Our community is always surrounded by negative attributes on issue concerning the girl child, who are always on the receiving end being perceived to be on the negative side. The issues that surround and affect the girl child within our community are paramount issue to humanity, distress and anger. Lack of right to education, freedom of speech, access to treatment, sexual violence and harassment, are some of the issues that the girl child undergo in her day to day life hence reducing her self esteem- making her vulnerable.
MYSA has always been on the forefront in empowering the girl child through educative forums and sport events, using sport as a forum for social mobilization and change. In response to reducing negative perception of the girl child within our communities, MYSA has been organizing International girl’s tournament annually since 2004, giving girls an opportunity to showcase their talents and creating safe spaces for interaction and bonding by integrating sport and life skills.This year’s event was the 7th edition tournament which brought 72 girls teams from different regions together, not only to participate in sport event but also to learn about life skills and other social related issues that affects the girl child. The theme of the tournament was “Working towards safe motherhood”.
The tournament was officially opened by minister for youth and sports Mrs. Hellen Sambili who encouraged the girls through her motivational speech and also had a gallery walk to visit the parallel activities that were also on site namely; the shoot back exhibition, VCT services and Kicking AIDS Out activities. “Let us all ensure that women and teenage mothers receive the care they need to be safe and healthy throughout pregnancy and child birth, and give them guidance so that they can be able to make informed choices” she said.
Pregnancy – related complications are among the leading causes of death and disability for women between the ages of 14 – 49 years in developing countries. The tournament created a platform for group discussion through dialogue, understanding the pros and cons of teenage pregnancy and un-wanted pregnancy, where trained Leader Level 1’s facilitated the process as life skill coaches in the resource tent joint.
There was a heavy down pour of rain during the four day tournament but this did not stop the colorful event to continue, the teams kept on focused and played their matches, neither the muddy field nor the rain stopped the players from displaying quality football and scoring goals. The spectators were always smiling on the touch line enjoying every bit of the game, you could tell from their facial expression.
On the sideline, there was this young street girl around 13 years old who was sniffing glue, catching glimpse of the event not knowing what will happen and steps to take, whether to participate in the Kicking AIDS Out activities that most people were participating or just to sit back and watch things happening. Within seconds of time I saw her walking slowly towards the resource tent, quietly asking if she can join the team and kick the ball? I then asked her if she wanted just to kick the ball or to kick AIDS Out too, and she responded by saying, I want to Kick both.
The event was not only for the invited teams to participate but rather dedicated to all women and girls from all walk of life and members of the community too. "I am now capable to differentiate between positive and negative behaviors, I have now made a choice that I will never sniff glue again and promise to share the information with my peers and be the change that I want to see. I did not only have a chance to kick the ball but also had an opportunity to kick AIDS Out in Kenya." Quote from 13 years old street girl. Efforts are been done by MYSA HIV prevention program to support this girl through education, follow up and mentorship.
The use of Kicking AIDS Out drills game spiced up the learning process hence linking the drills with life skills messages, this was well articulated by MYSA trained peer leaders. The games were easily noticed from a distance since it’s was the busiest spot where most of the people especially young people between the ages of 13 – 24 years participated in the activities. The crowd went wild when the permanent secretary Mr. James Nyikal from the ministry of children, gender and social services demonstrated his skills by trying to score on the Kicking AIDS Out score board. He was further engaged in discussions by trained Kicking AIDS Out leader level 1’s. I remember him asking “Why Kicking AIDS OUT?” during discussions. The question was well responded and articulated by the trained leader level 1’s, who debriefed the permanent secretary about the Kicking AIDS Out Network and concept.
“What a unique concept" this were his sentiments after the debrief.