Why is it called the Mathare Youth Sports Association?

We call ourselves the Mathare Youth Sports Association because all our young members and youth leaders are from families living in the Mathare valley and neighbouring slums. We purposely chose that name because one of our goals is to change the bad and unfair reputation of Mathare.

Where are the Mathare slums?

The Mathare slums are only a few kilometres northwest of the fancy hotels and shops in the centre of Kenya's capital, Nairobi. The Mathare River runs through Nairobi and passes through the richest residential area, Muthaiga, where many diplomats and businessmen live. The Mathare slums start a few hundred metres downstream from them so some of the richest and poorest are neighbours but live in two opposite and separate worlds.

How big are the Mathare slums?

The Mathare area is one of the largest and poorest slums in Africa and home for around half a million adults and children. Over 70% are hardworking mothers and their children whose fathers died or abandoned their family. But one problem about Mathare and other slums is there are so few studies and facts available. When the United Nations collects statistics they use only two categories, urban and rural . The slums with their urban poor are hidden inside the urban statistics, just as the slums are hidden in the city too so few visitors ever see them. Yet in Nairobi and many other big cities in Africa, more than half the population live in slums.

What are the Mathare slums like?

Many families of five or more adults and children live in small shacks about three metres square made of mud, sticks, cardboard and flattened tins. The wall of one shack is the same for the next. Our homes have no water, no electricity, no toilets, no garbage collection and no drainage ditches. When it rains, the roof leaks. Water also pours through and under the walls. On sunny days it is still too dark to read and do schoolwork inside. As the sun is too hot outside, we cook inside on small charcoal stoves. Even though we have little worth stealing, as soon as it starts getting dark we must lock our doors.

Why are the people of Mathare so poor?

We did not chose to be poor. We and our parents were born poor. Our families remain poor largely because of neglect and corruption in our government. Even donor aid agencies often neglect Mathare and other urban slums because they think slums are too difficult and dangerous so find it easier to work in rural areas. But MYSA is lucky to have many friends, especially in Norway and Holland.

What is the biggest worry?

Getting sick and dying is our biggest worry. We cannot afford to be sick or to get proper treatment when we are. Water is also a big problem. We must buy our water in 10-20 litre containers and carry them home. That is the same as 1-2 flushes of a toilet but it has to last our families for a whole day or more. We even pay more per litre for our water than the rich people who get it through their taps. A lot of sickness is caused by too little water or too much water. When it rains a lot, the water flows through the garbage and human waste, down the hill and through our homes. Then we are surrounded by contaminated water and many kids get sick and die. Getting AIDS is also a serious threat in the slums.

Are people in Mathare bitter or depressed?

Although we have lots of reasons to be, we aren't. We can't afford to get bitter or depressed and give up because then we will die. We are just too busy struggling to survive for another day. In our small neighbourhoods we share and help each other a lot. If our mother gets sick and is the only one earning money to pay for our rent and food, our family really suffers. That is why our mothers belong to different self-help groups because 10 or 20 members don't all get sick at the same time. So we help each other get through the bad times.

What is MYSA?

MYSA is a development project which pioneered the linking of sports with social improvement and community development activities. Today MYSA is the largest self-help youth sports and community service organization in Africa. Over 15,000 youth now participate in the different MYSA programmes. Another 10,000 youth from eight countries participate in a similar MYSA-initiated project in the Kakuma refugee camp in northwest Kenya.

When did MYSA start?

We started in 1987 as a small self-help youth project to organize our own sports. In 1988 we started our slum garbage and environmental cleanup projects, adopted our Constitution and registered legally as a non-governmental, non-political and non-profit organization under the Societies Act of Kenya.

How did MYSA start?

MYSA was founded by a Canadian working as a United Nations adviser on sustainable development, Bob Munro, with some members of a youth group at the nearby St. Teresa's church. Bob says MYSA is his payback to the volunteer fathers who organized the youth sports leagues when he was growing up in the town of St. Catharines in Ontario. For Bob and his friends, he says school was what they did in between Saturdays when they eagerly competed with and against their friends. He says he learned a lot about teamwork, self-discipline and life through sports and wanted the Mathare youth to get the same chance. Bob is still the Chairman of the MYSA Board of Trustees.

How do youth become members?

Any youth in the Mathare and neighbouring slums becomes a member by joining a local MYSA team or project. As their families are far too poor, there are no fees or other charges.

What does MYSA do?

MYSA organizes a wide range of sports and community development activities. Highlights include:

•  Involving youth in development: Youth are over half the population in Mathare and Africa. Their many talents and concerns are often neglected in development plans and projects. The main goal and motto of MYSA is to ' Give youth a sporting chance ' to help themselves and their community. We train our own leaders in courses run by our MYSA Sports and Community Leadership Academy. Our long-term goal is to help develop the leadership skills and leaders needed to help build the new Kenya.

•  Linking sport and environmental cleanup: Sport is often ignored or treated as a marginal and elite activity in development plans and projects. The same plans often appeal for greater public 'participation' and 'mobilization' but with limited success. MYSA is based on the simple fact that every football team is a 'mobilized' youth group. The over 1,200 MYSA boys and girls teams play matches and carry out weekly environmental cleanup projects.

•  Reducing diseases and death in slums: Uncollected garbage and blocked drainage ditches are major causes of disease, disability and deaths in Mathare. The greatest threat is during the seasonal rains when water contaminated by garbage and human waste floods around and even into our homes. Our youth carry out weekly garbage and drainage cleanup projects. Teams earn six points in the league standings for each completed project.

•  Tackling the AIDS threat: Poverty and ignorance are major causes of AIDS. Like many slums, Mathare is a high risk area. Over 350 Mathare youth leaders between 13-20 years old have been trained on AIDS prevention and counselling. Most are top players as they are a vulnerable and high risk group. But as the new heroes in Mathare, they are also the most effective way to reach other youth with crucial information on AIDS risks and prevention.

•  Reducing substance abuse: To blur the edges of their tough lives, too many youth sniff glue and petrol and abuse drugs and alcohol. A top priority in MYSA is to provide every team with footballs so they can train regularly. That helps many to stop because of peer pressure from teammates to keep fit. These issues are also part of all our AIDS training workshops.

•  Helping young leaders stay in school: Due to their large families and desperate poverty, many youth are forced to leave school. Under the MYSA Leadership Awards scheme, Mathare youth earn points for their achievements in different sports and community service activities. Over 400 awards are now made annually to cover the tuition fees and help the best young leaders remain in school. The award is paid directly to the school of their choice.

•  Helping Mathare youth excel in school: Without electricity it is too dark for our youth to read or study at home even at noon and few schools in Mathare have libraries. MYSA has now established small libraries and study halls in three MYSA zones which are used by local school classes during the week and our own members on the weekends. They are so popular that we now aim to create one in each of the remaining 13 MYSA zones.

•  Encouraging young artistic talents: Our programmes include training youth in dancing, drumming and singing as well as drama and puppetry. Their performances highlight key social issues such as AIDS and drug and alcohol abuse. The MYSA Wayo Wayo group produced a music CD in conjunction with its 2003 Norway tour and the Haba na Haba group of 11-14 year olds performed at the 2004 and 2005 Haugesund Children's Festivals in Norway .

•  Helping jailed kids: Over a hundred streetkids from 4-16 years old are processed weekly at the Juvenile Court. The kids were held in two small cells without lights, seats, ventilation or toilets. In cooperation with local authorities, MYSA helped renovate the court facilities and also feed and interview the kids. Our staff help contact and return them to their families and then link their families with a micro-savings and loan programme for improving the family income.

•  Changing gender attitudes: Traditional views of men toward women and of women about themselves are serious constraints on social and political development. Both views changed among the Mathare youth since the mid-1990s with the rapid success of the girls football teams in Kenya and abroad and the integration of girls in the MYSA decision-making committees and staff. Top girls players now even coach and referee younger boys teams.

•  Practicing good governance and accountability: MYSA is owned and run by the youth. There are over 100 leagues in the 16 MYSA zones. All key decisions are made by locally elected youth leaders. The best leaders are elected to the overall MYSA executive bodies. The average age of our several hundred MYSA volunteer organizers, leaders, coaches and referees is 16 years. Our accounts are independently audited every year.

•  Expanding horizons and hopes: Through their many achievements on and off the field our youth acquire new self esteem and confidence. The over 500 Mathare youth who participated in the Norway Cup and lived with host families returned home with new views about themselves, the world and their future. Many of our best leaders and players are Norway Cup 'graduates'. Others have earned diplomas or are still pursuing advanced studies in accounting, business administration, computer programming and medicine.

•  Creating new role models: As too many fathers neglect or abandon their families, the survival of many kids depends entirely on their hardworking mothers. Lacking other male role models, the top players, coaches and youth leaders in MYSA have become the new heroes and role models for the youth in Mathare and for millions of youth in other poor urban and rural communities in Kenya.

•  Changing public images of slums: When MYSA started our youth rarely admitted being from Mathare because of the bad and unfair public image of the slums. The print and TV news reports about MYSA achievements on and off the field helped change those attitudes in and outside Kenya. So did the unique 'Shootback' book of photographs taken by trained MYSA youth on their lives and living conditions which was published and sold worldwide.

•  Changing distorted images of Africa: Drought, famine, corruption and war too often dominate news reports on Africa. That distorts reality as the poor majority of people in Africa are peaceful, honest, hardworking and young. Projects like MYSA and the youth exchanges with Norwegian host families help change distorted attitudes and images about Africa, about the poor and slums in Africa and about development aid for Africa.

Does MYSA help youth outside the Mathare slums?

Yes. For example, MYSA's jailed kids project helps all kids. Although many are from Math-are, more than half of the jailed kids are from other slums in Nairobi as well as poor communities in central and western Kenya who are escorted home by MYSA staff. In the last ten years MYSA also assisted the 'Moving the Goalposts' project for girls in Kilifi on the coast and initiated the Kakuma refugee camp project for youth from eight countries. MYSA staff are presently helping set up similar youth and community service projects in Botswana , Tanzania and Uganda . With the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement and youth leaders trained by MYSA in the Kakuma refugee camp, we are helping launch a new "Give Peace and Youth a Sporting Chance" pilot project in Rumbek in southern Sudan.

What has MYSA achieved?

A summary of Mathare youth achievements is included in Annex 1.

How is MYSA funded?

MYSA depends on donor funding as the families of our youth are far too poor to pay any fees and there are few other opportunities for MYSA to generate income from activities in such a desperately poor area as the Mathare slums. In the last decade the largest part of our budget has been from the people of Norway through NORAD and the Strømme Foundation. Other key partners include the Netherlands Development Cooperation Agency, the Royal Netherlands Football Academy and the World Sports Academy/Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. A list of key partners is in Annex 2.

How can others help MYSA?

Individuals and organizations can make either general or project-specific contributions to MYSA. For example, many individuals prefer to contribute to the MYSA Leadership Awards Project where a donation of Ksh 12,000 (US$160; €130) helps keep a young leader in school for another year.

What has MYSA achieved?

A summary of Mathare youth achievements includes:

Key MYSA achievements

Key achievements in Kenya

1987 First football leagues in Kenya and Africa organized by youth on a self-help basis
1988 First in Kenya and Africa to organize U12 boys football leagues
1988 Kenyan U18 Boys Champions
1991 Provincial U16 Boys Champions
1991 Boit Ghetto Cup U16 Boys Champions
1992 First in Kenya and Africa to organize U12 and U14 girls football leagues
1994 First in Kenya and Africa to train young footballers on AIDS prevention
1994 Provincial U18 Boys Champions
1996 First MYSA players joined the Kenyan national team
1996 Provincial U18 Boys Champions
1997 Provincial U17 Boys Champions
1997 Kenyan Women's Football Champions
1998 Mathare United won the Moi Golden Cup
1999 MYSA "Shootback" photography book launched in London
1999 Provincial U17 Boys Champions
1999 Mathare United win Kenya Hedex Millennium Cup
2000 Started MYSA-type programme in Kakuma Refugee Camp
2000 Mathare United win the Moi Golden Cup
2001 Started the Mathare Youth (U18) professional team
2003 Started the Mathare United Women's professional team
2003 MYSA music, dancing and singing group released first CD and toured Norway
2004 Mathare Youth (U21) qualify for the KFF Premier League
2006 MYSA "Images in the "MDG's" photography book launched in Canada

International achievements

1988 First organization in the world to link sports with environmental cleanup
1992 Eco-Youth Games U16 Champions in Brazil
1995 Norway Cup U12 Boys (Gold)
1996 First girls team from Africa to participate in the Norway Cup
1997 Norway Cup U12 Boys (Bronze) and U14 Girls (Bronze)
1998 Norway Cup U12 Boys (Gold) and U14 Girls (Silver)
1999 First player won a scholarship to a college abroad
1999 First player joined a professional team in Europe
1999 Norway Cup U12 Boys (Gold)
2000 Norway Cup U13 Boys (Bronze) and U14 girls (Silver)
2001 Colour Line Cup and Dana Cup U13 Boys Champions
2001 Norway Cup U13 Boys (Gold), U14 Girls (Gold) and U16 Boys (Silver)
2002 Norway Cup U13 Boys (Gold), U14 Girls (Bronze) and U16 Boys (Bronze)
2003 Norway Cup U13 Boys (Gold)
2004 MYSA coaches lead high-level KNVB courses in Mozambique and Zambia
2005 Norway Cup U14 Girls (Silver)
2006 East African Cup U14 Girls (Gold), U16 Boys (Gold), U18 Girls (Gold)
2006 MYSA win first StreetFootballWorld tournament in parallel with World Cup in Berlin

International awards

1992 UNEP Global 500 Award for environmental innovation/achievement (Rio de Janeiro)
1999 Global Help for Self-Help Prize by the Strømme Foundation (Oslo City Hall)
1999 MYSA/Brumunddal project cited as a model in the European Year Against Racism
2000 First World Sports Academy/Laureus Sport for Good Project (Monaco)
2001 First CAF African Youth Development Award (Johannesburg)
2002 Named CECAFA Model Club for East and Central Africa (Kigale)
2003 Prince Claus Award for cultural achievement (Amsterdam)
2003 Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (Oslo)
2004 World Sports Academy/Laureus Sport for Good Award (Lisbon)
2004 Re-nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (Oslo)
2004 International Fair Play Prize (Athens)

KEY Mathare Youth Partners

Government

Attorney General's Chambers (Jailed Kids Project)
Brumunddal Municipality, Norway (Youth Exchange Project)
Kristiansand Municipality, Norway (Youth Exchange Project)
Ministry of Gender, Sport, Culture and Social Services (Sports and Jailed Kids Projects)
Ministry of Health (AIDS Prevention Project)
Ministry of Home Affairs and National Heritage (Jailed Kids Project)
Ministry of Local Government (Slum Cleanup Project)
Nairobi City Council (Slum Cleanup Project)
Norwegian Ministry of Environment (Slum Cleanup Project)
Øygard Municipality, Norway (Youth Exchange Project)
Provincial Children's Department (Jailed Kids Project)

Sports Associations

Commonwealth Games Association of Canada
FIFA: Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Youth Exchange/Girls Football Projects)
I.K. Start Life Support, Norway (Sports Project)
Kenyan Football Federation (Sports Project)
Kenyan Football Referees Association (MYSA Sports and Community Leadership Academy)
Kristen Idrettskontakt, Norway (Projects in Tanzania and Uganda)
Laureus Sport for Good Foundation (Community Centre and Leadership Awards Projects)
Netherlands National Sports Council (Sports and Refugee Kids Projects)
Norway Cup (Youth Exchange Project)
Royal Netherlands Football Association Academy (MYSA Academy/Refugee Kids Projects)
StreetFootballWorld, Germany (Youth Exchange Project)
Union Sports Club, Nijmegen, Netherlands (Youth Exchange Project)

Private Sector

Kapa Oils Ltd, Kenya (Mathare United FC)
K. D. Wire, Kenya (Slum Cleanup Project and Mathare United FC)
Macharia Njeru Advocates, Kenya (Legal advisers/Jailed Kids Project)
NIKE (Girls Football Project)
Patel, Shah and Joshi, Kenya (External Auditors)
Safaricom Kenya Ltd (Mathare United FC)
Sara Lee Kenya Ltd (Mathare North Zone and Slum Library/Study Halls Projects)
The Simkins Partnership, England (International legal advisers)

International Agencies

British High Commission (Slum Libraries and Study Halls Project)
FORD Foundation (Photography Training Project)
HABITAT: United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Youth Exchange Project)
Haugesund Children's Festival, Norway (Youth Exchange Project)
International Labour Organization (Elimination of Child Labour Project)
Jamii Bora Trust, Kenya (Jailed Kids Project)
Netherlands Development Cooperation Agency (Sports and Refugee Kids Projects)
NORAD, Norway (Sports and Slum Cleanup Projects)
Prince Claus Fund, Netherlands (Jailed Kids and Refugee Kids Projects)
Strømme Foundation, Norway (Sports, Leadership Training and Slum Cleanup Projects)