Play Safe With Dignity - How it all started

Play Safe With Dignity. How it all started, the football shoes and general resource mobilization for teams and players in Mathare North. 

My football journey started in different spaces from playing in the corridor, staircases, in school and many other open spaces with my peers and we used whatever we could call a football that we made from waste materials.

Even though time has passed some elements of how we used to do things are still alive within the activities of the current generation. I remembered vividly the time I got the chance to play a more organized football match was through Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) community league whereby I was attached to Mathare North Zone. 

I remembered most of us played barefoot with a MYSA branded vests which were shared amongst all the participating teams in the community league. I played barefoot until around 14 years when the transition happened after receiving a pair of donated football shoes from the late Helge from Norway after scoring the only goal against a more talented side, the Mathare United Youth team in a tournament that was organized in his honor known as the Helge's cup played in 1996 at St. Benedict parish grounds along Thika road. 

The Football Shoes Campaign

I started the football shoes and resources mobilization campaign for teams in Mathare North especially for the age U10 - U15 to help them play in a more dignified way and in a safe environment. My goal is to also restore the children's and youth hope of becoming the next stars in future by going through an experience that will encourage them to Do More, Be More and Be different. I also strive to train them on values that would help them aspire to become role models and change makers in our society. 

Read More >> 

• https://wilsenx.blogspot.com/2022/09/golden-goal-for-golden-boots.html?m=1
• https://wilsenx.blogspot.com/2020/10/soccer-balls-and-shoes-boots-campaign.html?m=1 

Sport is a great vehicle that can help instill life transforming values outside the confines of a classroom. When I see the kids play, I see more in them that needs to be  nurtured and supported further. So, aside from my vision of seeing every child in my community, play in a safe environment and dignified ways I want to invest time training them in values and soft skill that would enable them to adapt in different life transitions.

These values are for example; improved self esteem, fair play, teamwork, leadership, role modelling, responsibility, self confidence, respect, discipline, professionalism, compassion and many more.

Highlights of my achievements playing football. 

1. Founded the Mathare North Festive Season Football Tournament (MNFSFT) for the senior teams and junior teams (U10 - U15). 
2.  Organized and coordinated a peace tournament in Mathare North that featured twelve teams during the December holiday the year 2013. 
3. Participated in the Diversity Cup in Hamburg Germany with other 14 fellows from other countries as part of the Dekeyser fellowship now known as the Do School http://thedoschool.org/
4. Played the Norway cup with Mathare United U16’s in the year 1997, 1998 and 1999 respectively. In the year 1998 assistant team captain and 1999 I was the overall team captain. 
5.  Team manager of Otto-Benecker football girl’s team. www.otto-beneckerfc.blogspot.com. 
6.  Founder and head coach of Metro Sports FC which is youth lead initiative through sports in the slum. 
7.  Played for Mathare United under 17 team, winning the Coca-Cola youth tournament in 1999 in Nairobi. 
8. Captain of Don Bosco secondary school football team 1999, Nairobi-Kenya.
9.  1999 Winner of MYSA (Mathare Youth Sports Association) Best Player and Fair Play awards.
10. 2010 founded Mathare North Rangers F.C under Wilsen initiative (Wi).
11. Played for De La Rue and Pumwani Sportive in the Kenya Football Federation league (FKF).
12. Played for Otto-bene
13.  Mobilized and connected football resources to more than 20+ teams and 500+ players . And many more... 

 "Anyone who criticizes the power of sports in creating opportunities for the youth and children means they have never tasted the benefit of any game" - Wilson Masaka founder Wilsen Initiative (Wi), Team Leader, Youth Advocate and Social Entrepreneur. Do More / Be More / Be Different. 

Why Do We Go To School?

This question might sound like a simple one with obvious answers, but if you believe that we go to school to get jobs, then just know you're still living in the era of the stone age. 

 There are many people who have gone to school and acquired better academic qualifications, but the world is still short of innovators, thinkers, Pacesetters, problem solvers, serial entrepreneurs, philanthropist etc. 

 Ask yourself why is this still the case? 

 My Take 

 Unless we change the way we train the youth and make them believe that we go to school not get jobs, the gap of jobless youth will increase relentlessly. I'm my books, we go to school to seek knowledge so that we can plug into already existing systems, but also challenge the same systems as problem solvers, change makers, innovators, philosophy, transformational leaders etc. 

Sometimes I find it fascinating why we train youth on skills that they will never use anywhere or remain with the same skill without any idea of monetization. 

We shouldn't learn for the sake of learning , but rather we should do so with an intention of making transformational change in our life and that of others by challenging the norms, creating new innovations, plugging into already existing best practices etc. 

 Just thoughtful ❤️

 It's either you are working in a space where there is an evolution or revolution of IDEAS. Just thoughtful Sometimes we don't have to create anything new, but what we need is just to give an already existing product a new touch, approach or look, whatever you want to call it. This is where innovation and creativity thrive in UNLEASHING NEXT BIG THING!

Skill Up Master Class At Oasis Mathare #SkillUpMasterClasses

 #QualityEducationLifeLongLearning 

 On Thursday 24th November 2022, I had the pleasure of spending time with 26 young people at @oasismathare Oasis Mathare who are aspiring to become software developers / engineers in future. 

 The session covered the following; 

 1. The job description.

 2. Creating a Curriculum Vitae (CV).

 3. Why they need a portfolio. 

4. The essential soft skills required in the World Of Work (WOW). 

 In December I will also create a day to meet another youth group within Nairobi. Get in touch with me incase you need a youth facilitator who is creative, knowledgeable and passionate about youth agenda

In pictures 

Do More / Be More /Be Different www.wilsenx.blogspot.com 

FAILfaire :- Reframing How We Perceive & Receive Failure.

Generally, there's nobody who wants to be associated with failure. That is why you will find in some workplaces the top leadership will make all efforts to disassociate themselves from any form of failure. 

On the other hand, if they don't blame it on anyone or department they would rather paint a merry picture of success even when failure is at the center of everything. 

 In schools and some workplaces we are also trained to avoid failure at all cost which sometimes comes in the form of warnings, for example, if you fail count yourself fired, out and so on. I would rather change the conversation to, do your research and plan well and execute. If failure happens don't be ashamed to document and learn from every step. 

Incase you are running a start up, there is this phrase or philosophy, (FF) Fail Fast, meaning get all the important lessons from the earliest stage to gain momentum and stability towards the next phase.

Anyway, I came to learn, in some cases, failure is inevitable and it is a great way to prepare for the big wins only if you are keen to pick the lessons at every stage with an open mind and attitude. The fact is, you will never come across any monument erected at any place to celebrate people who tried and failed nor will you find any award in the same category. 

 In any contest people only remember the winners. As time goes the first runners up also fades slowly hence the need to be winners at all times. 

 "Our journey to success is closely connected to many things, and failure is part of it." - Wilson Masaka, Youth Advocate and Social Entrepreneur 

"Failing doesn't necessarily mean you didn't plan, that is why we need to reframe our thinking, perception and reception about failure. " - Wilson Masaka, Youth Advocate Social Entrepreneur 

Failure might have happened because of some unknown situations that took precedence in what you had planned to do that are linked to external environment beyond your control for example the COVID-19 pandemic is a classical example.

To achieve our optimum impact as organisations we should embrace failure as part of the process and allocate quality time to document all the failures that might have happened during a certain period (Failfaire). The only part I can't buy is when failure is made deliberate by not doing what is required. Many organisations are found of creating layers of strategic plans, one after the other without taking a deep dive into the failures that would help them generate new ways of thinking before creating new strategies.

Below Are Five Reasons Why We Should Have a FAILfaire in Our Organisations.

 Here we go... 

 1. Failure creates room for alternatives ways of doing the same thing in a different way (creativity & innovation). 

2. It encourages great performance than in a situation where it isn't embraced which leads to staff faking results. 

3. It helps an organisation understand better their S.W.O.T analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity & Threats). 

4. Create room for personal development and capacity building. Nobody is perfect and if you try you either win or fail and in between there's great learning. 

5. Open our mind to think of meaningful partnership to address the gaps. 

Picture credit https://unsplash.com/@reddalec

I hope starting today, you will plan and target to win and should failure happen, you will take a pause and documents the lessons with an open mind. 

We shouldn't deliberately let things fall apart or encourage failing. We should always strive to recognise failure as part of the things that are bound to happen even after great plans. 

In case you're a youth led or a pro-youth institution part of what I train is organisational culture and documenting failure (this is a new area in many organisations) as one of the subtopics. 

 

Get in touch Do More / Be More / Be Different www.wilsenx.blogspot.com