by Nicholas Gisemba
Dennis Odhiambo is a slum born guy who has been brought up in Kibera slums his whole life. The 19 year-old joined Uweza Football Club three years ago. Uweza Foundation is an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) that supports youth and young children by creating and nurturing talents as early as possible. Examples of programs running in the organization include Journalism Club, Art Club, Soccer Club and lastly Tuition for both Primary and Secondary Students.
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| Dennis Odhiambo, Uweza senior team Captain |
Today, I am interviewing Dennis about his experience as the Captain of Uweza FC, the senior team of uweza Soccer Academy. Life was not good for Dennis as he was growing up. Things changed for him when he landed in the hands of Uweza Foundation. “In the second year after I joined Uweza FC, I was chosen as team captain due to my availability and contributions to the team. Being a captain is not an easy job,” he adds. “I have to make sure that everything is in good order, which something that I was not used to. But now I am a responsible person not only on the team but also at home.”
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| Dennis talks with Nicholas Gisemba, Uweza Journalism Club member |
Uweza FC plays in the FKF (Football Kenya Federation) Nairobi County League where the club is position 10 out of 20 teams in the league in their first year of participation. The team is provided with everything, so the players are divided into groups to wash the jerseys and boots after their matches. Dennis organizes the washing every week. Beside the Nairobi County League, the team also participates in friendly matches and tournaments such as the upcoming East Africa Tournament. The team contains more than 20 players and 17 of the players are high school students.
“It is normally said that an idle mind is a workshop of the devil and the Soccer Academy was created to prevent idleness among youth in the Kibera community who might otherwise engage themselves with bad company or abuse of drugs and waste their lives at young age,” concluded the Captain.
Well, a winner never quits while a quitter never wins. Dennis promises that he will not stand to see his dream vanish like smoke in the air without any success. In the future, he wants to see himself perhaps in the national team or another recognized team so that he can create vacancies and opportunity at Uweza FC for other young stars like himself.
The author of this story, Nicholas Gisemba, is 22 years old and a member of the Uweza Journalism Club.
Previous stories by Nicholas:
Uweza FC vs. Githurai United
Celebrating World TB Day
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