Getting families off the street

Fred Achola with his wife, Liz (left) and their children, Luke, Christine Rita and Arnold Grol. [PHOTOS: JECKONIA OTIENO/ STANDARD]

BY JECKONIA OTIENO

In 1993, street children surfaced in Mombasa. The provincial administration had no idea how to handle the new phenomenon, so the provincial children’s officer travelled to Nairobi to look for Father Arnold Grol, a Catholic priest who had done a lot of work with street families in the capital city. Fr Grol picked a team to help out in Mombasa, and one of its members was Fred Achola, mostly known as Bokey.

Since then, Bokey has been instrumental in producing fine sports men and women in different fields, ranging from soccer, to boxing and basketball, through the Mombasa Olympic Youth, a component of Glad’s House Centre for street children.

Born in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area, Bokey attended Pangani Primary School, where his interest in boxing and soccer began, before joining Chebyusi High School in Kakamega. The third born in a family of seven — three girls and four boys — says his father never wanted him to be a boxer, but he had his mind made up.

“In December 1984, after completing primary school, I started boxing, but my dad did not like it. His preference was that I remain a soccer player and participate in Koth Biro tournaments,” says Bokey.

His father, therefore, took him to secondary school in Kakamega so that he could forget about boxing. This worked for a while but the flame did not die because immediately after Form Four, the young man was back in the ring.

He says, “When I completed secondary school in 1988, I worked hard to be a great boxing professional.”

Bokey was introduced to Mustapha Wasajja, a Ugandan, and the world light heavyweight boxing champion then. Wasajja would pass by Eastleigh Social Hall on his way to St Teresa’s Catholic Church Hall, where he trained.

“Wasajja was my mentor. His advice was useful professionally, and it also kept me from falling into the wrong company.”

A year later, Bokey was boxing for the Moi Airbase team. He longed to join the airforce, but one of the senior officers wanted him to join the army. This conflict led to his exit from the team after three years. Next, he joined the Kenya Breweries team.

“In 1991, I represented Nairobi in an international boxing competition against Denmark in the light-welterweight category,” Bokey recalls.

A year later, he reached the semi-finals of the 1992 Olympic trials. But just as life seemed to be on a roll, Bokey’s life was turned upside down. In August of the same year, Bokey was involved in a freak accident while training. The resultant spinal injury shattered hopes of ever stepping into the boxing ring to compete again.

Bokey then joined Undugu Society, an organisation founded by Fr Grol. He worked as an untrained teacher in a programme whose main goal was to nurture talent among young people in the slums of Nairobi. This is how his how his work with the street youth began.

PREVENTION

“We started a street children’s programme in Mombasa, but it was taken over by a different Catholic congregation when Fr Grol died,” Bokey says.

With the change of guard, Bokey opted out in 2005 and founded the Mombasa Olympic Youth, whose main objective is to help uplift the lives of young people in Magongo area. His capital was the little savings he had accrued over the years.

“My dream was to assist needy young people before they went to the streets; prevention is always better than cure. I knew that once they went to the streets, it would be difficult to get them out. My plan was to use sports to help the youth identify their talents and also keep them busy, hence prevent them from taking to drugs and crime.”

Two things happened at almost the same time but they were destined to serve the same purpose; the very year Mombasa Olympic Youth started operating, Glad’s House was registered as a charity in the United Kingdom, and two years later registered as an NGO in Kenya. Bokey met Vicky Ferguson, the founder of Glad’s House, who challenged him to also reach out to children already living in the streets. So Glad’s House took over the project Bokey had started as one of its components.

Bokey says their approach to rehabilitating the youth is practical.

“We have a centre where children are educated and some given a home as they undergo rehabilitation.,” he says. “The young people have access to a library, which is also open to the community. In the morning, we have classes for local children then in the afternoon there are adults who come to study.

“One of the important components involves bringing in street children twice a week. They engage in games as our social workers identify those with talent. We keep them at the centre for a few days as we study them to see whether they want to leave the streets or not.”

Where possible, the children are reunited with their families. The centre has found that many of the children have families, but run away from home due to hardships, harsh stepparents or minor misunderstandings.

But working with street families is not all rosy. The children, and surrounding community, are not always cooperative.

“Corruption is also a major problem. Our soccer team, Coastal Kings, has been short-changed due to corruption in local football management. We have witnessed the same in boxing,” says Bokey.

However, the success stories make the project worth it. Athman Mzee of premier league side Chemelil FC, is a product of the Mombasa Olympic Youth. So are many girls from the Shimba Hills and St John’s sports teams. To cap it all, the project’s girls’ soccer team, Coastal Queens, won the Safaricom’s Sakata soccer tournament.

Bokey is married to Liz Munengu and they have three children, Christine Rita, Arnold Grol and Luke.

His advice is that the Government cannot solve the problem of street families by locking them up because when they are released, they run back to the streets. The rest of the community also needs to change its view of these families — they do not just need money but understanding.