We are proud to announce that Kick it with Kenya (KIWK), Village Volunteers’ partner program, was an overwhelming success this year. Patrick Adoyo, program director at Dago Village, hosted the week-long soccer conference, during which participating youth were provided with public health, HIV/AIDS, and environmental education. A grand total of 360 dedicated participants, some making a 3 hour journey, formed 12 men’s soccer teams and 12 women’s netball teams. Approximately 3000 excited attendees watched the games each day, many taking advantage of free health services offered by medical professionals on site. Thanks to a donation of 40 ceramic water filters through Village Volunteers, Youth Outreach Mentors (YOM) coordinated clean water distribution for all during the long, hot days.
As a result of many fundraising efforts, an awards ceremony took place on Friday afternoon. To promote good sportsmanship, many trophies, awards, team uniforms and balls were given to the top scoring, most disciplined players while commemorative t-shirts were presented to officials and organizers. The Yago women’s netball and Kokuro men’s soccer teams took first place while Dago came in third in both soccer and netball. Notably, Patrick Odoyo’s 51 year old wife Pamela was the fourth best scoring player of the tournament, earning the name “Super Mama” from volunteers.
Free medical services allowed 561 patients to be tested for AIDS/HIV. Testing positive, 34 people were immediately counseled on site by the HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing team with assistance from Youth Outreach Mentors (YOM). They were also referred to Afya II HIV awareness program (coordinated by Pamela Odoyo in partnership with USAID) for further assistance. Additionally, 164 children under the age of five were treated for malnutrition and received immunizations, 100 pairs of free eyeglasses were distributed, and over 200 free eye exams and 64 free dental exams were performed. These services were provided by six members of the Kenyan Red Cross, the Awendo Health Center, four health professionals from Migori District Hospital, Samwel Jmbue from Mgori Eye Clinic and the St. Joseph’s District Hospital dental team.
Patrick Odoyo says, “Everyone at Village Volunteers should be very proud of the lives that were improved during this event. This program would not have been possible without the support of Village Volunteers, Shana Greene, the KIWK team, donors and volunteers.” Given its tremendous success, Patrick hopes to host a KIWK tournament annually. As a result, an estimated 30 coaches will participate in a follow-up training event with a coach from Nairobi.