One of the best things about working for Laureus is that you are always motivated by inspiring stories from around the world that offer hope.
Maqulate Atieno Onyango, from the Laureus-supported Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) project in Kenya is the youngest person and the first Kenyan woman to be selected as a Match Commissioner by the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF). Her achievements have made her a role model to thousands of young people from the project and across the notorious Mathare slums.
MYSA role model Maqulate Atieno
Mathare contains one of the largest and poorest slums in Africa with several hundred thousand inhabitants, of which over 70 per cent are women and children. Disease is widespread and AIDS has stolen the lives of many in the community.
Born in abject poverty, Maqulate is one of four children in her family who used to live in a tin shack and survive on one meal a day. Childhood, for Maqulate, was like a nightmare, “with no running water, electricity and food”.
At Mathare, some of the girls in their early teens turn to drugs and prostitution to make ends meet. However, Maqulate changed her life by joining the Mathare Youth Sports Association in 1995 as a 13-year-old footballer and went on to become the first female referee at MYSA. In 1997 she was elected Secretary of the Mathare Zonal Executive Committee and two years later she was trained as a referee and started officiating at MYSA league matches, eventually progressing to the higher leagues with older players.
Maqulate joined the MYSA staff in 2000 as a project officer in the Jailed Kids Project and in 2006 she was appointed by MYSA as a project leader for an international sport for development project in Kampala, Uganda. Later, Maqulate became Manager for the MYSA Zonal Sports and Training Project. She was also trained as a referees’ assessor and in 2010 she was selected by CAF to become a Match Commissioner.
Today 29-year-old Maqulate is not only a role model but she has also been able to transform the life of her family. Now Maqulate pays school fees for her brothers, takes care of her parents and has moved them from Mathare to a more secure place. But what makes Maqulate feel prouder is that she is impacting on the lives of so many young people not only in Kenya, but across Africa with her role in MYSA.
“I attribute all my success to MYSA for believing in girls and giving us the same opportunities as boys to excel on and off the field. I thank God he led me to football and I avoided all negative vices. Joining Mathare Youth Sports Association transformed my life for good,” Maqulate said.
Maqulate encourages the many boys and girls who would like to emulate her, “In life you have to be patient, committed, disciplined ,work hard and put God first and you will be successful in whatever you do.” Her story impressed us a lot.
It has been a really special few days for us here at Laureus as one of our busiest weekends took place in South Africa with a host of our Academy members and Ambassadors.
Taking part in what has become the largest mass participation event in the whole of Africa, Academy members Morne du Plessis and Mark Spitz joined with countless fitness enthusiasts at Johannesburg’s Walk the Talk.
Morne and Mark join the Walk in Johannesburg
This event has been, for some time now, a great opportunity for families to get together and enjoy the great South African city on foot. And, despite being the winter over there, and much to our jealousy here in London, the event was held in fantastic weather.
It was great to see some of our Academy members having such a fantastic time with so many of the participants…
Morne really got into the spirit of the event
From left to right: Mark Spitz, Baby Jake Matlala, Morne du Plessis, Desiree Ellis, Cynthia Tshaka and Foundation Trustee Ntambi Ravele
But it wasn’t all fun for the sport heroes…
Olympic legend Mark Spitz even helped hand out drinks...
The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation South Africa is one of the official charities of Walk the Talk and received a portion of funds raised.
And we are happy to say it is the Laureus project Johannesburg Cubs, who do excellent work offering multi-racial and cross-cultural cricket training to school children in the area, which will benefit directly from these funds.
Did you take part in this year’s Walk the Talk? Have you taken part in similar events in the past? We would love to hear what made yours so special…
People all over South Africa held celebrations this week to mark the 93rd birthday of Nelson Mandela.
On the day now known as Madiba Day, one of our projects, the Indigo Youth Movement based in Durban, used the opportunity to launch a brand-new after school skateboard clinic.
20 young skateboarders will be offered the chance to complete a new life skills programme with the project
What’s more, the project coaches have selected 20 promising young skaters for the opportunity to go through their skateboarding life skills programme over the next six months.
The launch was organised to coincide with Madiba Day celebrations
This is only the beginning of a massive expansion plan Indigo Youth Movement have to further assist with youth development through the sport of skateboarding.
Indigo Youth Movement are using skateboarding to help children to develop life skills
And if the day wasn’t special enough already, it was particularly exciting for the project leaders and members since plans are also afoot to expand Indigo Youth Movement to Cape Town in the future.
One of the most rewarding things to see here at Laureus is how a single sport can travel the world over and remain relevent to so many different people.
The kids visited by Tony Hawk recently in London at the Fight for Peace project loved watching the skateboard legend do some tricks. And to see children half the way across the world in South Africa using skateboarding to better their lives truly shows how sport can work across borders and political divides.
Last Friday, one of our Academy Members, the skateboard legend Tony Hawk, came to London to visit the fantastic Laureus-supported Fight for Peace boxing project in North Woolwich.
On the way, however, London being London, and Friday rush-hour being as bad as it so often is, Tony found himself stuck in such heavy traffic that he ran the risk of arriving too late to meet any of the excited kids at all.
True to character (and at this point being only as far as London City airport with no end to the traffic in sight) Tony jumped out of the car, grabbed his deck and made for the project in the way that he is most famous for: skateboarding!!
It was a great sight to see, and, on hearing that the one and only Tony Hawk was skating along the streets of east London, a bunch of the kids from the project raced to see if they could catch a glimpse.
Kids from London's East End watched in amazement as Tony made his way on his board
Once Tony had finally arrived, he was really keen to spend some time in the ring and to get a proper feel for what the training is like at Fight for Peace.
Whilst there, the world-famous skateboarder tried his hand at some exercises a little different from what he is used to. He tried some (gentle) sparring with some of the older participants, had a go at that most famous boxing warm-up, skipping (take a look above) and, going back into his comfort zone, took some time to show the crowd a few tricks on his board.
It was really great to have Tony visit the Fight for Peace project, if not only to see how excited the youngsters were about the event. North Woolwich in the East End of London is one of the most deprived areas of the city and it really was touching to see the kids, from the youngest of them to the oldest, so excited about the arrival of a superstar like Tony in their part of London.
The regeneration of east London thanks to the Olympic Games really shows what sport can do for communities. Nevertheless, projects like Fight for Peace, even if it is on slightly smaller scale than the 2012 Games, play an enormous role in giving inner-city youngsters a real opportunity to improve themselves and the lives of those around them.
Now on to the giant seagull…
To coincide with Tony’s visit to the Fight for Peace project, here at Laureus we thought we would organise our first City Treasure Hunt.
The Prize: a signed Tony Hawk skateboard…
The first Laureus City Treasure Hunt top prize
Taking inspiration from a similar treasure hunt Tony frequently organises in the States, we used twitter throughout the day to send picture clues out to our followers as to the wherabouts of the prize.
At first the clues were a bit tricky…
This is actually opposite the skateboard park on London's Southbank... we hope our board doesn't end up here...
By the end of the day the images were a bit more obvious…
In the end, it was a giant seagull that had our prize to give...
And as the sun set over the Thames, we arrived just in time to catch the lucky winners…
...and so the first Laureus Treasure Hunt comes to an end.
All in all it really was a great day. The kids were so excited to meet Tony, and the fun of our first treasure hunt has made certain we will have to do another one again soon. It won’t be a day we forget quickly.
Keep up to date with what we are up to (and any future treasure hunts) by following us on twitter @laureusSport
We launched a Facebook campaign, the first in our ten year history, entitled – GIVE THE GIFT OF SPORT on sportforgood.org
Backed by the members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, who feature on the website, including Boris Becker, Sir Bobby Charlton, Marcel Desailly, Tony Hawk and Martina Navratilova, GIVE THE GIFT OF SPORT aims to get people actively involved in Sport for Good, by participating in events, sharing information and donating funds.
The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation helped over 1 Million children over the last 10 Years
