There are a number of videos that will be appearing on here from the current Kasigau Champions League that James put together for us. We hope you enjoy them! If you have trouble working them from this site, please click on the link to flickr on the left to watch.
We are now nearly half way into the regular season and by this weekend every team will have played the other teams in their group. Apologies to all hoping to follow the scores thus far on the site but we have been attacked by unpredictable web gremlins here in the bush, we believe they may well have vanished and work will continue as it should very shortly!
Suffice it to say there have already been some upsets and a lot of drama in the league thus far. It is certainly shaping up in a way that hints at a final between teams that have never previously got that far, as always in football though, everything can and probably will change!
GAFFER is also thrilled that Mr Mo will be handling management duties out here now with Mwalolo also joining us as a regional coordinator for the North and Charo doing the same in the south. Life is certainly getting busy for GAFFER and moving along very nicely. James leaves us next week to head back to the UK for a while but will no doubt continue to be a presence in the GAFFER world.
And the Kasigau Champions League is go! the first four matches took place yesterday. James attended Jora Vs Bungule, an age old rivals match. It ended nil nil but was not a game without chances. Both teams played well and I imagine the next time they meet will be quite something.
By all accounts the other matches all went well also and our new referees are performing wonderfuly. They had a nice chance to practice the day before with a youth match between Itinyi and Maungu, a match that also drew but with two goals a piece that time. Next week sees the kick off of the north Zone teams and all the action should be on a league section of this site soon.
A happy day for GAFFER today. James Ruwa has been back from college and fixing footballs for us inbetween bouts of studying hard! He has now fixed all of the footballs that GAFFER has supplied to the villages and teams and they are winging their way back to their respective owners.
Tomorrow James and Mr Mohamed will be running a seminar to train the referees for the new league and have set up a match between the youth teams from Maungu and Itinyi, this promises to be a great day for all. The big day then comes on Sunday when the new Kasigau Champions League begins in earnest with the first four matches! Look out for an update and some pictures from these fixtures very soon.
Busy times for GAFFER these last few weeks. Mr Mohamed has officially jined the family and will be adding his unique and fantastic form of football comentary to this site very soon. Ben also paid James a visit at GAFFER HQ for a few weeks.
The league kick off is on May 11th and is shaping up nicely. The fixtures are being prepared for the site as we speak. The captains all convened in Maungu this last week and all is set for another great season. Ben and James then set about visiting pitches and players to ensure all is set.
This looks set to be a great championship and with Mr Mohamed on board things can only look good for football in East Africa!
James has been hard at work for GAFFER visitng the schools and villages we work with. The welcome has been amazing and the kids are all still very active and playing lots of football after school! The men's teams are now hard at work also training for the new league. Fixtures lists are going out today and we have lots of exciting times ahead!
Keep checking back here soon for details of how the league and the youth training is continueing. We are also soon to be putting video content on the site featuring matches from the league!
GAFFER would like to officially welcome a few new people to the family. Ryce, Philip, Gibran, Mohammed and Cyprian are all players for various teams across the villages. They have been previously been helping to coach the kids after schools before playing for their own teams and we are delighted that they have agreed to do this more regularly now. This means we are now starting to have a larger team of people out both teaching football and delivering HIV/Aids lessons in schools.
This is great news for GAFFER and great news for the local youth. These guys are all looked up to as good players and the kids will really benefit from their coaching and experience. It also means lots more football and lots more fun for everyone out here!
The Kasigau Champions league 4 is gearing up nicely and we hope to have a fixtures list up here soon for anyone wishing to follow the progress. The anticipation is high and it looks set to be a fantastic contest. The players are all asked as part of their participation in the league to do some community service also. This is great news for the Kasigau area too because it means more football coaching for the youth and also a good chance to get back to the tree planting and other educational things that GAFFER is involved in helping to benefit the local area.
Hello all. I (James) have now arrived out at GAFFER HQ at Wildlife Works near Maungu. For those that don't know, Kamau, our main man out here, had a motorbike accident just after Christmas last year. He is recovering with his family near Nairobi at the moment and our thoughts and best wishes go out to him.
The football is still on track out here now however! The coaches are all getting back into the schools to look after the youth teams and we are now also beginning the preperations for the Kasigau Champions League 4. There will be full updates and a fixtures list on this site as soon as it is finalised. That about covers it for now but please keep checking back for more information.
Tim Bearder at Radio Oxford gave us a nice mention on his show this last Saturday. The show plays local bands music, James Gray-King who is coming out to Kenya in a few weeks happens to be in a band also. Tim announced James' plans, played one of the bands songs and then kindly mentioned us and the web address to all the listeners. Thanks very much Tim!
Sports teams are made up of a group of individuals who play together with the ultimate goal of overcoming the opposition with a mixture of skill and team work. You might have the best players in the world but if they do not interact successfully and support one another when under pressure they will be beaten by more organised opposition.
In the fight against the HIV epidemic in Kenya it is vital that everyone pulls together, passing on knowledge and supporting those in their community who have HIV. GAFFER utilises its large contingent of players and supporters to come together in the fight against HIV. The education GAFFER gives has been developed over the last few months through trial and error and fantastic support and advice from a broad spectrum of helpful organisations. GAFFER uses a mixture of curriculum's as well as sports activities to provide simple but interesting and easily absorbed HIV education.
After a visit to one rural school and a discussion with the teachers about their HIV education curriculum's GAFFER made a slightly disturbing discovery, the HIV book that was educating five-hundred young adults. It had some rather interesting views which must be seen to be believed.
On contraception:
"Contraceptives have done more harm to relationships than anything else in the history of mankind."
On sex before marriage:
"Having sex before marriage may even kill you."
On homosexuals:
"It is definitely abnormal and perhaps requires medical treatment."
Although GAFFER teaches Abstinence as the most effective barrier against HIV it is vital that people get open and honest advice about everything surrounding sexual health. So this is what GAFFER does:
Each village has a HIV group that has members ranging from sixteen to sixty years old. The groups are met by GAFFER in a classroom for a lesson that lasts about one hour.
Each member is given a handout they can keep for reference that GAFFER compiled then translated into Kiswahili. It covers the basic facts about HIV and AIDS as well as advice for HIV positive individuals.
The class is then invited to look at Alive & Kicking's excellent HIV posters. Using famous male and female sports stars to get across simple HIV information.
Kamau then talks through the messages on each of the nine posters and instigates discussion amongst the class about the issues involved.
Ben then goes through a long list of posters each with a question that has a True or False answer. Based on the Grassroot Soccer curriculum. The class discusses each answer and Ben brings in tricky issues relating to each question to fuel the discussion.
At this point everyone is a bit tired of talking so for some light relief Ben shows some football on GAFFER's new solar powered laptop/DVD setup! Including the ten best ever goals, heavily edited to ensure Arsenal players bag the top three!
After this a brilliant DVD called the Three Amigos is shown. It features three animated, talking condoms who go through different situations in Kiswahili. The class love the mix of humour and entertainment!
It's then time to split the class into groups and games and role plays, taken from Grassroot Soccer, are acted out. Each activity brings in a different message and brings people together to increase knowledge and reduce stigmatisation.
The lessons have been great success and more and more villages are being visited each week. The football teams are heavily involved which is great as confident young men are at a very at risk group. Young women are also talked to separately about Mother-To-Child-Transmission which appears to be a often misunderstood subject.
GAFFER would like to thank:
Martin Barnard at Alive & Kicking and Kirk Friedrich at Grassroot Soccer for the advice and allowing copyright laws to be bent so that the people who most need their excellent materials have got access to them so fast.
The Danish girls who's voluntary work in the area has helped get the proverbial ball rolling.
Gina Field for the loan of the laptop!
All the teachers and community leaders who's advice and support has been so vital in mobilising entire communities so fast.
All the players and supporters in the GAFFER area for being so open when discussing the more sensitive issues surrounding HIV and sexual health.
You can check out the three organisations who's excellent material GAFFER uses at the following websites:
On a lighter note and going back to the terrible HIV book that GAFFER found in a school...
On women:
"Girls emotional explosions may express something deep and personal, or nothing at all." !!