Picture by Sydnye White
At 9am on a sunny Saturday morning in June, Particular Olympics (SO) Kenya coaches and athletes start gathering on the Nairobi College sports activities grounds within the coronary heart of the capital metropolis. They’ve come to coach in basketball, bocce and floorball. A minimum of 5 coaches and 30 athletes have already arrived after taking public transportation, typically a couple of type. Extra are nonetheless trekking the space to the amenities from as far 400km/250mi away.
TWO-DAY JOURNEY
Victor Lijembe hopes to make the floorball staff competing within the subsequent Particular Olympics Winter World Video games in Turin, Italy happening in March 2025. He’s a dedicated athlete devoted to the Nairobi College SO membership. There are not any golf equipment the place he lives, on the sting of the Kakamega Forest. Even when there was, he would nonetheless make the two-day journey to Nairobi College, the situation of his first membership, the membership of his coronary heart, the place he first skilled actual inclusion.
“I at all times come again right here as quickly as I can,” Lijembe shares. “Now that my mom moved to Kakamega, and I moved along with her, I nonetheless come again right here each week.”
This Saturday, Lijembe arrives for floorball apply about an hour after it began. He left his dwelling which 400km/250mi away on Thursday. He arrived in Nairobi on Friday and spent the night time together with his aunt. The subsequent morning, he acquired up early to take a bus and motorcycle taxi to apply. Your entire roundtrip prices him about 2000 Kenya shillings (roughly $15.50), greater than the typical month-to-month wage of most Kenyans.
Whereas Lijembe can afford the lengthy journey, many athletes and coaches moved farther from their dwelling golf equipment throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and may not afford the journey prices to attend coaching. Others reside nearer by however the shrinking economic system makes it exhausting for his or her households to spare the bus, motorcycle taxi and Uber fare.
MORE THAN WALKING DISTANCE
Even completed athletes like John Mwaka, who participated within the World Video games in Los Angles and UAE can discover themselves wanting bus fare. He lives on the opposite facet of city 25km/15.5mi from the coaching grounds. As a substitute of skipping practices when cash is tight, Mwaka elects to stroll to apply, which is occurring extra typically today.
In line with Coach Jacky Tabby, coaches journey simply as far by way of public transportation to work with the athletes. “Each coach you see on this discipline in the present day makes use of a number of legs of public transportation to get right here. Now we have jobs and households, however we do what it takes to indicate up for the athletes.”
For Tabby, teaching isn’t contained to fields and courts. As a result of she is aware of most athletes take no less than one mode of public transportation to attend coaching classes, she requests athletes put on branded shirts. That manner, if something occurs throughout transit, well-doers will know to contact Particular Olympics. Moreover, coaches dig into their very own wallets to purchase water and snacks for the athletes who’re touring and training greater than half the day below the solar. Within the warm-weather local weather of Kenya, all staff sports activities, together with basketball and floorball, happen on out of doors courts.
Regardless of the hurdles of journey distances and price, Particular Olympics Kenya athletes and coaches have discovered inventive methods to organize to compete in native and international competitors typically taken dwelling gold and proving that inclusion is well worth the journey.
