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Please watch this video and resolve to do what ever you can....no matter how small you think that is....to assist these children and all in this community. Let Us Do Unto Others As We would Have Them Do Unto Us. Brother Walfrid came to the aid of our community when in need...we can do the same for others...please help by clicking the Kibera Celtic link below.
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'Mail on Sunday' 2 August 2009
By Ewing Grahame and Jody Harrison
They wear flip-flops instead of boots and their kit is years out of date. But a link with Scotland has given a ragbag team of slum children a chance to escape crime, poverty and Civil War. Meet… SHANTY FC.
It is the largest slum in Africa, where unemployment runs at 50 per cent and lawless gangs control basic services with threats of murder and manipulation.
For many, Kibera, in the heart of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is the place where they will be born, live and die – the intervening years nasty, brutal and short.
But one group of young men have turned their backs on a life of crime and are taking the first steps to a brighter future – in flip-flops and with Scottish football strips on their backs.
It is all thanks to a Scottish film-maker, his passion for football – and a chance conversation about his lifelong support for Celtic
Jamie Doran was filming his latest documentary, focusing on the appalling conditions in Kibera – a shanty town with one million inhabitants crammed into an area of less than two square miles – when he fell into conversation with two local men.
John and Bernard had been involved in the riots that blighted Nairobi following the 2007 presidential election. Having turned their backs on violence, they were looking for something that could help them and others move away from the lawlessness which is routine amid the shacks and sheds they call home.
From this idle discussion came the idea of forming a football team and Kibera Celtic was established with the simple goal of helping the poor – reflecting the charitable origins of its namesake in Glasgow.
Doran, who has made films for the BBC, Channel 4 and Canal+ among others, said: ‘We spoke about ways to invigorate and bring attention to the slum, highlighting the conditions in which people live. However, they also wanted to show the people themselves are capable of bringing about change. ‘The guys already knew I am a Celtic fanatic and were aware of the history of the club. Both guys can relate to this easily and they suggested establishing Kibera Celtic’.
More than geographic distance separates the Kenyan club from its Glasgow namesake. While one can spend millions on new players, the other has just managed to scrape together enough profit to buy a chicken farm. With flip-flops on their feet and wearing decades-old Celtic strips, the team has been cobbled together from local youngsters who have found an outlet for their energies in sport.
While Kibera Celtic might lack the history and pedigree of its Scottish twin, the impact of the latest addition to Kenyan football will be felt far beyond the terraces.
Like Brother Walfrid, who set up Celtic to help the underprivileged of the East End of Glasgow in 1888, Doran’s efforts will ensure a better life for young men who would otherwise face a bleak future of crime, disease and premature death.
Despite their lack of proper kit, Kibera Celtic have staged an unlikely assault on the second division and look set to win promotion.
Their fanbase has swelled from the handful who attended early matches to the thousands who now pack into their dilapidated ground.
Such is the demand for tickets, the club is actively looking for a new ground and the gate receipts swelling its coffers have allowed the owners to buy two businesses. Doran, 53, added: ‘The progress since then has been incredible. Because of the potential they showed, Kibera Celtic were admitted straight into the Kenyan second tier without having to go through the lower leagues.
‘They have also been able to use the unexpected success to both highlight and alleviate the poverty of their area’. The cash raised by these ventures may be modest but it is a lifeline to those living in Kibera and will help the players, their families and their neighbours pave the way to a better life.
But the success of the club cannot be measured by financial gain alone. With the team made up of people from all over Kibera, the club is helping to restore a sense of community to an area wracked by storms of political violence only a year ago.
Age-old tensions between members of the ruling Kikuyu and the minority Luo erupted after President Mwai Kibaki’s victory over challenger Raila Odinga in 2007. During riots, homes were burned to the ground, hundreds killed and thousands made homeless as supporters of the two politicians – divided along tribal lines – turned on each other in an orgy of bloodletting.
Doran said: ‘Like boxer Barry McGuigan in Belfast during the 1980s, the club is bringing different factions – in their case, different tribes – together in a common cause.
‘Five weeks ago, Kibera Celtic played their first game in front of just a handful of supporters, in the second-hand Celtic jerseys, some of them 20 years old with sponsors such as CR Smith and ntl on them, and wearing flip-flops because they had no boots.
They have played nine matches, losing just once, and are being tipped to win promotion. Two weeks ago for a game against Mattina which they won 1-0, more than 3000 packed into their little ground.
‘Demand has soared so much that there is concern that they need a bigger stadium’. While the violence that followed the election has died down, Kibera remains lawless Women, fearing the gangs that roam at night, are often home by 7 pm while the police only enter the shanty town in force. With no opportunities, many young men become involved in crime. The cheap drink Changaa – which is 50 per cent alcohol – is a constant presence in their lives.
The criminal Mungiki Sect, which bases itself on the Mau Mau, also operates in the slum, where it is notorious for running illegal electricity and water supplies, charging others for their services and protection, and is capable of beating, murdering and mutilating any who step out of line.
Petty crime is a daily occurrence, and the incidence of rape and muggings is among the highest in the world. Yet although the outlook is bleak for many, teams such as Kibera Celtic are providing a focal point for many to rally round. The club’s impact is being felt already. As well as buying a chicken farm, which will raise cash to be shared among poor supporters, John and Bernard have invested in another business, employing eight people constructing clay stoves and secure metal storage boxes.
Now the club’s chairman, Jamie Doran has been working in Scotland to raise cash for the team. A consignment of strips and boots has already been collected here.
Doran is also planning to contact Kibera’s Scottish equivalent to see if they will help, while his next documentary will feature the club’s rise through the ranks. He said: ‘I was surprised and honoured when John and Bernard appointed me as Chairman of Kibera Celtic and I will be going back over to Kenya at the end of August to see my first game. ‘During the next few weeks I am hope to approach (Celtic chief executive) Peter Lawwell to see if Celtic can offer any help to this club which they have inspired’.
While Kibera Celtic may started from nothing, their rapid success shows how much can be achieved when there is a will to change things.
Yet there is still a great deal to be done. Mr Doran said: ‘Conditions are horrendous. The biggest problems are dysentery, malaria and typhoid but progress is slowly being made.
‘I know most people are hurting in the global recession but no one in the West has to survive on under a dollar a day, which is the average income for people in Kibera.
‘That is extreme poverty anything which can be done to alleviate that – even a chance conversation about my favourite football team – can only be a good thing.
