FALSE: Photo does not show the drought situation in Embolioi, Kajiado County, in October 2022
Admin The first Embakasi South Constituency rugby team has embarked on serious training at Ruben Center, Mukuru slums on Wednesday evening in Nairobi County.
Speaking at the newly launched Ruben Center training grounds, Miss Annette Kimeu was proud to present her boys.
“We at Salama Center are trying our best to empower the youth of Mukuru through various activities. Our main concerns are their mental health status. Also we empower them to be self-dependent. We just discovered rugby as one of the ways we can do this,” said Miss Kimeu who was proud to present the green natural turf to the Salama Center Mukuru Rugby Football team.
The idea was born way back in February after the sports department met a few kids within the slums playing rugby.
Salama Center was proud to have the boys and give them a space to train and develop their skills.
“We used to play at Njenga Primary school with barely any facilities. We just made it for the love of the game. At Salama Center, we now have quality training grounds. Slowly we are picking it up because most of us are still in high school, just a few are out now,” said Hillary Jacobs, now the assistant captain, but formerly of Viwandani Tigers.
The first rugby team in the constituency trains five days a week in the evenings. At Ruben Center, they train twice while the rest of the days they embark on their physical fitness at the expansive Njenga Primary school grounds.
The Nathan Kayande coached side is also urging interested athletes to join them.
“At this particular time for us students it’s very challenging. Rugby is a way to keep fit both physically and also psychologically. The more we get players into our team, then it means that our tomorrow looks brighter,” Dennis Mwendwa, the current team captain urged his peers to join him adding that rugby has helped transform the lives of many athletes with in the slum, behavior-wise.
Salama Center Mukuru Rugby Football team is not only now a hobby to many sports enthusiasts within Mukuru slums, but also now its slowly becoming a lifestyle. Through Salama Center, now rugby can be played as players are encouraged to dream.
By Shadrack Andenga Odinga
