Rescuing 100 girls from early marriages in Kenya

Juhudi Children in Crisis project beneficiaries were among the over 800 youths who participated in a 4 day event dubbed “Youth Behaviour Change Easter Sports Festival 2009” The event which ran from 10th to 13th April 2009 at the TYSA grounds in Trans-nzoia East District was organized by Trans-nzoia Youth Sports Association (TYSA) in collaboration with World Vision Kenya. The theme of the sports extravaganza was “Shifting the youth to positive thinking” The objective of the event was to equip the youths with life skills for positive behavior change. Given that the youth are dynamic and innovative yet very destructive if not well directed, this was meant to create awareness as well as forestall harmful behaviour such as violence, drug abuse, irresponsible sex and indiscipline.

The medium of sports was used to reach out to the youth. Several activities were held including focused group discussions on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, career choice, positive thinking, self esteem and drug abuse. Also held were sports and games activities among them Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Netball, Darts, and Tug of war. Information sharing and exchange was well articulated through dissemination of Information, Education and Communication (I.E.C) materials, Music, poetry, dance and drama during the four days.

The event provided a perfect Easter holiday to the youth, as recreation, leisure and educative goals were all met at one go. The Juhudi project beneficiaries expressed their gratitude and satisfaction as it was highly beneficial to them. They would wish that the event be held annually, if other partners can support or sponsor the initiative. Please feel free to forward your feedback regarding this update.