Kibera hums with football boots and volleyball nets, but rugby has always been the harder road — too far to travel, too expensive to dream on casually.
So we started closer to home. Kibera Rugby Academy is not only about tackles and passes; it is about integrity, passion, solidarity, discipline, and respect — the values that keep a sport from becoming noise.
Rugby welcomes bodies of different sizes and ages; that is part of its beauty. Our job is to teach children early that strength without respect is just weight.
On muddy ground, a pass is a promise. We run drills until boots lose their shine, then remind players that the game continues off the pitch — at home, in school corridors, in how you speak to your sister when you are tired.
Parents watch from the sideline with folded arms and quiet pride. They know what a free afternoon costs; they also know what a wasted afternoon costs. Rugby gives language to discipline — but language still needs calories.
Shirts, a visit, and an honest gap
It was a good week: Tatiana and her friends sent training T‑shirts — bright fabric that makes a child stand taller before the ball is even passed. Then we welcomed Sarah from the Kenya Rugby Union, a reminder that the national game is watching grassroots pitches too.
Here is the truth we do not sugarcoat: rugby burns fuel. After training, young athletes need a meal that matches the sweat — ugali, beans, something solid. Right now, that post-training plate is our tightest line. If you can help with food or a small M‑PESA top‑up for ingredients, you will be feeding more than hunger; you will be feeding commitment.
Local clubs and well-wishers sometimes share balls and cones; we are asking for the unglamorous line in the budget — beans by the kilo, greens, fruit when we can afford it — so a child does not choose between a tackle and tomorrow’s energy.
