Olympic, where the CFK office is located, is buzzing with activities. It’s around 1:30pm and staff members have just finished attending their monthly meeting at the hall. Two brothers, after playing along the path next to the CFK main office, find themselves inside the compound to be given first aid. Brought in by the guard, Kepha Moses was handed to jump rope coach David Okoth for first aid assistance. The guard reports that he was doing somersaults and hit his head on the ground accidentally.

Concerned about his welfare, Cathrine, a counselor in the health program, attended to the little boy by cleaning blood off his face. All this happened as the staff and interns had just finished their lunch and others were wrapping up their meeting.

Even though the boys came to the office because of an injury, they got lucky. Knowing that they were probably hungry, Edwin, the security guard, brought two plates of food for them. Kepha Moses, 5 years old, and his brother, Thomas Nyakundi, 6 years old, both sat on the ground and happily shared a plate of hot food.

Their story is this: Kepha and Thomas both live in the slums of Kibera and come from a family of seven children. Because of hard economic times, their dad became unemployed and is forced to scout for a casual job while their mother is unable to provide meals for them or find work. As a result, she stays in the house most of the day.

After enjoying their meal, Kepha and Thomas were in a noticeably more joyful mood and seemed much more energetic as well.

Personally, I view the whole event as a good contribution to these two young boys who would have otherwise spent an entire day on an empty stomach had they not showed up here at CFK, even if it was because of a bumped head. As the two depart, I can sense what is going through their minds about CFK. At the back of my mind, however, I am still left wondering what is in store for the other five needy siblings in their family?

Through the coordination Carolina for Kibera staff, the Nyayo National stadium management [Kenya’s biggest stadium] and Kenya football federation, the Paka Skippers jump rope team experienced the opportunity of a lifetime.

The day of the team’s biggest performance was heralded by good weather. The sun shined with all its brilliance and the breeze swooshed by trying to limit the heat. In retrospect, the sun captured the jump rope team’s mood; from their sitting stance to their earnest looks, the team told a story of their own. Innocent, the jump rope coach, issued last instructions to the team as they mentally prepared for their performance, “We are going to perform the same routine that we have been practicing for the last week. I hope you are ready.” Since the hired cars were already waiting for team, the children asked questions in quick succession to get clarification. A look of earnest concentration was evident on the children’s faces and excitement and happiness filled the air as the team got ready to leave.

To witness the children asking questions was impressive. Most of the children are between the ages of seven and seventeen, yet there was a certain maturity and sophistication in their questions. It is astounding to think that jump rope was only introduced March of last year. In a rather oppressive environment, the team has been able achieve something worth more than medals by taking small steps and working hard each day. Apart from nurturing the children’s talent, jumping roping has also given them opportunities to witness what life is about outside Kibera, like this opportunity to perform at the National Statdium. As they huddled in the car, the excitement that had previously been kept in check exploded in torrents of song and dance. The beauty of Nairobi’s streets  was lost to the children as they entertained each other with jokes and teasing. It was nice to be given the opportunity to accompany them. As they sang and danced, I was reminded of how good it was to be their age –so care free and full of adventure.

Too soon, we arrived. The stadium stood in its glory. Painted in red and cream color, it was both magnificent and intimidating from outside. Guards ushered us into the VIP section of the stadium. “Wow,” the children exclaimed. Their exclamations were valid: the view of the stadium was magnificent with its rows and rows of stands, green carpet of grass, and the red running truck. The team absorbed the scene and settled in as they waited for their time to be the center of attention.

Being a football match between Kenya’s most celebrated local football clubs (AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia FC), the stadium was parked to full capacity. The spectators wore the colors of the team they supported so shades of blue and green illuminated the stadium. The jump rope team was scheduled to perform twice: before the match started and at the first half-time. The first performance was full of nervousness and tension. However, it is only natural that they felt overwhelmed by the applause and the mega crowd that watched their performance. With a little pep talk from Caroline Sakwa (head of department), Abdul Hussein (sports program officer) and their coaches, the team had their confidence restored and performed courageously. The second performance was worth watching; from the group’s planned routine to their freestyle, the coordination was impeccable. The jump rope team formed a beautiful sight against a background of spectators who were captivated by their performance. Some could even be heard saying, “Look at those children they are really good. Who thought rope skipping could be taken to a whole new level?”

If only the spectators knew they were not far from the truth! As David, one of the coaches puts it, “our main aim is to make jump rope a national game by competing, performing and spreading the game everywhere we go.” Though the team was disappointed not to be seen on local televisions and spotted by DSTV— the jump rope team still feels lucky and grateful to have had such a opportunity. How many dream to perform, be applauded and showcase their God given talent to a mega crowd? A lot of people, right?

There you have it: Carolina’s jump rope team had their moment! I believe it wasn’t luck smiling down on them, but hard work and dedication that led them to perform in the stadium. Each day you can easily find the team as they practice and sweat it out at the local school’s field that acts as their training ground.

The event is being organized by One World One Rope and its local partners – Carolina for Kibera, the Amani Children’s Home, the Tanzania Sports Training Centre, the Tanzania National Sports Council, the Dogodogo Centre for Street Children, the Mkombozi Centre for Street Children, the International Guest House, and the Aga Khan Academy.
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A highlight video of  the past year:

Jump rope is one of Carolina for Kibera’s initiatives under the Sports Association that was started in the 2010. It began at the beginning of the March 2010 with help from a championship jumper from the United States, Mike Fry of One World One Rope.

From Kibera to Mombasa in Kenya

The initiative started with a total of nine young people comprised of eight girls and one boy. They started by training for three months in preparation for the first East Africa Jump Rope competition held in Mombasa in July 2010.

The team traveled together with their five trainers on a five-day competition held in Mombasa. Day one included an introduction of the participants from Tanzania, hosts from Mombasa, and trainers from South Africa and the United States. Competitions then started on the second day where jumpers from Kibera took first place in two events winning seven medals. They also won five medals in second and third place in other categories. The rest of the days, participating teams were engaged in workshops to learn more about jump rope skills.

From 9 jumpers to 180 committed members

After the Mombasa competition, the team came back highly motivated and with a lot of skills. They were ready to scout and recruit more members and had a meeting where they came up with the idea of using jump rope performances as a tool of mobilizing and sensitizing the community. After community performances, jumpers taught the audiences more about the goals of the game and informed them where the group could be found. Day after day, the number of participants kept growing, up to where it is today.

The jump rope sport is used in the following ways: providing entertainment for jumpers and the community at large, teaching life skills, building confidence, and developing teamwork. It provides healthy exercise and teaches leadership and responsibility. It has also led to increasing social ties and creating more opportunities for success. The growth of the team as lead to the creation of five mobile training sites, reaching youth in almost all villages in Kibera. Each site is spearheaded by trained female jumpers.

Trip to Paris, France

On November 16th, 2010, one of the trainers, Innocent Nyangori, was invited to attend the FFDD workshop in Paris for four days. This gave him an opportunity to learn a lot of skills, interact with new people, and make new friends from other countries. These friends shared their experiences about how they ran the game in their country. Many of the members were from Africa and they discussed ways of promoting the game and developing responsible leaders upon returning back to their respective countries. Innocent came back and implemented the ideas and skills learned in France and says that it helped develop the initiative a lot.

Trip to United States

Read more about the 2 members of the program’s trip to the US in previous blog posts here, here, and here.

You have to agree with me that it is not every day that you can easily spot girls in your neighborhood with rolled up sleeves, washing a car!! Well it’s not usual business for the Binti Pamoja girls who have come up with a noble entrepreneurial idea to start washing cars in their neighborhood.

As I watch the girls washing one of the client’s cars, I find myself with one big question, “What gave them such courage to come up with such an outrageous idea in a male dominated field?”

Faith, one of the key players in this new initiative, told me how they came up with their idea of washing cars.  “We actually came up with the idea of opening a car wash to help empower other girls to think beyond that only men can wash cars and not us girls. Nowadays we have to hustle to get additional income and not just rely on men to give us money all the time,” noted Faith.

The girls aim to get more customers and have hung posters about their new initiative within Kibera to sell their idea. As Rose puts it, “We are trying to market our initiative within the Kibera community, let people know that we are here to offer the best, and have them try us.”

One of their major challenges at the moment is availability of water as they are forced to purchase from water vendors within the Olympic Estate and part with some of their hard earned day’s wage in paying for the water. But this does not deter them from moving on as they hope for a better today. Perhaps soon they will be able to fully sustain themselves.

For the girls it is not about just washing cars, but it’s about working as a team, having fun and above all, showing that girls are able to provide this service in a male dominant business.

I am motivated and happy for the girls, and I’m excited for others to read this piece and feel the same way!

Their laughter, teasing and excitement felt like a ray of sunshine on a rather mild Saturday. It was the first welcoming sound that I heard when I reached the rather expansive compound. The landscape was really eye-catching and quiet different from the dirt paths of Kibera. The grass was green and trimmed and the fruit trees were beautiful as there leaves ruffled in the wind.

The Binti Pamoja (Daughters United) girls strode all over the compound in small groups finishing their work from the training they had undertaken. The purpose of the training was to develop 11-18 year old girls into confident leaders. The program provides a forum for young adolescent girls in Kibera to express themselves through drama, dancing and writing about what affects them most (i.e. rape, gender based violence, HIV&AIDS, among others). It comes as no surprise that CFK’s staff of the program hope to see the girls transform into mentors who will all start and lead their own group of fifteen girls, whom they recruit from the community to join the program.

‘’We’ve had this kind of training annually since the program believes in empowering and mentoring the girl-child.  We foster them to make them leaders through an intense three year training on leadership, reproductive health, life skills and financial literacy. Our hope as a program is to make them role models for the young girls whom they are going to mentor from the community” Sarah Waithera, the Binti Pamoja Program Officer tells me.

You might find yourself asking, ‘’How does this work?’’ A knowing smile plays on her lips, Sarah tries to fill me in, ‘’It is really simple. The girls this time are aged 11-18 years. We encourage them to recruit girls from the community who are younger than them for mentoring purposes. Since we have shown them how to come up with a work plan, but they have their work cut out for them. They must teach and impart the knowledge they  acquired when they went through the various trainings during their time in Binti Pamoja’’

I hope you do not get the impression that it was all learning and no fun. Sitting amongst the girls as they shared their experiences, was really entertaining. ‘’I really had a good time. Imagine sleeping in a six poster bed and waking up to a hot shower – considering the fact that I had never seen a shower before this day!’’ said Jackline, one of the graduates, leaving all the girls in stitches. ‘’For me, I really had a good time in making new friends and getting to learn new things that I am going to teach the young girls I am to recruit in my group’’ said another graduate, Diana, with excitement.

I was lucky to see some of their talents and have fun with them. Apart from the jokes they told, some of the girls like to sing like pop stars (well, not exactly) and other showed off their modeling and rapping talents.

‘‘Yes!’’ I imagined some of the girls saying as they did a mental check with themselves. Just imagine yourself in their shoes. Three years ago, coming into program as a girl with no responsibilities and now having the opportunity to pass on the knowledge they gained during their time in Binti Pamoja. I don’t know about you, but if I were in their place, I would be ecstatic.

“I am so happy that I got a chance to go to the United States. I will devote my time to train fellow team members in new jump rope skills that I learned,’’ says 13 year old Diana Adhiambo, a jump rope participant from Kibera. Hardly a week has passed since she returned from the United States, yet Diana is already back on the training field at Old Kibera Primary where it all started. She looks easy-going as she demonstrates some new jump rope skills to her teammates; they all stare at her as she is the center of attention.

I want to find out what she loved most while in the United States with her coach. After getting permission from Coach Innocent, Diana steps aside from her training and joins me a few meters from the field on a stone that I am sitting on.

“What were some of the most memorable moments for you in the United States?” I ask.
“People were very nice to me, I was warmly welcomed and didn’t have issues with anyone, and even people not known to me easily smiled back at me, making me feel at peace,” responds Diana while gazing at her friends jumping rope.

“Second, I loved seeing their houses that are well spaced with big compounds. That encourages me to work hard so that I can better the life of my siblings with a better modern house in the future, when we can move out of the Kibera slums. Last, I enjoyed the electric train ride that I saw for my first time ever in my life, it moved with such speed. I have always being seeing them on TV. At first I was scared, only to realize that it’s very fast and efficient with no traffic jams like here in Kenya.” She says, before politely requesting permission to rejoin her teammates.

Next in line is to be interviewed is Diana’s Coach Philip Innocent Nyangori, who accompanied Diana to the United States. He takes Diana’s space on my stone chair.

“Americans are the most hard-working people, they don’t just idle around waiting to be spoon fed. I saw them working day and night, something that I respected a lot. No one is there to police them on the roads, yes they do have better roads with many lanes, but they strictly follow traffic laws obediently. That is real self-discipline, man.” says Innocent.

“I also loved the fact that I learned new skills that will help me nurture the talent of these young stars that you see here today, simply because I was taught new skills and how to be creative by other coaches, who challenged me never to just sit back and wait, but to go out there and set my goals and achieve my targets in everything I do,” he finished.

With these strong last sentiments, Innocent excuses himself and joins the rest of the team to continue with their practice that will last for 20 more minutes. Even though they’ve just returned, their training is already back in full swing as they get ready for their next competition.

Read Thomas’ previous blogs Here.

“Reading your book was a moving experience for me in so many different ways.  Having been a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1968-70, I could empathize with your willingness to reach out and make a difference in the lives of people whose life experiences were so foreign from your own.   Your initial fear and frustration about an outsider making a difference in Kibera reminded me of just how much I was shaken by the lonely feelings that gripped me in those first few months in Buno Bedelle, Ethiopia, nestled in the lush rainforests of southwestern Ethiopia.  I often wondered what I was doing there in the first place.  I knew that, for some reason, I was meant to be there, but I spent many restless nights trying to figure out just how I could make a difference in the lives of the children that I was teaching…in the lives of the people who would come to the clinic where I would occasionally work.

Most importantly, I was personally touched by the manner in which you managed to forge partnerships with heroes like Tabitha and Salim and, in the process, enable these community leaders to empower themselves to take ownership for the process of community building that both you and they understood was ultimately their responsibility.  At the same time, it was clear that Salim and Tabitha were far more than partners in community collaboration and participatory development.  Clearly, they became family and, when Tabitha whispered those words…”grass, flower and wind” to you right before she passed away, it was an undeniable reality that you felt as if you had lost a member of your family.  Indeed, when she fell asleep and you made your way out to the courtyard with the hibiscus tree, your tears reflected the deep and abiding realization that underscored, for me, the underlying message of your story, that being that all of us are truly bound together by the common bonds of our humanity.

Rye, your story about Kibera was inspirational and exhilarating, exhausting and heartbreaking, uplifting and encouraging, and I want to thank you for reinforcing my belief in certain fundamental values, those being the significance of service and selflessness, the power of courage and commitment, the value of consistently standing up and speaking out with the courage of your considerable convictions about the issues that matter and, finally the faith and fortitude that sustain us in moments when the clouds of adversity seem to block any hint of hope that there may be sunlight beyond the horizon.  Memories of my Peace Corps experiences came flooding back, as I read your book, Rye.  Vivid recollections of faces, friendships and families from Ethiopia washed over me in a river of memories that was overwhelming, leaving me breathless and emotionally spent.

Salim and Tabitha reminded me of some of the village leaders in Buno Bedelle, who were willing to put their reputations and, at times, their lives on the line in order to maintain the identity and integrity of their home.  But I must admit that it was your accounts of how the kids came forward to not only play soccer but to engage in the community trash clean up campaigns that resonated most deeply with me.  The courage of those youth leaders was, in my mind, a direct result of your believing in Tabitha, Salim and other adults in the Kibera community.  The young people of Kibera came to believe in their own ability to shape changes in their own lives and in the lives of their community because you had planted that seed, one that was cultivated by the commitment of everyone who came to believe in your cause.  It reminded me of the kids that I taught in Ethiopia, young people who had hopes for a better life and were willing to do anything in order to achieve their goals and realize their dreams.  After all, isn’t that what this is all about, Rye?  Isn’t your book, at its deepest core, simply about our working relentlessly and committing ourselves tirelessly to the cause of social justice in the world?

I believe that those who are fortunate enough to read your book will understand the undeniable reality that it is incumbent upon all of us to be genuinely committed to shaping genuinely positive changes in the lives of other people and, in the process, impacting our world in a significant and meaningful manner.

Thanks for a wonderful book.  I will be recommending it to my students, my teaching colleagues and my friends.”

–Peter McVeigh, Teacher of History

Germantown Academy, Fort Washington, PA

Last week I gave you a first look into the journey to the United States that started from humble beginnings with Innocent and Diana from Carolina for Kibera along with their counterparts from Tanzania.

At the conclusion of my last post I was having a chat with 13 year old jump-roper Diana.  After our conversation, Diana left me with this reflection of the opportunity that she had been presented with- “My teachers allowed me to go the U.S. and I know I will miss school. I will work hard and still try to create time to read while in the U.S. so that I can do better when I come back to Kenya. I will miss my friends and my mother who is not here to come with me to the airport.”

It was shortly after this that Michael came back with photocopies of the team’s E-tickets and off we drove to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Since we were going against the flow of traffic, the way was clear and we were able to avoid any heavy traffic.

Realizing that this was now my chance to interview Michael, I quickly pulled out my audio recorder and asked my question- “Michael, can you give me some insight into how this trip materialized?”

“My first visit to Africa was in January 2009.” He responded, “I travelled to Tanzania for about two weeks, where I met Benedict from Mkombozi Center in Moshi.  Later, I spent two days in Kenya where I met Innocent from Carolina for Kibera, who was dedicated to his work in jump rope training. Innocent coached six days a week. I also met Diana – what I loved about her was the fact that she had become one of the most talented girls in the jump rope program and she worked very well with other team members,”

Before I knew it, we had arrived at a police checkpoint at the entrance of the airport. A security check was conducted on our vehicle before we were allowed to pass through. Once inside the international check-in point in terminal two, I helped unload the luggage before taking out my camera to capture a few pre-departure photos.

Once I had finished taking pictures, we all embraced each other and bid each other farewell and safe travels. Now alone, I turned around to return to Kibera.

Kenya and Tanzania will be representing East Africa this time around. Two founders of the World Jump Rope Program are sponsoring the team’s trip to the United States this year.  Some of the other countries that are sending participants to the competition are the United States, Canada, Hungary, Belgium, Germany, France, Denmark, Brazil, and India.

Participants in the competition and activities in Washington D.C. range between the ages of 13 and 18 years old. While in the United States, the participants’ itinerary will include- taking part in the three day, world jump rope competition, attending a jump rope camp, and visiting Ohio- the home of One World, One Rope founder, Michael Fry. In Ohio, the participants will spend time doing performances, presentations, and workshops, and will also teach jump roping techniques to people there. Lastly, they will travel to Seattle, Washington for a four day jump rope and gymnastic workshop. On July 23^rd, they will fly back home from Seattle.

In the coming weeks, look for Thomas’ interview of the team following their trip to the U.S.