Back in Kibera again this morning but today there was no rain so the ground was a bit firmer than yesterday.  First we went to visit Mercy Juma who has been one of our core team members since the women's team started two years ago.  Mercy has just finished form 4 and is waiting for her results next year which will hopefully be good enough to take her to university as she hopes to become a teacher.  She is now 20 years old and lives with her mother, brother, cousins and 3 year old daughter.  Her mother is a grocer selling fruit and veg and she treated us to some delicious maembe (mangos).  Mercy told us how she first came into contact with Sunderland Samba when she was 13 during our team visit in 2005 when we held a coaching session for a number of invited youth groups in Kibera which included the Hamlet team which she was playing football with at the time.  She moved on to a boarding school for a couple of years and stopped playing football then dropped out of school for a while when she became pregnant.  She managed to get back to school in 2010 and also started playing football again joining our annual coaching camp in Naivasha that year.  We spent time with her again at the Naivasha camp in 2011 and saw her talent in football and drama.  She is good at bringing the team together and keeping the spirits high.  She's also the youth secretary at her church which sometimes has made it hard for her to play league matches when they're on a Sunday.  We hope to be able to support Mercy as she moves forward in her life after school.

Mercy Juma at her house in Kibera

Mercy with her daugher, mum and John at their home

looking out of the house

We also went next door to visit Dorothy who has joined the team in the last year after Mercy encouraged her to get involved.  Dorthy lives with her sister after droppping out of school in Kisumu and other family not having the means to look after her.  She hopes she might start back again at school soon as she still has 2 years to complete.  We discussed how we might be able to support her in future with this but that we do need to see her commitment and right attitude with the team in the first instance.  It was good to spend some time getting to know her and meeting her sister.

Mercy, Maureen, Dorothy and Eunice

 In the afternoon we went back to the fruitful women group where Maureen was again holding a community workshop this time called Family Matters which is for parents of young people in the community and today's session was on the topic of parents talking to their children about sex and related issues.  Joseph is the coach of our Samba Women's team and was attending the workshop with me and around 15 local parents.

Coach Joseph after the Family Matters Workshop

Poster from the Family Matters Workshop

 I spent some time chatting with Joseph afterwards regarding his views on the past season for the team and how we might improve things for the new season next year.  We also got treated to some acrobatics from the young boys group who practice in the hall.

 

Boys gymnastic group at the Fruitful Hall