Various Youths from across Baringo County have held a peace football tournament between Kaptimbor FC and Ndambul FC where Kaptimbor FC emerged winners with 1-0.
Programme Officer from the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya (IRCK), Ms. Caroline Maina, the organisation that has been coordinating the events said IRCK aims to encourage peaceful co-existence through friendly matches.
Maina was speaking after the conclusion of the football match held at the Marigat Primary school grounds, Baringo South Sub-County, Wednesday
The Programme Officer said that the organization in partnership with Transcending Assemblies of Peace and the UNDP supported the peace tournament to encourage youth to live together in peace and harmony and also avoid harmful vices such as drug and substance abuse that was taking a toll on them.
“We have been working with youth in the county for the past four years and we are glad that we have made good progress from the success stories of the youth who received training and capacity building on peace as we have reached out to over 500 youths hence lives impacted,” Maina said.
Mr. Salim Marjan, a member of the Baringo Interfaith Youth Network and player for Ndambul FC from Marigat Sub-County said they were glad to have participated in the match despite the fact that they did not win noting that peaceful co-existence and the message of peace was far more important than winning the match and would go a long way in boosting development.
“We have a total of ten football clubs across the county and we would like to urge well-wishers together with the County Government to support us because holding these matches can be so expensive. In addition, we have managed to rehabilitate 90 percent of youth who were into drug abuse since they are no longer idle,” Marjan said.
Ms. Gladys Cheserem, another youth from Baringo Central Sub-County thanked the organization for the numerous training on peace and environment conservation noting that the youth manifesto they came up with tackled five major issues of economic empowerment, insecurity, mental health/ drug abuse, education and gender equality and inclusivity as some of the challenges that youth undergo.
“Through our local churches and mosques, we are disseminating the peace message and economic empowerment message to the youth and encouraging them to do farming and become self-employed. We are glad that through this more youth are now running small businesses hence are self-reliant,” Cheserem said.
Bishop Musa Kamuren from the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) said the training and peace tournaments were beneficial for the change of mindset of youth as they were able to understand that without peaceful co-existence there would be no development.
He also called on local and national leaders to shun using youth to cause chaos but instead show them the right thing to do and support their ambitions for the betterment of the entire country and a brighter future.
The Youth Games Coordinator Mr. Kipgeno Rono noted that Kaptimbor FC which is a member of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) was the current county champion having won the league during the just concluded season and is still playing with the Lower Rift region soccer.
“We are glad to have made it to the regional championship and we hope to win the game and bag in more trophies,” Rono said.
By Caroline Cherono
