The Victoria Sports Association (VSA) is a community-based project in Kenya. Its mission is to keep youth at school and away from the dangerous streets through sports, especially football.
It was founded in 2006 with “only” 18 children. To date, VSA has helped more than 120 young people, including many girls. Most of the participants come from slums and poor communities, some are street children, some are orphans and others have only one parent who is unable to cover school expenses.
The goal of Victoria Sports Association is to break the cycle of poverty in Kenya. According to the founder, Dennis Otieno, one of the best ways to make this dream come true is to invest in the education for the next generation.
Therefore, VSA tries to encourage children to go to school – and their parents/guardians to send them to school – through a series of activities, mainly sports but also theater, dance, ecology (for example with garbage collection or planting crops), meetings and workshops for raising awareness of HIV/AIDS or for developing computer skills and empowering women.
Unfortunately, for many VSA boys and girls, being able to go to school is a luxury. The sports association tries to find sponsors or donors to help children pay for school enrollment and the materials necessary for education.
On the website of VSA Kenya you can read the stories, challenges, and dreams of various children. Football is one passion shared by most, so much so that the association has its own football club, called FC Victoria. There are various teams according to age, from Under 8 to U18. Undoubtedly, Victoria Queens (the girls’ team) is among the protagonists!
Dennis is the founder and also the football coach. He grew up in the poor neighborhoods of Nairobi and became an orphan when still very young. His love for football led him to attend various courses to become a coach. Determined to make sure that fewer and fewer children have a difficult childhood and no right to study, he devoted himself entirely to his VSA project.
If you can or want to help the association in any way, please contact victoriasportsa@gmail.com or visit vsakenya.org.