Drama, Dance, Music, & Sport for Kisumu Youth

In early October, the Manyatta Youth Resource Centre, (MYRC) principally funded by Equip Manyatta, was happy to host a visit from GlobalGiving representatives Kyra and Sarah.  They were on a mission to Kenya from GlobalGiving to learn more about partner organizations who work to alleviate food insecurity.  Much of their time was spent in Nairobi, but they were also able to visit us and other partner groups in Kisumu.    

Since MYRC’s early days, we have hosted a weekend lunch for program participants, their families, and others in the neighborhood.  People of all ages come to have a healthy meal.  During the Covid lockdown, the MYRC was a trusted partner for a number of governmental and non-governmental food donors who knew the MYRC would assure that their donations would reach the intended recipients.  These included schools and households.  

Food security is only one of many MYRC programs.  MYRC leaders took the visitors around the community, showing them households, markets, and landmarks so they would have a clear understanding of who the MYRC programs serve.  We shared our history and some of our achievements and success stories.  Along with computer training, photography, music, and film production, we have been partnering with local organizations to provide information about gender-based violence, communicable disease prevention, cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and malaria and the surge of sickle cell cases triggered by these infections.  We are currently focused on plans for our year-end Life-Skills Festival.  The GlobalGiving team promised to help us expand our network so we can increase our effectiveness even more.

The MYRC group included Victor, Junior Team Coach and Office Assistant; Caren, our Treasurer and Coach; Simon, Junior Team Coach; Benjamin, Coach and Communication specialist; Lenox, Computer assistant; Emily, Health Partner; Sharon, Graduate in Medicine and Surgery; Edelqueen, a Program Participant; Christian, Film and Photography mentor and Footballer; Byron, Film and Photography mentor; and Oballah, MYRC’s General Manager.   It was a vibrant interaction with an enthusiastic interchange of ideas.

We greatly appreciate the time that Sarah and Kyra spent with us and their insightful attention to the issues we face in our community.  GlobalGiving has been a strong partner for MYRC and Equip Manyatta since our founding.  We look forward to continuing to learn from each other in the future.  

Your contributions will help continue this work, both for the MYRC and GlobalGiving.  Thank you for your many years of support! 

Life in Kisumu is returning to a more normal pace now. The Manyatta Youth Resource Centre (MYRC), primarily funded by Equip Manyatta, continues to provide a wide variety of activities and opportunities as a well-established focus for local youth and the manyatta community.   

In partnership with other local organizations, the MYRC was part of the May 7 celebration of World Orphans Day.  This year’s theme was: Family is the Best Place for a Child – Preventing Family Separation.  In conjunction with World Orphans Day, our media team put together a video that uses drone footage and ground shots to acquaint the viewer with the manyatta community and the Orphans Day event. The movie is another example of the multi-faceted approach the MYRC takes. The viewer has a much better understanding of the community and its needs and the video team improved their skills.

The MYRC provides many services, but one that is close to our heart is support for our participants’ education. General Manager Oballah was informed about a particularly worthy young student who was going to have to drop out of secondary school for lack of tuition and supplies in spite of a very good academic and social record. We often do not have enough funding to underwrite secondary education, but thanks to a recent generous donation, Equip Manyatta was able to pay for W’s tuition and supplies. The son of a struggling single mother, we hope to ensure W will graduate from Secondary School in a few years.  

Our dance team Black Dimension has been invited by the Agricultural Society of Kenya to participate in their Kisumu Regional Show in July.  The team, jointly sponsored by COFAS, the Community Forum for Advanced and Sustainable Development, which is focused on women’s empowerment issues, had won 2^nd Place in a major regional talent show prior to the pause caused by Covid.  Their memorable performance led this year’s event organizers to ask them to perform again.  Performing in front of an audience of many hundreds of people builds confidence. Choreography and rehearsal are well underway.

The MYRC office is a hub of activity where the community gathers, workshops are held, and the weekly lunch program happens. Now, thanks to a generous donation, our new WiFi provides a solid connection so our computers are finally linked to the internet.  This has been a long-standing goal that is finally attained.  However, the connection fees must be paid every month, so we will need to make sure that can happen. This opens many opportunities for MYRC participants to learn how to access information and create new ways to generate income. 

MYRC youth participated in several World Environment Day events in June.  Senior players for Manyatta United participated in a tree planting and beautification effort next to Moi Stadium, where they often play matches.  Saplings were provided and our team members spent the day digging holes and planting the trees. In a few years’ time this open field will be a lovely, shady place where the community can relax out of the sun. MYRC leadership stresses the importance of improving our community. And our young people have fun while they do the work together.

MYRC also partnered with St. Theresa Girls School Wildlife and Environment Club for World Environment Day, holding a get-together with the special emphasis on this year’s theme, Solutions to Plastic Pollution.  Only about 8% of plastic is recycled in Kenya and plastic is a major pollutant in Lake Victoria, where Kisumu is located. Events like this help our youth understand the importance of issues like recycling and engage them in contributing to solutions. 

Football is one of the many ways the MYRC attracts young people to come together for a better life.  Every year a new group of youngsters learns how to work together to play a good game.  The MYRC has proven to be a real training ground for some major talent. MYRC GM Oballah recently hosted three major players in Kenya football history, former National Football Team stars Winna Shilavula and Sammy Shollei along with US-based former Harambee Stars midfielder Sammy ‘Kempes’ Owino, who now runs AYSES Soccer Club, a youth soccer club in McKinney, Texas near Dallas. He introduced the trio, who are working to raise the level of training and play in Kenya, to the MYRC and our Manyatta United teams. Not only is it fun for our young people to meet football legends like these, connections like this can lead to much needed contributions, such as Owino’s large donation of balls and kit. 

Manyatta United is thrilled to begin the qualification games for the new round of the Chapa Dimba na Safaricom national tournament.  When it was last held in 2019, after winning many local and regional play-offs, our senior men’s team won the Kenya National Championship!  This is the first time for the tourney since Covid and we are excited to participate. Both Ladies’ and Men’s teams will be competing.  But it does take extra money for travel, so please keep that in mind.  

The Manyatta Youth Resource Centre provides such a variety of activities and opportunities for girls and boys, young women and men! Now that their world is again opening up to normal activities, these young people can count on the MYRC to provide fun, practical knowledge, and a vision for a better future.  But we can only do it with your support! Thank you so much for all your help in the past. We hope you will continue with your generous donations!