Meet Trizah Auma, one of the many young girls who come out to play and attend the Girl Power sessions at the Kibera Court. The sessions are an opportunity for Girl Power members to teach what they learn to the community. Trizah's story is not unique in Kibera, but her consistent attendance to our sessions and her determination makes her very special.
Trizah is a Std 3 pupil at St. John a non-formal school, lives
in Kibera slums within Nairobi. At nine years old she has to take almost one
and a half hour distance to walk to school that is still within the slum .she
wakes up at 5:00 am so that she can make it to school by 7:00 am. Born the
fifth out of six siblings, has a great dream of becoming a teacher and she also
likes dancing, mostly in church.
Speaking to her during our daily sport project activity at Kibera
tennis court. Trizah said they have a
lot of challenges in the slums” Life in the slums is not good although we are
used to it. There is a lot of insecurity, diseases, poor drainage system, poor sanitation,
clothing, access to clean water and food. She lives with her mother, who is a
tailor, after their father left for another family. Physical and emotional
abuse from her mother and neighbors are also what she has learned to endure. Asked why she comes to the Kibera Court to attend our sessions, she smiles and says simply, "I'm always happy when I come, and I make many friends and forget that I'm hungry."
When I asked Trizah about her performance she said that she
does not know. She has never had an exam. “We lack money .Most of the times I
don’t do my exams since I have a very large debt of ksh.1050 at school.
Sometimes we even go to bed on empty stomach and when I get sick I don’t go to
the hospital although its free, but they don’t allow kids without the company
of the parent to access treatment.”At St. John academy they pay ksh.400 year
and Trizahs debt had accumulated up to Ksh.2050 which took her mother long to
pay up to ksh.1000 resulting to her not sitting for her exams for a long time.
Trizahs elder sister got married at fourteen years old and her other elder
siblings dropped out of school at a tender age
to work so as to support their
mother in raising the family. Their
father doesn’t support them financially and he rarely come visiting. The
support that she really need is for someone to sponsor her education since she
is afraid her dreams of becoming a teacher might not come true.
“Our father does not support us financially. The money we
get is not even enough to support our basic needs like food shelter and
clothing. I would love it so much if I get a well wisher to support my education.
“I would really love to be a teacher one day.” Said Trizah.
The Kibera tennis court was
also a hive of activity this holiday season as we joined Sadili in taking tennis to the slums of Kibera. more than 300 kids from all ages showed up, from those who are learning to walk, to
older kids who are in secondary school. With our guest coaches Eric Terp, Katsuya Otsu, Alex and volunteers Amilia Barry and Ulla Boesen, we transformed the Kibera Tennis Court in to a bee hive of activities. The guest coaches worked hand in
hand with the coaches in Kibera; they are Rehema Aquinyi, Richy Ooko, Asha Adongo,
Wallace lence and Dr. Liz Odera.
Other than tennis, the kids also played lots of basketball under Kenyan national star player and youth coach, Zack Okong'o Basil, assisted by upcoming trainee, Adongo
worked with the kids to ensure their basket ball skills improve.
It was fulfilling to see their techniques improved day by day. The the boys particularly loved having a male figure to look up to this holiday at the Kibera Court!
