Distressing news from Kampala, plus help from artist Wasswa Donald in the form of donations to the team from sales of a beautiful new children’s book
Coach Kabugo and those of the team whom he shelters and cares for – as many as 18 at any one time – returned from their impressive campaign in Sweden’s Gothia Cup to find themselves evicted from their home in Kisenyi slum. Having nowhere to go and no money for a hotel room Coach had no option but to send most of the boys to their villages, those who have surviving relatives taking their orphaned friends with them, whilst coach desperately searched for the advance rent needed to secure a new place. Just this week they have moved into the new premises, fortunately an improvement on the old, and the children are back together in Kampala. But they never know from one day to the next where the next due rent is coming from, or their next meal.
I talk to some of these kids – those who live with Coach, and others – when they can get online. They are ashamed to say how poor they are and how hard their lives are, they are desperate for hope and support. I talk to a 16 year old former team member, himself an orphan, signed to a well known European club, he tells me how worried he is for his former team mates and how much he misses them. I talk to an orphaned 14 year old who tells me he has not time to train because he has to work all day to try to ensure his 7 younger sisters and ailing grandmother are fed.
These kids hold their own on the football field against some of the wealthiest and most privileged junior clubs in the world.
I am determined to help them get the recognition they deserve in Uganda and abroad, so that they can be free to grow and to study and to excel as they should. Imagine if they had a purpose built premises where they could sleep secure, train, and be educated, from where they could reach out for and achieve a future that would transform their lives and the lives of their brothers and sisters. Imagine an income for Coach Kabugo that would free him from worry about how to house and feed them all so that he can concentrate on coaching. Imagine what they could achieve with just a fraction of the corporate sponsorship Western clubs of their calibre attract.
I am asking for your help, readers, wherever you are, whether that is through working with me and the Team on a promotional campaign, or by direct fundraising, or by simply sharing this blog and telling the world you support the Kampala Junior Team.
Fundraising Book
Wasswa Donald, one of the best of Uganda’s emerging young artists, has already pledged his support by joining me in donating much of the proceeds from I Speak Elephanish, a children’s book featuring his beautiful paintings which I have co-authored with him. The book is available from online publishers Blurb, and is the first of an anticipated series of publications featuring African and international collaborations between writers, artists, grassroots organistions and social enterprises, from my own philanthropically minded arts-based business Kushinda. You have my personal guarantee that 100% of my own proceeds from this edition of the book, plus a generous contribution from the artist, will go to Kampala Junior Team funds to help lay the foundations of that brighter future which these exceptional young people deserve.
