been training every Saturday a group of around 50 kids. There are three age groups, the under 10, under 12 and under 15. The practice starts around 2:30 PM with a chat by Moses a university student that explains them concepts about life and education. I can say I barely understand what he says as he talks in Swahili, but he looks quite convincing and captures the attention of the kids.After an instructive talk, we head to the pitch. If you were in Europe you would not call it like that, you would call it a mud field. Here we train the kids for two hours dividing them according to their age. Nick and Morris help me while training, as kids do not understand well English, they help me in translation. I have learnt some words of the language but still have lots to go. Kids like playing games, to compete between them and they love when a muzungu plays with them so they comment with their friends at school. After practices the three coaches, me included, talk tactics and what we expect from them.
When I leave these kids behind I will miss them, as they are part of my family here.
Ni tarrudi
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