GlobalGiving.org: The African Child Sport & Education Fund Needs You

Meet New Girl On The Block - Saada

Dr Liz Odera — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:34:58 GMT

Saada playing at Sadili Oval

If you walk into Sadili any cold early morning at 6.20 a.m. you will find her jogging, at 10 am, she will be holding her books smiling and chatting with her classmates as she prepares for her next class and at 4.00 p.m., she will be sweating her heart out on the tennis court. That is the new life of 10 year old Saada, from Burundi. Through the Education Fund, she hopes to have, not only a good education, but also that her life will change forever.

Saada comes form the clums of Bujumbura, where she is the youngest of four children, and lives with her mother, who was recently divorced from their father. Saada has always hoped to join Malezi School, where her brother, Hassan Ndayashimiye, lived, studies and trained for four years before moving to the ITF Centre in Pretoria. Hassan, a past beneficiary of the Sport and Education Fund, played Wimbledon and US Open Juniors this year, and is very pleased that his sister is following in his footsteps.

For Saada, the future is great, and with help from GlobalGiving, all is possible.

Sadili Oval Publishes First Online Newsletter

Dr Liz Odera — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 02:49:55 GMT

Sadili Oval Sports Academy is finally going digital!

In August this year, we launched our first online newletter, to ensure that every online supporter would get to know what we do and give quick feedback. Sadili is a social entrepreneurship, which means that we survive from balancing the donations we get with selling our services in order to support the more than 7000 children that we support through our programmes.

Enjoy the newsletter!

Links:

Sadili Oval News

Attachments:

Sadili August Newsletter (PDF)

Malezi Are National School Champions 2011

Dr Liz Odera — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 02:16:39 GMT

Richard Ooko in perfect balance

Captain Amadi Kagoma led Malezi School and Nairobi Province to successfully defend their Boys and Girls titles at the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association Games, which ended on the 13th August 2011. Amadi overcame the biggest opposition, pushing Tony Orwa of Central Province to second place. Malezi's Yasin Lila Shabani was third. In the boys doubles, Jamin Luvembe and Richard Ooko proved themselves worthy for the second year running, lifting the title with ease. Says Jamin, "We have been working hard all year, we just needed to keep doing the same".

At the nationals in Kisumu last year, rookies Lorna Bhwejje and Melissa Brown had difficulty keeping it together, and lost the doubles to Central Province at the semis, and it fell to Sakina Nshimirimana and Teresa Odera to work to win the championship trophy. This year, the more determined and confident pair, Lorna and Melissa took every match without dropping a single set, to keep the trophy at Malezi and earn valuable points for Nairobi Province for yet another year.

Captain Amadi's comment was "The standard of tennis has improved a lot, especially amongst the boys. But we have also improved, putting in a lot of effort, and it has paid. Being part of Sadili Talent Training Academy is also a big boost for us, giving us the confidence we need to play at any level. I am very proud to be part of Malezi School, and our team spirit will definitely carry us to perform well again next year". Amadi takes over captaincy from Terry Odera (2010), and will be leading the team into 2012 season. Teresa is a freshman playing varsity tennis in Iowa, USA.

Malezi School have been national champions for 9 years running and now taking their 10th, with successful teams ensuring that they keep winning the championships for Nairobi Province and their school.

Links:

malezi-school-are-national-tennis-sadili

Sadili's Own Hassan Plays Junior Wimbledon!

Beryl Jaseme — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:39:21 GMT

Hassan serves at Wimbledon

As Wimbledon giants Tomas Berdych, Serena and Venus Williams tumbled, East Africans had reason to smile as Hassan Ndayishimiye of Burundi today successfully made it through the first round of Wimbledon, beating Mattias Sborowitz of Chile, 6-3, 6-4 in the junior boys draw. Hassan, who had to go through a tough qualifying draw that saw him play and win against World class juniors, He is poised to meet Frederico Frere Silva of Portugal, who beat the 12th seed of the boys tournament to earn a second round berth.

Hassan hails from Buyenzi, a slum in the heart of Burundi, where his father, a coach at a local tennis club, first introduced him to tennis. Hassan was at 9 years when he was spotted by a international professional player, Martin Dzuwa, playing in the back courts of the club. He persuaded a local member, Kassie McIlvaine, to send him to a humble little 3-court tennis centre at the edge of Kibera, Africa's largest slum in Nairobi, called Sadili Oval Sports Academy. There he honed his skills under the watchful eye of PTR Professional Dr. Liz Odera and finally went to
formal school for 4 years before returning home.

Hassan received a scholarship to the ITF Centre in Pretoria where he has been for the last two years, and which changed his tennis life immensely as he was able to play many top level tournaments in Africa and more lately in Europe. Many of his friends and opponents alike will remember Hassan and how he lit up the tennis stage in Kenya as a little boy challenging and often winning matches against top juniors, many three to four times his age. Hassan's stab at Wimbledon is an inspiration to many children of Buyenzi, many of whom, like him, work as
hitters for the rich at the local tennis club. For them, now the sky is the limit. Kassie continues to watch and care for Hassan, and she was there to watch him win his first singles round at Wimbledon. This win makes Hassan the first Burundi national in history to advance in the main draw of Wimbledon.

Links:

Hassan Progresses To 2nd Round In Wimbledon

Henry Ayesiga Proves Himself Worthy

Rehema Akinyi — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:33:35 GMT

Happy Henry

13 year old Henry Ayesiga has won the ITF (International Tennis Federation) and CAT (Confederation of African Tennis) Under 14 Boys Title in Nairobi Kenya. Henry, who is a beneficiary of the African Sport and Education Fund, could hardly keep back his tears when the umpire called "Game, Set and Match".

I have waited for this moment for a long time, " said Henry "I worked very hard and I knew that it was just a matter of time. Last year, I lost in the semis, and then I lost in the finals at last week's tournament, and now I am champion".

Henry is one of 6 children in a family in which only the father earns a meager living in Kampala, Uganda. He joined Malezi School and Sadili Oval three years ago, where he gets an education as well as sports training.

Kids Join New Academy Programme

Zainab Gathoni — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:42:58 GMT

4 sponsored kids have successfully passed their interviews and qualified for new academy program that will see them develop their sports talents as well as enjoy a homeschooling process. Amadi Kagoma (Burundi), Jamin Luvembe (Kenya), Richard Ooko (Kenya), Dennis Lutaya (Uganda), and Henry Ayesige (Uganda) are all very excited about this new program. Says Jamin, "I have always dreamed of a day when I can start to really enjoy my tennis."

Amadi believes that he can finally get to be at par with other players of his age and ability around the world. "My best friend in South Africa, has been performing better than me in tennis, but I have been stronger at academics. A balance here will finally give us the edge over them".

And it has already begun to show. Since the academy opened its doors in January, everyone is up-beat, both in training and learning. Soon the tests begin......

Links:

About The Talent Academy Program

Amadi Kagoma Becomes Team Captain 2011

Sadili Communications — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:52:09 GMT

Amadi qualifying for the AJC in Abuja

My name is Amadi Kagoma. I was born in 1994 at a place call Buyenzi in Burundi. Buyenzi is a very small slum known widely in Eastern Africa. I was brought up in a very poor family and grow up in a very bad environment. My parent are jobless and we are ten in our family. I have been playing tennis since I was 8 years old. I used to follow other older kids to a local tennis club in Bujumbura, where I would pick balls for rich people, and later I picked up courage and started to play in the back courts, imitating how they played. Then I started to play with these rich members and their children in order to get some money to pay my school fees, buy myself clothes and sometimes, some meals for our family.

From the age of eleven, I developed a critical mind about tennis. I always wanting to know more about tennis but most of all, I really wanted to go a real school. You see, because of the wars, Burundi does not have stable public schools. Through tennis, I came to know that sports can take someone far and can earn someone a living, but that it wasn't enough because the rich people's kids all went to school and got big jobs when they completed their education. I decided to apply to for a scholarship to Malezi school since its in doing well both in sports and academically. I was so happy when Kassie McIlvaine and Liz Odera organised to help me join Malezi school in 2006 because I knew very well that I will improve game and the English language and go to a top school.

I have performed well in tennis where I am number two in Burundi both in juniors and seniors. I have played three Africa Junior Championships and I have reached two finals in doubles. I have been playing for my school where my strength is doubles, usually partnering with my former 4-year Captain, Joab Odera (who is now playing college tennis in USA), where we have helped keep Malezi as the national Schools Champion. This year was the singles champion at nationals school games in tennis. I am top-ranked in the Tennis Africa Cup Under 18 Boys. Malezi/Sadili has help me a lot in my life, training me how to grow my game, and helping me travel to different parts of the world, including Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, USA, UK and South Africa.
My dream is to perfect to play professional tennis or get a scholarship in America for further studies in order to depend myself in future.

Links:

Amadi Lifts Singles in National Secondary School Games

Aziza earns university placement!

Beryl Jaseme — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:39:43 GMT

Aziza Butoyi

The African Sports and Education Funds beneficiary and triple Kenya Open Champion, Aziza Butoyi, attended her first class at Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois, USA this week. Aziza is very excited (though a little bewildered) about being there and hopes to perform well, both in academics and in tennis. Aziza, hails from a slum in Bujumbura, Burundi, and is one of the regions best women tennis players, a talent that got her noticed by famous tennis coach, Dr. Liz Odera, who, together with a main sponsor Kassie McIlivaine, too her to school. Her commitment to hard work has paid off: a tennis scholarship to the USA. Aziza will be the first girl in her village (and the first in her family) to complete high school and attend university. Well done Aziza, and thank you Globalgiving, largest supporter of the fund, Kassie MacIlvaine and all those who have donated towards this project, you have certainly changed a life forever!

Links:

Aziza earns triple crown

Sakina and Terry Win Training Tour To USA

Beryl Akinyi — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:42:50 GMT

Sakina and Terry With Joab in USA

Two Malezi School students who train at Sadili Oval received sports training scholarships in February this year to Southern USA. Sakina Nshimirimana in South Florida, while Terry Odera has received a four month scholarship to train at the world famous Van der Meer Tennis Academy. Both girls have successfully represented their school and the region in tennis and are hoping to build strong careers that will combine tennis and college in the near future. Terry has completed her high school, while Sakina is expected to complete at the end of 2010.

Links:

Aziza Is Triple Champion And Signs NLI!

Beryl Akinyi — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:23:40 GMT

Aziza Meets The Press

Sadili' Oval's own Aziza Butoyi became the triple champion the Kenya Open this year, lifting the ladies singles, ladies doubles (with Ohmar Fernandes) and mixed doubles (with Amadi Kagoma). Aziza, who has been an beneficiary of the African Sport and Education Fund, could not hide her excitement when she recently received and accepted an offer to join a university in the USA in the Fall of 2010, on full tennis scholarship! Aziza's achievement proves that supporting this fund can truly change lives.

Aziza is currently studying Level I Sports certification and helping coach children in the programme at Sadili. She is also a competent mentor for two girls who wish to become great tennis players like her.

Links:

Aziza and Sakina To Complete High School

Margaret Mureithi — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:16:57 GMT

To all our friends in Global Giving and supporters: through your support, you have made the dreams of two girls begin to happen. Aziza and Sakina are due to complete high school and will be bidding farewell to Malezi School very soon! Although they will be sorely missed, it is a major feat that both girls have successfully completed their high school education and will only be left with SAT exams due in January 2010. Special recognition goes out to their main sponsor, Kassie McIlvaine, whose commitment and support to children in need from the slums of Bujumbura have been legendry, and to her friends and family. We also recognize Liz Odera, who took in the girls and treated them like her own daughters, caring and counseling and training them into the top players in the region that they are now. And to Francis Isiaho, who spent the last 5 months giving back to the community through tutoring a three top juniors that included Aziza in preparation for their finals. Next stop? Says Aziza “I want to be the first person in my family to complete high school and take a college degree”. Sakina? “I just want to play lots of tennis, if I get the chance to go on the professional women’s circuit, I am sure that I can be another Serena Williams”. All is possible!

Meet Amon and Robert

Dr. Liz Odera — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:59:49 GMT

Meet Amon Muinde and Robert Kasombo Yes, when you look at them, you can’t tell them apart – these two boys from the Kibera slums are twins. Since joining the program more than 5 years ago, Amomn and Robert have fought their way up to the top of the Tennis Africa Cup (www.tennisafrica.info) and are really very excited: they are finally at the top of the list for the next juniors to win the coveted scholarship to Malezi School, the academy school that provides education on behalf of Malezi Sports Academy. They both attended a rigourous interview at the school, and here is what the Deputy Principal, Mr. Francis Okong’o, had to say, “Coming from a non-formal school, their education levels are not at par with the other children in the school yet, but our tests have revealed that the boys are obviously well behaved, and quick learners, on top of being talented tennis and basketball players. We hope that they can come in early next year, should sponsorship funds be available”. With your help, we can give these two boys a stab at a better life, Go to: www.globalgiving.com/1853 The African Child Sport & Education Fund Needs You

Visiting Liz Odera, Sadili's programs, and the interviewing the community

Leah Ambwaya — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:15:50 GMT

If the world has never seen the next mother Theresa, then you are in for a rude shock, believe me , I met one recently. This incredible woman has touched the lives on many, some call her mama, others call her Daktari, the kiswahili version of doctor, I call her Mama Hope and the list of her names is endless. This is Dr Liz Odera, simple and very simple indeed, from her way of dressing to her car and her hairstyle, very sportish though, you can be sure this lady is not anywhere close to having high blood pressure despite the amount of work revolving around her.

I met her an evening prior to my visit, for the monitoring exercise, my wildest of thoughts let me down. She was simple, humble and yet articulate. She kept her academic title away for this day, and kept my heart melting away, a few kids in school uniforms milled around her as we treated ourselves to a concorsion of sprite , ginger ale and fresh lemon. She introduced me to the kids as her friend. This made the kids feel at ease. "Tell my friend about yourself, she softly requested the two boys."

I could see the trust in their eyes. The two boys opened up and their story on how much Daktari has impacted positively in their lives. But they said," you must work hard in sports to earn the scholarships in this place. Once you are here you get the best. Mama gives us the best education. We love her," they say.

I try my best to provide a future for these children, It has been a sacrifice from my family and friends to come this far, it has been expensive, but we have no regrets.

I ask why she got herself into all this work. "We are a family that is blessed in academics and we wanted to share in our blessings with others and the best way for us was to reach out to these children, who would most probably never have seen the door to a school. So we gave it the best shot and here we are."

I keep wondering to myself why that level of simplicity, so I collect my courage and ask.

"You can only reach the groups we work with in simplicity and that has been my brand, I love being simple," Liz said. A few more kids hover around her and one of them is her daughter, she treats her the same way, makes introductions and then calmly but firm, tells her, "I will talk to you honey, when am done with my visitor," she tells her daughter.

This woman has extended her hands of love to many young people and facilitated lasting change in their lives. How do you survive all these? was my question to her, "I have learnt to delegate, the beneficiaries both present and past have given their all to serve, that is the only way they can give back to society, this is all about putting some value systems in our children. We do not only teach and train, but we mentor." I am glad that I took my evening off to get to know this incredible woman, so I fix my formal appointment for the next day.

This woman, has invested in humanity, in love, hope and a future, and for her, I could tell, it is about others, not about her, in her whole life's equation, she came last, but fulfilled.

============================ Please download the full evaluation on the site (below). Here is an excerpt of what Leah wrote:

The clear focus on sports for mentorship of responsible future citizens of Kenya can not be underscored. Both beneficiaries and benefactors view the project with a lot of pride, they all want to be part of this success story.

The community talks well of the project.

The community offers free labor and time to the project.

The funds, have gone towards providing scholarships for vulnerable youth from Kibera slums in Nairobi, hosting soccer tournaments and provision of eqiupments to enhance social change amongst the youth, feeding program, training coaches and construction of toilets in Kibera (just to note that all financial records were availed to us for scrutiny).

============================ Interviews with community:

Faiz Magak

Says the relationship between Sadili and the kibera community is quite mutual and the benefits can easily be felt or rather seen on the ground. It is because of this that he prefers to talk less but rather invite visitors to take a field trip with him to actually have a firsthand experience on what’s happening and hear it verbatim from the horse’s mouths.

Faiz tells me “Sadili is a path for the youth leading people towards the light. Personally I wasn’t a sports person but now I am a sports enthusiast, so you can imagine what it can do to the youth.”

Kibera has some areas that had been completely ignored by other NGO’s but thanks to Sadili an area like Katwekera now has a toilet. He informs me that Sadili was actively involved in drawing the country’s sports policy where members of parliament are setting up sports centres through the Constituency Development Fund. He concludes, “you see all this things are visible - you don’t need to scream about them”.

Francis Isiaho

During our interview with Liz, Francis kept appearing on the scene to give our host updates and to us he was one of the normal beneficiaries, but this was not to be when I decided to have a one on one chat with him to find out exactly what he is being trained on.

Born 19 years ago in the slums of kibera Francis attended Olympic primary school but dropped out because his parents were not able to afford the kind of school that was being charged by the school.

During one of his strolls in the slum he saw banners highlighting a football tournament dubbed "nature in sports" organised by Sadili sports club. The tournament mainly involved children from the slums. He fell in love with the programme and has never looked back. Francis later joined Raila Educational school where he sat for his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education where he scored 398 marks out of the possible 500. He joined Chavakali High school through the sponsorship of Sadili Oval. He sat for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in the year 2008 where he passed with a mean grade of A- and is soon joining the university to pursue a career in Bio chemistry. Due to the demand of his career path, Francis has decided to give the programme his maximum time by being involved in various activities, Apart from being the rugby coach he assists in Soccer, tennis and is also involved in the after school programmes by offering tuition services to those students who are weak in science subjects, to Francis just to quote him he says “Basically Sadili is a bridge to greater heights if you implement the teachings and empowerment offered by the institution” Francis is happy of have been the person behind the 5th annual langata youth soccer league which ran from 9th to 30 July bringing together 284 teams and among those who attended include The Right Hon Prime Minster Raila Odinga,The French ambassador to Kenya,Mr Abbas Gullet the sec of Red Cross. During the event over 200 trees were planted. Being aware of the kind of support received from Global giving ,he wishes Global Giving could market itself more for the world to know the kind of work they are doing to kids out there who think their life is hopeless .

Attachments:

Joab Odera To Play University Tennis

Dr. Liz Odera — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:50:06 GMT

Joab Odera of Malezi School has been awarded a scholarship to attend university and play division 1 tennis at Winston Salem State University. Joab will be the secong player in two years in our program who has done so, after Rahab Mbugua joined Cumberland University. His attendance will serve to encourage more youth to achieve in their academics as welll as sports, knowing that their dreams can also come true

Bwire Wins Scholarship To Secondary

Dr. Liz Odera — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:38:29 GMT

Bwire in his new uniform

15 year old Bwire of Katwekera, Kibera, has won a scholarship to attend Langata Secondary School in Form 1 through funds from GlobalGiving. Bwire is the third recipient, and the second soccer player to win this opportunity through the Sport and Education Fund. Bwire's father lost his job soon after the post election crisis in January 2009, and the family has relied on help from the community.

MEET RICHARD OOKO

DR. LIZ ODERA — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 05:39:26 GMT

Date of birth: 30-3-1992

Every morning these days, Richard leaves his family’s home in the sprawling Kibera slums very early to walk across Nairobi River to his new school. Once in the compound, you will often find him standing there, admiring the school, and you can almost hear him say “I can’t believe that I can actually enter such a school!”

Richard is the first recipient of 2008 Sports and Education Fund. Richard’s family moved to Kibera from Kano (rural area to the west of Kenya) in search of survival following constant flooding of their small farm, and inability to grow any crops. He was three years old. He is the second born of four children; his older brother, Samuel Otieno is sponsored through high school by a doctor in whose clinic, Robert’s father, Charles Onyango, works as a messenger/clerk. His mother is a house help in a lower middle class estate in South C area in Nairobi, where she earns and average of US$ 36(20 pounds) a month from washing clothes and cleaning the home.

Robert’s family would like him to get a good education, but can only afford a non-formal school within the slum, with untrained volunteer staff, and where the school fees (without books or stationary) charged is US$1.4. and the pass rate in the national exams is hardly 15%. Richard is a very happy recipient of the education fund.

Sadili Wins Second Chege Challenge Award!

Liz Odera — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 03:10:43 GMT

Sadili Oval is very happy to be, once again, a winner of the Chege Challenge Award.

To commemorate the life work of Geoffrey Chege, CARE USA in collaboration with Nike and Global Giving, teamed up to offer the Chege Challenge for Sports for Social Change Initiative partners in East Africa in 2007. The Chege Challenge offers matching grants of $1000 for successful online fundraising.

Geoffrey Chege, a 25 year veteran of CARE, was killed in Nairobi in early 2007. Chege directed CARE USA’s programs in East and Central Africa and was committed to serving Africa’s poor and vulnerable. Chege was a strong advocate of gender equity and equality and believed that the SSCI was an innovative approach to reach youth. As we struggle to bring dignity and hope to the world’s downtrodden, Chege’s life and sacrifices continue to shape and inspire the people who knew him.

Sadili Oval’s Global Giving reference #1853: African Child Sport and Education Fund will receive US$ 1000 (one thousand). An additional grant will be awarded to Sadili Oval for having the highest percentage of unique donors.

Thank you all supporters, and thank you NIKE, CARE and GlobalGiving: this means that we can put one more talented child to special school!

Update from Kenya

Liz Odera — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:31:36 GMT

Great news: The French Embassy has donated enough money to keep many affected children eating for the next couple of months - hopefully, it will help stabilize them while all the chaos is going on.

In addition, they have requested that we assist with providing support to other groups in Kibera, Kisumu, Mathare, Kitale and Nakuru. Funds will be used to provide emergency feeding, build toilets, provide medicine for the sick and those with special medical illnesses, provide temporary shelter (now that the rains have begun), connect water supply, and chemicals to a district hospital mortuary. To do this, we will be working with organisations that include, Action Against Hunger, WOFAK (Women Fighting Against AIDS in Kenya), and Handicapped International. We are confident that this emergency programme from the Government of France will make a real difference at a time that many Kenyans are suffering and need a helping hand.

We are, after this stage going to need to do the following:

1. Look at ways in which we may build a soup few kitchens that will provide regular feeding for children only, to ensure that they can keep healthy. Establishing a soup kitchen will cost Kshs. 690,000 or US$ 9324 or Euros 7040.

2. Begin a healing series of counseling workshops, as many children have been traumatised by what they have seen and experienced, especially the girls. This can be done through sports and social workshops. This will require expertise, and would work best with qualified volunteers.

3. Donate towards schooling and books, to ensure that kids can continue to learn, inspite of everything. Schools have opened, but many lack the important learning materials. It will cost Euros 113 or US$ 150 per school to get shared chalk, exercise books and pens. We have isolated 34 schools within the worst hit in Kibera that are still active, at least in some reasonable way and judge that they will serve as the safest place for the children to be during the day (safety in numbers and better adult supervision).

4. Provide solar lighting to provide added security in an area that lacks electricity, which will have the added value of ensuring that children in the family can get to study. This part of an ongoing, but struggling project, in which we are hoping to provide a solar lamp each to 1500 families and after-school learning groups in Kibera, confident that it will serve to improve the learning environment and success of those families. (See Project on Solar Lamps on GlobalGiving—link is given below)

5. Seek clothing, toys and shoes that will assist children get through the Nairobi cold that has begun with the typical cold breeze. This has already started amongst Sadili's friends within Nairobi, and has made a reasonable impact, but much more needs to be done locally.

We are opening a well-manned coordinating office from Monday 21st January 2007 to ensure that all donations are well documented and a report is published to ensure proper accountability. We hope to run this office to the end of March 2007, when we hope that everything will have stabilised and most support services can wind down. We will, however, continue with the usual projects such as this one and the African Child Sport and Education fund (links given below).

Also do view our video at the link given below made by the children.

Sincerely,

Liz Odera

Links: