Kenya Feature Package Slum Soccer

epa02180446 Nancy Cherotich Ngeno (R), aged 35, mother of eleven-year-old Erick Kipkurui (2-R), three-year-old Ryan Kipkemboi (L),thirteen-year-old Geogina Chepkurui (2-L), talks to her children as they come home from school during a lunch break at their one-bedroom home in Mathare slum, in Nairobi, Kenya, 21 May 2010.  In 1987, Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA), a local non-government organization (NGO), was initiated in the aim of educating struggling youth of Mathare slumpromoting environmental improvement, HIV/AIDS prevention awareness, leadership trainingcommunity development through athletic activities, most popularly soccer. Today more than 20,000 youth are involved in MYSA activities, with some 5,000 boysgirls composing 350 soccer teams from 50 slum villages participating in the athletic programs. The teams are awarded 3 points in the league standings for every match they win,6 points for participatingcompleting the community cleanup project to qualify for the league's playoffs. The other prizes include uniforms, medalscertificates. Volunteer coachesreferees can also earnaccumulate points in reward for their contributions to the community to qualify for scholarships in order to pursue other professional courses. MYSA's youth programs have produced many Kenyan top soccer players, most notably Dennis Oliech, who played for MYSA's adult team Mathare United until 2003currently plays for French football club AJ Auxerre. MYSA is designated by FIFA as one of Africa's five Football for Hope Centres to form part of the official 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign '20 Centres for 2010' launched in 2007.  EPA/DAI KUROKAWA