Empowering children through rugby

By Rebecca Gichana

Simon Karanja, the captain of the under-12 Runda Rugby club gets his inspiration for playing rugby from professional rugby player Humphrey Kayange who plays for Kenyan Seven’s team. This is what made him join a rugby club to realise his dream.

"Kayange has extra ordinary speed when he plays and last year, I watched him play at Nyayo National Stadium with big teams like Samurai," says Karanja.

Last weekend they beat Kerara- Pon team 2-1 where he scored for his team. He also plays for his school rugby team, Kasarini Primary School, Kiambu.

According to one of the organisers, Kicheki Kombo, the initial objective targeted to train children from Runda at a fee. But during the training session, children from the nearby Githogoro slum turned up to watch the training sessions showing interest in the training.

The challenge, though, Kicheki says was they couldn’t raise the training fee that was being charged by the coaches. But after wide consultation, we decided to invite the children from the slum to join Runda boys.

"This attracted a large number of young players causing some of the boys from Runda estate to pull out.

"The boys can now play together without any problems arising. This has made the coaches seek assistance from established rugby institutions for advice and assistance," says Kicheki.

So far, more than 80 children have shown interest. To take care of this growing number centres have been established to take care of the growing population. These are Ngong, Bulbul, Matasia and Posta.

The community rugby project has since established monthly tournament series that engage children from different age groups.

According to the Chairman, Patrick Lamok, the association seeks to offer an avenue for children to play rugby.

"It seeks to tap and nurture talent in rugby as a way of offering children and youths with a source of livelihood and keep them away from crime and drugs.