Lilian Awuor broke down barriers recently and became the first Suba Laker to play for the Kenya Women's National Team!
After a great 2nd year in Secondary school where she led her team, Nyakach Girls, to the Regional Championship, National Semifinals and all the way to the East African games, Lillian was invited to come to the Harambee Starlets training camp as they prepared for an international match. She was one of the goalkeepers selected and one of the youngest members to represent the country in matches held in Uganda. Other Suba Lakers have tried out for the national team at various times, but none of them have had the opportunity to don the Kenyan jersey in an international match.
Lilian has already traveled with the Harambee Starlets to Uganda and Morocco for various international matches! This is an incredible experience for Lilian. We hope more opportunities will come for her and other Suba Lakers in the future.
We took the ferry across the lake for our next tournament on Mfangano Island. The 2016 Kanyakla Tournament was held at Ramba Primary School from Nov 28-Dec 1. This tournament is sponsored by Organic Health Response – Ekialo Kiona Center which focuses on community health programs on Mfangano Island. The tournament provided many opportutities to learn abut HIV/AIDS awareness.
A number of teams traveled the long distance to attend this tournament, yet the Suba Lakers dominated. We finished the tournament undefeated and did not allow a single goal! We beat City to City Football Club 4-0, then took on Kiziwa FC 2-0. In Semis we met and defeated Dreams FC 5-0. Finally, we wrapped it up with a 3-0 win over Mashambani FC. We received new uniforms, a ball and trophy as the Champions.
Not only did we shine as a team, but many of our players stood out to be among the best. Brenda June and Alicent received the Best Players awards. Our top scorers, with 3 total each, were Lavenda, Emily and Dorothy.
The Kanyakla Program is the world’s first microclinic program for HIV/AIDS. Our approach is to empower rural HIV-affected social networks with training and resources, while improving linkages to care, facilitating confidential HIV status disclosure, and building an enduring social infrastructure to address the social, economic, and environmental factors driving HIV/AIDS.