Jump Rope in Kibera

Saturday, Wednesday and Thursday were jump rope days at Kibera. Cantar, the Carolina for Kibera Youth Sports Director, picked me up to attend a practice and performance in Kibera on Saturday. A slow-moving group of UN visitors and security vehicles through the largely unpaved roads of Kibera added an additional 40 minutes to the typical 5-minute ride to the Undugu Center.

Undugu technically is not a school - more of an activities/vocational training/educational center in Silanga, at the southeast corner of Kibera. Dennis, the Undugu administrator, is very proud of his part in offering outdoor space for the jump rope program, and hopes jump rope will spread throughout the center and the country.

The Kibera jump rope program is one of several Mike set up in 2009 and 2010 in Kenya and Tanzania with the help of a Leadership and Creativity Fellowship from Oberlin College. His hope has been that CFK would adopt the program and make it their own, and that's exactly what has been happening. CFK has made the jump rope program the second strand of their Youth Sports program (soccer was the first). Several of the original trainers have deepened their level of commitment and established practice formats that are decidedly their own. CFK is making sure the program grows steadily as space and staff become available, and the program is now up to more than 180 jumpers.

Saturday's performance was held after the first round elimination for the players who will represent Kenya at the 2011 Norway Cup soccer tournament this summer. As with all performances, this one started with the mandatory clearing of the largest stones from the field.

The jumpers were reserved at first but opened up once they learned I was "Mama Mike." (Nothing changes - I was "Mike Fry's Mom" for years in the USA Jump Rope World.) Everyone wanted me to tape their freestyle routines for Mike; the more gregarious asked me to record messages for him. And Thursday, more than a dozen jumpers  - some who had not even met Mike - brought in hand written notes, letters and small gifts for me to take back for him.

The practices, held at different sites in Kibera, are impressive for the obvious dedication of the trainers (you can often hear them in the background, exhorting the kids to push themselves), and the commitment and love for jump rope of the jumpers - no complaining, no slacking off, just multiple repetitions of each skill.