COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT. Having already organized the successful collection of shoes, socks and shin guards for a youth football club in Nairobi, Henrik Zetterberg is stepping things up. He is desperately trying to sell his old Volvo V40 to the highest bidder, in the hopes of raising the funds necessary to allow these talented young football players to attend the Gothia Cup this summer.
In order to help the Kenyan football club to participate in the Gothia Cup, he needs to raise approximately SEK 100,000. As a regular columnist for the Göteborgs Posten newspaper, he has previously written about the team, and has already spearheaded successful efforts on its behalf; he recently challenged GP’s readers to donate socks, shoes, and shin guards to the team’s players, to enormous response: over one hundred pairs of shoes were delivered to Henrik’s home in Mölnlycke! People have also contributed money.
“Strangely enough, so far we’ve only received pure donations; people have said that they “absolutely do not want the car,” recounts Henrik Zetterberg, who in one of his columns described his 90’s-era V40 as a sun-bleached rust bucket with three working cylinders and a radio that turns itself off and on completely of its own accord.
The beneficiaries of Henrik’s fundraising efforts are the football players of RYSA (Runda Youth Sports Association), a non-profit association that organizes sports activities for children and young people living in the slums on the outskirts of Nairobi. Henrik Zetterberg got the chance to visit the football club in Nairobi at the end of last year, in conjunction with attending a scientific conference on brain disease.
“While I was there, I watched some of the teams practice – very seriously, but barefoot, of course,” says Henrik, and continues:
“One of the coaches told me that they had managed to travel to Tanzania on a football trip a few years ago, and that it had meant so much to the whole club. The coach felt that the kids need to see that it’s possible to make the impossible happen, because otherwise there’s a real risk that they’ll become convinced that they have no chance at all in life. I think there’s something to that.”
The club has been trying for the last decade to make it to the Gothia Cup, the world’s largest and most international youth football tournament, and in January they received word that they have been registered as participants in this year’s games .
“Their team has no resources whatsoever, and there’s no way they’ll be able obtain the necessary passports, visas, airline tickets, and money for living expenses without outside assistance.
To support the association financially, a local supporter club called RYSA Marafiki has been founded. The name means “Friends of RYSA” in Swahili. You, too, can become a supporter – the fee to join the club is just SEK 100. It’s also possible to make a direct donation to bank giro number 298-6347, or to Swish your contribution to 1236419188. You can follow the club and share its posts on Facebook, as well: https://www.facebook.com/rysamarafiki/
Caption: This is the Kenyan team that has the chance to attend to compete in the Gothia Cup – all that is lacking are the airline tickets and funds necessary to do so. Please help to make their dream a reality by becoming a supporting member for just SEK 100 (larger membership fee donations are also welcome). Simply Swish your contribution to 123 641 9188, or transfer it to bank giro number 298-6347 (a non-profit organization has been created for the purpose of receiving the donations). On this page, you will be able to follow the team’s journey as they make their way from Nairobi to this summer’s Gothia Cup!
Nice indeed.