Kenya Trip 2012!

This is Madi Williamson, club president of Nehemiah FC! Although as a blogger and sports journalist I love words, sentences, paragraphs... all that good stuff, I'll list out my agenda in this post to make things clear and concise.

Calling All Soccer People!

Lexi and Madi, Presidents of Nehemiah FC

Hey all of you lovers of the beautiful game: Madi and Lexi are looking to organize a mission to help build our football club in Kenya!

We Found a Venue!

A HUGE thank you to the owners of Wildernest Outdoor Store on Windslow Way, Steve and Kerry Sutorius! They have offered to take a donation box for us! If anyone on Bainbridge Island has equipment donations, they can be brought to the box inside the store. I strongly encourage you to also take a gander at all of the amazing stuff they carry, I am obsessed with their clothing ;)

Thank you all for the continued support!

We're Packed up and Kenya Bound!

Well, Lexi is at least. I am staying home and my Kenya escapade will be postponed until 2013. We got together on Friday and after lots of analyzing, improvising, weighing, tying, lacing and taping we packed 37 pounds of soccer balls, cleats and a ball pump to bring to our players in Nehemiah! Here are some pictures!

Update!

A HUGE 'thank you' from Madi and Lexi!

Kickoff!

Hello faithful Kenya Soccer Project/Nehemiah FC followers!
It has been way too long since our last post on here, but I can assure you some amazing things have been happening behind the scenes! I apologize for the loose composition of this post, but I want to make sure that our faithful following is kept up to date.

Update On Our New Partnership!

We are now collecting medical supplies!

Dear readers,
First off, please excuse the slightly mindless yet informational rambling I am about to embark on. I have yet to polish off my Monday morning cup of coffee!
I am proud to announce that members of Nehemiah FC are teaming up with the members of Mombasa Sister Cities to share supplies and collaborate! I have already talked with some of the amazing (and experienced) women who are hard at work on this project and have had the privilege of being invited to some of their cultural events. The highest honor of all, in my opinion, is that Dr. Robin Jones, one of the amazing women who is dedicating much of her time to helping the women in Kenya, has trusted me to help her find a way to ship an ambulance and medial supplies to Mombasa.

Update on the Kenya Soccer Project!

We have a name! The players have spoken and have agreed that Nehemiah FC is a perfect name for the club. What a huge step! Shebby has informed me that they are getting together regularly to play and are growing in numbers. That's all we can ask for! We are currently in the process of finalizing a team crest design but in the meantime there are a few exciting announcements along with some photos. Thank you so much for your support!

Chapter One

Lexi and I have been friends for just over a year, but it feels like a lifetime. Sometimes we feel like we are even the same person, saying something in unison or discovering yet another totally random thing we both love from music and food to clothing and interior decorating. In our long commutes (but never long enough!) from Olympic College campus to Bainbridge Island, between listening to music, we brainstorm and share ideas. Some of them are good ideas, many of them are just plain crazy but the idea for the Kenyan Soccer Project was born out of the combinations of our two main passions, soccer and Kenya, and our shared passion for helping others and making the world a better place. Lexi came to me about a month ago and told me about a friend of hers who was working in Kenya at a village near the one she had lived in while she was there with her family. He said that the men there were hardworking, young and passionate but lacked someplace to direct their passion and spare time. This was confirmed when we spoke with John, a man from the village, over Skype. John told us that the men there would come in from working in the sugar cane fields and want something to do with their time. They resorted to gambling, drinking or creating mischief. John and Shebby, a representative from the farm where Lexi had lived and our primary Kenyan contact, both wanted to unite the young men and women in the villages surrounding the farm over soccer; hoping that through the beautiful game, they would experience community, responsibility, enjoyment and religious enrichment . Lexi and I hope for those things as well, but in addition we are hoping that our communities over here in Washington will be able to get involved and experience the same thing, thus uniting not only the communities in Kenya, but also the communities here and creating a relationship between the two.

This is the first chapter in the story of the Kenyan Soccer Project. I do not yet have much information, but I hope that by reading this, you will feel just as much excitement and hope as Lexi, John, Shebby and I do. We look forward to taking this journey with you!