Eve Star Football Club - Kenya

Evestar Football Club - Kenya is an affiliate of GAP - Kenya{ an NGO registered in Kenya; registration certificate number: OP. 218/051/2007/4760. The organization was established on December 27, 2007 and is authorized to operate in Kenya to start with three districts namely: Busia, Teso, Kakamega and Nairobi }- The Club focuses on soccer training and talent, its situated at Shihuli centre in Kakamega District, Western Kenya.
Vision:
A world of confidence boys and girls
Mission:
Promote children development, talent recognition and social justice
Strategies:
Work with individual as well as organized groups of youth and women on programme themes of their preference and talent development.
Main Objective:
Football talent development and provide education, food and shelter to orphans and vulnerable children through soccer child sponsorship programs and also give people from around the world the opportunity to do volunteer work in community club initiated projects in very poor communities. Our Club fosters independence and creativity, instilling a love of learning that motivates students to surmount the many challenges that they face.
Background of the Larger Khayega Region
Khayega where we work is a town in Western Kenya, whose inhabitants depends mostly on subsistence agriculture. Here communities are poor, with increased land subdivision; many are forced into wage labor where they earn a daily wage of less than a dollar (1$) a day. Most of the productive population has migrated to other towns i.e. Nairobi, Kisumu and Busia border to look for other sources of livelihood and even some have died of HIV Aids. Many of the school going children left behind are under the care of their ageing grandparents who are unable to adequately provide for them. This has led to escalation of poverty in this area.
The picture here is of families and communities whose lives are negatively impacted by unending poverty - from which there is no escape.
As the founder of Evestar FC, I realized that many households had been negatively affected by these issues and I was determined to change these devastating realities. I could not sit by as I saw little girls and boys forced out of school by hunger and poverty to look for wage.

My story: Evelyn Mukanda- Co- Founder

In 2007, I was crowned Miss Kakamega and decided with the help of my mum to start movement that became a junior soccer club and youth ambassador in my area. In my wildest dreams, I could not have believed that Evestar would grow to be hope for community.

Growing up as the oldest of four children in Kakamega, a town in western kenya, I saw families and community suffocated by devastating poverty - from which there was no escape. I saw many people’s lives crushed and I was determined to change these devastating realities. I could not sit by as I saw little girls forced to labour for food. I could not stay silent while I saw such wasted human potential.

I decided to form an informal group to move around and donate clothes and food to the needy.
Today, I look around me and I see that many of the people who I grew up with have been killed by AIDS, prostitution, violence, and by the despair that comes from knowing that no matter how much you deserve it, you will never get a chance at a better future.
I remain deeply touched and inspired by the supporters who have joined us, who believe in my vision, and who have helped us to bring hope to my community. Together, we are making another world possible.