Donating Footballs To Local Communities

DIRECTOR'S CORNER

By Boaz Adhengo

It all about World Cup and it is all about fun! The situation at shanty slums in Nairobi is worsening, as the financial crunch is increasing. Free education has not been able to bare fruits, and the Institute for African Ecology and Philosophy’s past proposal on community policing are losing relevancy, as poverty takes over. The World Cup is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world; an estimated 715.1 million people watched the final match of the 2006 World Cup held in Germany. The current World Cup is being held in South Africa, between 11 June and 11 July 2010, and the 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil. It is therefore an event that unites different people, of different backgrounds and abilities, into a focused celebration, understanding and life sharing moments, including eco ethics.

For this reason, Project Nabuur Stiftung/AAEA Kenya, through its life sponsor, the Leah Foundation, has been donating footballs to local communities where informal settlements are located. The board identified Kayole, Huruma, Mathare, Korokocho, Babadogo and Kibera as the priority areas. Thus, fifty balls have been given in a shared pattern with hopes that after the World Cup TV broadcast, we shall be able to organize our Eco Ethics Festival, with sports as the uniting element. Ghetto Radio is involved in the same quest. They have decided to follow up our football donation with live broadcasting of the event. They will provide twelve projectors for the six shanties while the local youth will organize themselves into security teams for the sake of protecting the equipments from theft or subsequent damages. We thank our membership for their ideas during our 1st Kor Bondo Lecture in Maranda, from where this generous outreach has come. We look forward to more involvement as we welcome the Africa Partners in Safari in our launch of our MoU for the coming year.