CHANGING LIVES THROUGH SPORTS: Initiatives promoting better lives, peace in society

Alfred Polo Foundation [PHOTO: COURTESY]

As opposed to what many people may think, sports is not only just for leisure but an important tool that can act as a wheel to transform lives in society.

No matter which kind of sport it is, it is no doubt nowadays a big source of living for many.

Sport continues to be driver of transformative change both on individuals and socities at large, that is why organizations use it to achieve desired change in various facets of life.

Meet Fed Apolo, the founder of AlfredPolo Foundation which uses sports as the main wheel to drive home the message of change he desires to see in youths in Kenya.

A foundation that was established in 2011 with its office in Nairobi, but organises events across the country is inspiring and changing the lives of many youths through education dangers of drugs and drugs abuse, environmental conservation and unity in social set ups.

As founder, Apolo told Feverpitch, the Foundation targets youths with the aim of educating them on what’s important for the society as well as themselves or how well to stay focused not to indulge in what may ruin their future, such as drug abuse.

“Our focus is youths and we educate on matters drugs and drugs abuse, peace and environmental conservation so that they be productive to the society in many ways.

“The youth hold the future and so, working towards a better future is more important to a growing nation like Kenya,” Apolo said.

“Sports is one of the things that can bring youths together and so, we are riding on such activities as organised football competitions. That’s where we have organised discussions to pass the intended message.

“It’s all about educating the youths to use the resources they have to achieve what they want in life,” said Apolo.

Pointing out some of the areas they have had successful events and how they go about that, Apolo says the Foundation targets all youths in Kenya. And so far, their efforts are being appreciated in many Counties.

“We have a yearly calendar of events and regions where they are held. We’ve been to Kiambu, Murang’a, Nakuru, Kisii, Homa-Bay and many other parts where we’ve had very successful events. We tend to move out of Nairobi because there are a lot of activities there and we feel there are needy people outside the town,” he said.

“In order to achieve our goal, we always work with churches and schools to spread information on planned activities. It’s received massive support from the youth,” added Apolo.

The Foundation not only focuses on sports but other team building and unifying social responsibility activities like tree planting and children’s home visits. Interestingly, we do follow ups on the projects to assess the progress.

“Other than the sporting events and discussions, we engage in many activities like tree planting where we educate them on the importance of having a green environment and how to improve it.

“Further, we’ve had several joint visits to children’s home where several children’s homes come together, they share issues around them and learn from each other like we did in Kandara childrens homes in Murang’a.”