February 26, 2012

Fundraiser in Charleston, South Carolina on March 2nd

4th Annual Win a Kids' Heart Captain's Choice Golf Tournament

For those of you in the Charleston Area, there will be a fundraiser for the Suba Lakers Football Club.  The proceeds will benefit our work over here in Mbita, Kenya with the sports ministry.  The Golf Tournament will begin at 1:00 PM at Patriots Point Links with a shotgun start. Registration is at 12:30 PM.  $400 per team includes Golf, Box Lunch, Dinner, Beverages and Mega Giveaways.  You can contact Mike Randle for more information at 843 345-7151 or at mrandle4@comcast.net.  All donations are tax deductible. 

Immediately following, there will be a Dinner/Silent Auction from 6:00 - 8:00 PM.  $30 per person includes a fabulous meal, beer, wine, soft drinks, grand prize drawing, door prizes, entertainment and more.  For more information, contact Kim Scarbrough at kim_scarbrough@yahoo.com or call 843 670 2806. 


Other Sponsorship Opportunities

a Sponsor a hole ($100/hole)

a Family sign or Small group sign ($25)

a Purchase a soccer uniform for the young athletes ($50.00)

a Purchase ___ silent auction ticket(s) $20.00 Includes: Dinner ~ Beverages ~ Entertainment

a Donate raffle items__________________________________________

a Donate silent auction items _____________________________________
a Cash Donation _____________________________________________  

February 9, 2012

The Last One

On Monday, we brought the last of our 9 primary school football girl graduates to join secondary school. These nine have all been a special part of our football club for many years. Several of them have been with us since the beginning of the club, and some were with us even before we started the club. Most of them are orphans and from very poor homes. For the past year we have been praying and fasting about their future, asking God what to do next. Most girls in our district never even finish primary school and of the ones that do finish primary school, very few move on to secondary school because of low national exam scores or lack of money. With 9 to think about helping, we didn’t know how we could raise the money to assist. But where man is not able to, there is nothing impossible with God.


In the last couple of months a few well-wishers have given some money to help educate some of these girls. At the same time, God has given us some good connections with secondary schools that value girls football as well as academics. Some of these schools wanted these players so much that they were willing to allow them to come for drastically reduced fees. With the combination of those two things, we were able to pitch in our part to make sure each of them would continue their education.

The one we brought on Monday is named Caren. She has two loving parents, but they don’t have very much money. In fact the father has been struggling for the past three weeks looking for finances from every possible means with no success. When we shared with him what we had found out from a coach at Kobala Secondary School in Kendu Bay, Caren and the father were both very ready to give it a try because none of Caren’s three older siblings had even finished primary school. So when we brought her on Monday, she was the first one in her family to join a secondary school. The school warmly welcomed her and helped her get settled in and oriented as quickly as possible so that she could begin learning immediately.

After reaching home I got a message from the father saying, “It was today when I believed that with God, nothing can stand in your way. I was really stranded with Caren because I had no money for school fees or even transport to get her to school, but God provided a way through you. Pass our prayer to the Suba Lakers Club Officials. It is a miracle I will never forget in my life. Caren’s mother has a small gift to bring to you. Thank you. Every one of us is praying for you.”

We feel blessed that God would choose to use us to make a difference in the lives of these girls.

February 1, 2012

A Special Moment

Another one of our players was able to join secondary school this week.  On Monday, I met Dorothy and her father down at the beach when their boat taxi reached Mbita from their home on Mfangano Island.  We travelled together to Rongo. 

Dorothy has a hearing impairment and in 2010 was able to begin attending a boarding primary school in Lambwe that is specifically for students with that disability.  After struggling for many years in public schools that would make her repeat because of her performance, it was a big blessing to be in a school with others that had the same problem as her, along with teachers who understand the children and do their best to help them.  The curriculum was the same as the public schools except that they learn sign language instead of Kiswahili.  Dorothy really improved in her overall performance, especially her ability to speak English and read lips.  She easily passed her National Exams and was invited to join Kuja Secondary School for the Deaf in Rongo, about a 1.5 hour ride from Mbita. 

Kuja is one of the best schools in the country and in the region for hearing impaired students.  They receive students from all over Kenya and all of East Africa.  It is a very beautiful school with top notch facilities and excellent teachers.  I had taken Dorothy to visit the school last year on the way to one of our tournaments to motivate her to work hard in school so that she could reach there.  Ironically we ended up playing in a tournament at that very school at the end of December.  The girls even spent several nights there and ate their meals there.  All of that helped Dorothy feel very comfortable going to school there and helped her to fit in very quickly. 

It was a pleasure to escort Dorothy and her father to school.  Through well-wishers, the club was able to pay for her school fees at Kuja.  The father loves her very much, but with many wives and dozens of children, his finances are stretched to the limit. 

Dorothy was the 5th of our 9 students to join secondary school this year.  The other four will be joining in the next few days.