I like playing so much when am outside the school and when we are in break. One day when I was in break, the friends of me came and we played and then we forget and went outside the school
I was thinking that I was in school but I realized that I was being held with my brother to the school. I did not know that I was outside, I tell him that we were playing and he was very mad and angry and beat me on the head and it was sad and painful and I was crying hard.
At the school my teacher beat me hard and I was then in class and my friends ran aways and did not come to school again .
Next day they came and they were beaten also . I now play in the class as our school have no field here in mathare slum and I love it now but sometings we fall on the chairs and tables the rooms are small and many tables and chairs cannot fit. I don’t know why but I love being happy and I play a lot and also read there .
/Grace Mosha
No tags
It is here in the mysa library that I am now able to speak and write. When I was born I did not know that I will one day be reading here. I used to play in the library go for a small and long call here and I could do nothing, I was small and our house was with padlock all the time. I did not know many people and I went to mysa to play with children there, sometimes they beat me hard and I cry and they lough
Now they don’t beat me , I am big and they are big and we are friends and we go to the library and read books and play games and the computer
I like coming to the library everyday it is good.
/Trevin Chesoni
No tags
Tears flow down my eyes every moment I look at my mum, her body that is small gives me fear day and night as I remember seeing her sleeping on the bed at the Kenyatta National Hospital. I was young and I was confused at the hospital as I tried looking for mum. She was in a room but I did not know which one . my love for her kept me going from room to room.
I got some help from some nurse and I was able to meet her. I was very happy to see her alive but with pipes ,she could not eat and because I was hungry I ate some fruits that were there for her. She could not talk but looked at me as tear went down her face.
My younger brother was there confused he knew nothing about sickness and so he jumped to the bed and I was forced to share the fruits with him to make him relax .
I never went back to see her again as it was very sad for me and after three weeks she was at home again , we were very happy again and she is good now. We love her a lot.
/Jane Mumbi
No tags
MYSA kids visit their peers in Czech Republic as part of the the Football for Development Exchange program.
It is sad when mum and dud go outside to look for food, we have not been able to get everything as we are not rich. I w ant one day for my father to have a good job and get good house and also get books for us and good food.
We cannot get everything we want from our friends as they also have not in their homs . I go sometimes in school with no food and water. We eat the food in the school and we are very happy as we can put small in the bag and go with at home we eat it also there. I don’t want to miss school becose at home we get sometimes no food to eat .
/Mathew Muindi
No tags
German television and radio station Deutche Welle visit MYSA and get to see the diversity of Mathare. MYSA treat them with dancing, football and daring acrobatics.
acrobatics · dancing · deutsche welle · mathare · mysa
Here’s a short video where you can see what Mathare looks like and hear how MYSA works to empower girls.
empowerment · girls · mathare · mysa
No tags
We have spent the day inside of one of Southern Africa’s largest slum areas – the Mathare slum – together with heaps of children and young people playing football. Our taxi driver is not happy over the fact that he has to drive us to the slum: “People are not friendly here. They are very bad. Very rough”. He tells us it’s his very first time ever going to the slum.
On the way to our destination we come across supporters with vuvuzelas on their way to the large football game of the day, that of Kenya and Uganda. Kenya lost the past few times the countries met, so expectations are high. We continue on narrow, bumpy clay paths in the slum. The car is now surrounded by men and women with their children. They are all on the way either to – or from – the market to do their Saturday shopping. Clothes, chicken, fabrics, tomatoes, plastic pots, bananas, plastic basins – everything is offered in a chaotic mix either on black plastic garbage bags on the ground – or in tiny little stands. Sandals made from old car tires hang for sale in long lines. I think that recycling must have been invented long before it became a concept in the western world.
Once we have reached our destination, we are saluted and welcomed by drums and dance outside of the newly opened MYSA office in Huruma. It is Haba na Haba playing to inform about HIV/AIDS protection. In a room inside of the office building, children jostle on the floor in order to read books in the newly opened library, open for children and youth from the area. In another room, a girl from MYSA talks with young girls about how to avoid getting pregnant and stay healthy.
After a while, we are dragged out to check out the football game between two MYSA girls’ teams. They are playing barefoot on a very dry gravel field. Around the field, large signs with the Björn Borg logo are placed.
On the side of the football fieldd, we meet Francis, 14 years old, who tells us that he just came from school to watch the game. He wants to become a doctor. “You have to study hard”, he says. He won’t go with his friends to the stadium where the international game is being played tonight - he needs to study! The only problem is that his brothers, who don’t study and are unemployed, steals his books “I don’t know what is wrong with them” he says. As the boys’ parents are unemployed as well, they can’t afford to pay the tuition fees. Therefore, he shines up like a little sun when he tells us that MYSA for real has changed his life since he won the scholarship that pays his tuition fees. He received it after hard work both on the soccer field and outside of the field, while picking garbage in the slum. That is how you collect points in order to qualify for the scholarships.
The afternoon is turning into evening and we decide to meet tomorrow again.
No tags
When I woke up in the morning I wash my body I wake up at 5:30am
I am 9 years old I learn at st james feeding program and learning project
in the school we learn
at break time we play
that day was good as I played a lot with my friends at break time
After break I went to class and enjoyed the teacher who was teaching us , she was nice . I went to eat lunch and after the day the bell rang and we went to the field and played ,
I went with friends to the library and read books with fun
I went home and my mum was there playing with my sister who is small. We cooked food and eat it , I went to bed very tired .