Sport offers hope for future reconciliation in Kenya

After the controversial elections, described by international observers as flawed, opposition leader Raila Odinga called for president Mwai Kibaki to step down. Unfortunately, the political fallout has escalated into violence, with over 600 deaths reported so far according to reports by the BBC and Reuters.

Amidst the turmoil, the Kenyan athletics community is rallying around to help alleviate the suffering of individuals caught up in the violence as well as publicising their plight and calling for a restoration of peace.

Athletics Kenya will also organise a peace run in February to promote peaceful co-existence among different communities in Kenya. The run will start in Nairobi and end in Kisumu on the shore of Lake Victoria.

The view that sport can play a part in reuniting communities was echoed in an editorial for Kenyan newspaper, the Nation.

“It is said sports plays a unifying role, especially when a society is divided in other areas, but the post-election violence in Kenya has affected even sports,” writes the paper. “While we console the families of those who have lost their loved ones, our suggestion to our leaders is to use sports as part of the healing and reunifying process. Sportspeople know no tribal or political boundaries.”

Sport needs stability
With important competitions, not least the Olympics, around the corner, preparations are however far from ideal with many of Kenya’s top athletes unable to train or leave their homes for fear of the ongoing violence.

“Without peace, we cannot excel in sports,” said David Okeyo, the Athletics Kenya secretary-general, in early January reports the London Times. “We have the World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh in March and, above all, we have to train for the Olympics. Any small interruption will affect performance. At the moment it is not possible for our athletes to train freely, but our concern right now is merely that they are safe.”

Bob Munro, a keynote speaker at Play the Game conferences in 2005 and 2007, is based in Kenya where he works with the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA). MYSA staff and players, who are mainly based in one of the poorest areas of Kenya, are feeling the effects of the violence.

“The families of nearly all the MYSA staff and Mathare players have been affected. Fortunately, none have so far been reported as killed or lost their homes but many had to move and seek refuge with others,” Munro told Play the Game in an email.

“But even those who were already in safe areas had to provide refuge to family members and friends who were affected. Those in both categories lacked adequate food and water for the past week.”

Some of Kenya’s top athletes are trapped in similar situations. Those that can leave and have visas to do so are also unwilling to go, as access to embassies is impossible meaning their families are unable to leave with them.

A training camp for the Cameroonian national team in the run up to the Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations was also postponed as a result of the ongoing violence in Kenya.

Former athlete killed
Among the dead include Lucas Sang, who represented Kenya at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, who was killed by a mob in Eldoret in Kenya’s Rift Valley in what appears to be a case of mistaken identity.

Marathon star Paul Tergat, paid tribute to his friend and role model Lucas Sang in a statement to Kenyan Newspaper, the Standard.

“As a senior athlete, Sang was among my role models. He always fought for the good of young athletes and the general development of athletics in Kenya. May the Almighty Lord rest his soul in eternal peace,” the current marathon world record holder said.

Sang represented Kenya in both the 400m and the 4x400m at Seoul, and later worked as a pacesetter and a coach. At the time of his death, he was the chairman of the National Association of Kenyan Olympians.