Tackling one big challenge

In Uganda, the national primary school dropout rate is at 45%, the dropout rate in Muwangi village is approximately 70%. During Ken’s first year teaching maths at St Judes Primary School in Muwangi over half of his class dropped out of school. Teenage pregnancies, child marriages, child labour and poverty, are all prevalent issues especially in rural villages, contributing to this high rate of school drop outs.

Even though Ken managed to convince some of these children to return, he knew he needed to find a longer term solution that would motivate the children to want to come to school regularly and encourage the village community to keep them in school.

One subject that unites a village

Ken, a passionate football fan himself, decided to use the power of sport to create a school-based community project that uses football as an agent for keeping children in school and setting them on the right path to achieving a higher education. 

As he had witnessed during his time in this rural community, football is the single subject in Muwangi which young and old, male and female or any other societal groupings engage in without paying attention to any personal differences. 

With the support of The Huracan Foundation, he established a school football team called Huracan FC Muwangi, an opportunity to provide the school children with a sense of belonging, to feel part of part of a team. However, he didn’t only focus on convincing the children to stay at school with daily football practice and personal development sessions, he also focused on changing the parents’ mindset, making them aware of the risks their children were at, and re-enforcing  the importance of education for their children’s future.

One team working towards
many goals

Ken had to overcome significant difficulties to set up his project. Uganda has not been spared from the pandemic, but he has managed to keep organising regular football sessions despite the complete lack of technology and internet connection for the children.

Ken has created the sense of belonging by letting the children be a part of every decision about how the team runs including deciding training times and who they play against. What’s more, he has empowered the older students to take over the development of the younger ones, ensuring the longer term continuity of the project. The whole community, including the parents, now take part in the project as they watch their children proudly perform in front of them. 

The impact that the team has had over the past months on both the children and the wider community has been described by Ken as simply ‘magical’. The reputation of the school has improved and an increasing number of girls are beginning to play. 

There are still many challenges to address but Ken is very hopefully for the future. He hopes that by the August of 2021, drop out rates will have reduced to just 3%.