Soccer club donates new uniforms to children in Kenya
November 25, 2008
By Shannon Lefley
Kenyan men and boys pose in their Eastside FC soccer jerseys. Contributed.
Children in two African countries will play soccer with real uniforms, thanks to a soccer club in Issaquah and volunteers from Pine Lake Covenant Church in Sammamish.
Eastside FC is the premier soccer club for the Eastside Youth Soccer Association, which serves more than 8,000 children. Premier is the highest level of soccer in the state; teams play year round and travel across the state.
Jacqueline Nauriyal, the mother of a 13-year-old boy who plays for the club, had a friend who knew that children in Africa needed uniforms to play soccer.
“I knew the teams changed uniforms every two to three years, so I approached Eastside to see if we could help,” she said. She contacted Suzi Kuenster, manager for her two sons’ teams. Kuenster sent out an e-mail to the other managers, who then told their teams about the idea. A donation box was set up at the club’s Kick-A-Thon fundraiser.
“So many people brought uniforms, it was amazing,” Kuenster said. “I think the club was looking for something like this to do, and it turned out to be very little work for us, really.”
Nauriyal’s friend, Angie Ahlemeyer, became aware of the situation in Africa when her church sponsored one of the Lost Boys of Sudan.
“What I found was that all of these boys have such a passion to see the youth of their community educated,” Ahlemeyer said. “They know that this is the only way they will be able to lift themselves up.”
The pastor of her church put her in contact with the Rev. Hudson Nyando, who lives in Nakuru, Kenya. He takes the sport of soccer into suffering rural communities in Kenya, Uganda and Sudan. His goal is to bring resources, such as clean water, education and health care, into the communities.
Ahlemeyer described Nyando as a “beautiful, wonderful man.” A partnership developed between the church and Nyando.
“We want to help him, because he is helping us so much,” Ahlemeyer said.
Pine Lake Covenant Church supports a number of missionaries around the globe, and has active projects in Romania and Kenya. A mission group from the church took the uniforms and some soccer balls with them on a trip to Kenya.
Ahlemeyer is particularly involved with a Pine Lake Covenant daughter church, Missio Lux, meaning “Mission of Light” in Latin. She hopes those members will be able to take the next load of uniforms themselves.
Missio Lux is a mission-based organization made up of different “missional communities,” with each community focused on its own project. Ahlemeyer’s project, Seeds of Hope, strives to raise awareness and funding for boys and girls in Sudan.
The church has 34 such children enrolled in boarding school; more than 68 children have been identified that need schooling. It costs more than $1,200 to put a child through school for a year.
“Unfortunately, this kind of work takes money, and it’s hard to get,” Ahlemeyer said. “It’s hard work, but we have the ability to change these kids’ lives.”
Club members are determined to make the uniform donations a tradition for years to come. They hope to expand the uniform drive to include shoes, socks and shin guards next time.
“There is so much more we can do,” Kuenster said.
In the end, families who donated uniforms were just excited that the game they love could help others in need.
“It was great to be able to do something more with the game — to make a difference in a bigger way,” Nauriyal said.
“It was great to be able to do something more with the game — to make a difference in a bigger way.”
— Jacqueline Nauriyal
Eastside FC parent
Shannon Lefley is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.
How to help
Learn more information about Seeds of Hope or sending uniforms to Africa by calling 369-8431 or e-mailing ahlemeyer2@comcast.net.
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