A Childhood in Daily Hardship
Nine-year-old Fidel, a Grade 4 pupil at Shimo la Tewa Primary School in Mombasa, Kenya, is bright, energetic, and quick with a joke. But behind his lively smile lies a life marked by deprivation. He lives with his mother in a single rented room inside a crowded “Swahili house” in the city’s urban slums. Several Families share narrow corridors, limited bathroom facilities, and a constant lack of privacy.
For Fidel’s mother, who has no regular income, this arrangement is all she can afford. Yet it comes at a cost – overcrowding, insecurity, and stretched resources. Each day, Fidel must walk nearly 10 kilometres to and from school, navigating busy highways and unsafe streets. These challenges weigh on his education, particularly his reading, which he still struggles with, despite his talent in mathematics shining through.
A Pathway Out Through Rugby
Rugby has become more than a pastime – it has taught him discipline, focus, and resilience. His mother has noticed a transformation; Fidel is calmer, more responsible and newly hopeful about the future. Fidel now believes he can not only become an engineer but also serve as a role model, inspiring others in his community to break free from the cycle of poverty that has become all too common.
Amidst the hardship, Fidel has found hope and a sense of belonging through rugby, introduced to him by the PATHWAYS programme run by the Little Sports Organisation (LSO) in Kenya. At first hesitant, he soon embraced the sport, which gives him a safe space to spend weekends and holidays, away from the dangers of the street.
The Broader Impact of LSO
Fidel’s story is just one among hundreds of thousands. Since 2008, LSO has reached more than 274,000 children living in extreme poverty. The organisation uses school sports as an entry point to give vulnerable children access to education, nutritious meals, clean water, and scholarships to schools beyond their parents’ means.
LSO also supports the wider community, employing local mothers as helpers and cooks, providing weekend meals, and even offering interest-free loans to help women start small businesses; building sustainable change from the ground up.
Hope Beyond the Slums
For Fidel, rugby is not just a sport; it is a pathway out of deprivation. Through LSO’s support, he is gaining the tools to break the cycle of poverty and dream bigger than ever before. His story reflects the transformative power of community-led initiatives and the possibility of a brighter future for thousands of children like him in Kenya’s urban slums.
