Shropshire Magazine

SAC Ben Burton plays football with children at the Kibagare Good News Centre — it’s not clear if the offside rule is being applied!

Neil Thomas reports on an RAF-led mission to bring some light relief to youngsters in poverty

England’s woeful performance at the World Cup thankfully seems like a lifetime ago. Forget Fabio Capello’s flops, though. Another team from England was in Africa this summer on a football-related mission. A Shropshire-led team, in fact. A team that will be remembered by some of the world’s poorest children long after the drone of the vuvuzelas has died down with the departure of football’s multi-billion-pound industry.

The team was in Kenya for one week, distributing nearly 2,500 football shirts and other soccer-related items to 10 places in six days.

Sqn Ldr Neil Hope at the Mogra Academy.

The trip was organised by Squadron Leader Neil Hope, of RAF Shawbury, through the RAF-based Taking Football to Africa and Beyond Appeal. The appeal was launched in 2006, since when it has delivered 26,122 items, including 13,371 football shirts, to 30 countries worldwide. In 2008 Neil travelled to Kenya to distribute shirts and this June again travelled to the East African country to deliver football shirts, with the help of Warrant Officer 1 Wayne Charley of the British High Commission in Nairobi.

Neil’s team included Senior Aircraftsmen Ben Burton from RAF Shawbury, and Dave Queen, a teacher at Thomas Adams School, in Wem, who runs the school’s link project with Miriu School in Kenya.

They were joined by Mark Robson, representing the charitable foundation of his late father, the former England manager Sir Bobby Robson. Derrick Williams and Sally Howe, from KitAid, were also part of the visit.

They came across terrible hardships, youngsters living in poverty that we can scarcely credit here in Shropshire, tough lives that render our disappointment with the performance of Wayne Rooney et al utterly meaningless.

Neil explains: “The first delivery was at the Kibagare Good News Centre, which is in a slum township. To get to it the drive included passing through a gated community with beautiful large houses before being given access through a guarded gate into the slum area.

“The difference was immense as the road became a very rutted mud track for about 400 yards through an area full of shacks providing shelter with only limited running water and electricity — and no sewerage.

“The people who live in this area live in immense poverty.

“The centre houses St Martins nursery and primary school and also a girls secondary school. The centre is run by Sister Leah Wambui Kimani. The children come from an area of 5km from the school and are mainly from slums. They are taught and fed twice a day at the school. The current cost for each child is 500 Kenyan schillings per four months, which is effectively £4 each. At present there are 500 primary children and 185 secondary girls, with class sizes of around 40. The centre also allows other children in on a Saturday to be fed and they regularly feed 1,500 children. It also houses a small chemist’s dispensary and laboratory.”

There the team distributed two large boxes of football kits, with many shirts donated in memory of Sir Bobby Robson by fans of Newcastle United, his home town club and the last one in his career that he managed.

“The shirts went down brilliantly with the children. It was a fantastic sight for Mark Robson, on behalf of his father’s foundation, to see so many underprivileged children wearing the black-and-white stripes,” says Neil.

The team then travelled to the Huruma township to deliver to the Kenya Muslim Academy. This trip was set up by Dave Queen through an old friend, Charles Okochi, a teacher at the school.

The school at Eastlands is in a three-square-kilometre slum area with a population of close on 800,000. It houses 240 children in classes of up to 40 ranging from nursery and primary to secondary boys. After a tour by director Adan Saman Sheikh, the team distributed a box of football shirts, football cards and stationery.

“The older boys then played an impromptu football match including a keepie-up headers session with Ben Burton,” says Neil.

The team next visited Saidia Children’s Home at Gilgil, a journey that included a stop at 8,000 feet to look over the Great Rift Valley. The home, run by Jane Kinuthia, opened in April 2004 and houses 52 children, most of whom are abandoned or abused. Saidia means ‘help’ in Swahili.

“The youngest child to arrive was four months old. She was abandoned due to her having spina bifida. There is a small nursery at the home and it also houses primary and secondary children. The home also has other centres in Gilgil.

“There is also a centre which provides a feeding programme for 76 children and also a Granny club which relies on older ladies providing shelter and support for young children.

“The project looks after around 300 children and is self sufficient relying on charitable donations. The centre costs around £150,000 a year.

Some of the youngsters from the Kibera slum area line up for a pictures, proudly wearing RAF T-shirts.

Donated

“After looking around the home the team presented Jane with Newcastle and Ipswich shirts donated through the memorial for Sir Bobby Robson and various items from KitAid. In addition, 40 England shirts donated by the English FA were given to the children.”

Another port of call was Erebi Primary School, near Naivasha, a journey that included an eight-kilometre off-road route which tested drivers Neil and Wayne to the limit. The school was built in 1970 and has 128 children from seven years to 17, who were given boxes full of Newcastle and England shirts.

The following day the team visited the Kayole township and the Young Stars Soccer Academy based at the Bondeni School. The academy has three teams playing at under-12, under-15 and under-17 age levels in the Mathare Youth League. The school houses 1,700 children from the township. After handing over kits Mark Robson and Ben Burton joined the lads for an impromptu game of football while hundreds of children from the school watched on.

The team next drove into the slum of Mogra to visit the Mogra Star Academy, which houses 1,000 children aged three to 18, providing free education for the very needy.

“The school was founded in 1999 by Hannah Warimu, who showed us around,” says Neil. “We met Monica Makumo, who was taken into the school from the streets in 2003. She is now the Children’s President at the Kenya Parliament and strives to be a human-rights lawyer.

“The team walked into the heart of the slum which covers a very small area but houses some 6,000 people. People live in small shacks housing up to eight. We handed out shirts.

“Our last delivery of the day was to the State House School, where we met some girls and coaches from the Bravilian Queens Soccer Academy. The academy takes girls from the slum towns of Kibera, Dagaretti, Mathare, Mukuku Kwa Nzenza, Kariobang, Bandawa and Githwai.

“The girls come together to train and play matches. The academy coaches over 300 girls but only 30 per cent have strips.

“We joined the girls for a kick around and were totally outclassed,” admits Neil with a smile.

Bringing goals to Newcastle . . .

The first delivery of the following day took the team on a “harrowing” drive through Kibera, the largest and densest slum in Africa, housing more than one million people in less than three square miles, with little electricity or running water and no sewerage system.

“We could not believe the overwhelming squalor of the area and the horrendous stench. The people, however, appear happy and carry on with their daily routines,” says Neil.

STARA School was founded in 2004 with six children whose parents had died from Aids.

“The school currently has 500 children of whom 371 are orphans, with others from single parents, neglected and abused children and those from very poor families.

“Over 330 of the children have been screened with 33 being confirmed as HIV positive and currently under medication,” says Neil.

“The security situation in Kibera is incredibly difficult due to the tribal clashes of Christmas 2008 and this makes it very difficult for the school to raise funds to operate.

“The children, who range in age from three to 17, currently receive one meal a day and this is often the only meal they receive.

“At the school the team handed out Newcastle shirts donated by fans in memory of Sir Bobby Robson, Coast Soccer FC, the FA, and the RAF. In addition, KitAid handed out cards and shirts. While in Kibera, we were filmed by BBC TV for News 24 and the World Service as well as being photographed for local Nairobi newspapers.”

Loresho football club was the second delivery of the day. The team is newly established and is forming three adult teams to play in the local leagues. The players all come from Kangemi slum.

“We met the players at their training area at the Nairobi Police camp and presented them with Cardiff City, Newcastle Blue Star and Newcastle shirts.”

The final full day of the trip began with a visit to the grounds of Nairobi Prison. The team met Paul Etta and his under-15 football team, Southends FC, recently established and made up of youngsters from Kibera slum.

“While there, we were confronted by a security guard who tried to stop the kit handover, saying we needed a licence. At one point the ‘guard’ pulled a gun on Wayne Charley meaning the handover was cut short.

“Afterwards we visited an elephant orphanage before spending the afternoon in the Nairobi National Park reflecting on the week in Kenya.

“In the evening we watched the wretched England versus USA game in a bar. On return from the bar the vehicle driven by Wayne Charley was attacked by a man with a rock. The car sustained damage to its wing mirror and bodywork but Wayne and his passenger were okay,” says Neil.

Neil was full of praise for Wayne for his “fantastic effort” on behalf of the appeal. He and his girlfriend Pamela hosted the visitors along with John and Irene Porter.

But Neil concluded: “The whole team were shocked at the living conditions of most of the population of Kenya. The real heroes were the ladies and gentlemen who run and look after the schools and teams we visited. They do an absolutely fantastic job.”

• The appeal will continue to collect and distribute shirts donated by children, adults and teams across the UK. To donate contact Sqn Ldr Neil Hope at RAF Shawbury on 01939 250351 x7232 or email neil.hope999@btopenworld.com, or post your shirts to Flt Lt Neil Hope, ATC, RAF Shawbury, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY4 4DZ.

The Kibagare slum area outside the school.