JUATOTO
CENTER
SUNZ
Recent news
Juatoto partners with Asker Kommune
Dennis Kimani October, 2013
Asker Kommune and Asker Sports Council has this autumn engaged in a collaboration with Juatoto. Juatoto collects supplies for children and young people in Rwanda and Kenya, so that they can meet across borders to practice various sports and cultural activities.
The collection runs from 1 to 20 October. Juatoto thanks Asker Kommune and Asker Sports Council for the collaboration. Read more about the project at www.asker.kommune.no.
Juatoto partners with ISAK KULTURSENTER
Dennis Kimani & Serge B. Buhendwa, October 2013
ISAK KULTURSENTER has this autumn engaged in a collaboration with Juatoto. Juatoto collects supplies for children and young people in Rwanda and Kenya, so that they can meet across borders to practice various sports and cultural activities.
We collected various equipment for the musicstudios in Rwanda and Kenya. Juatoto thanks ISAK KULTURSENTER for the collaboration.
Juatoto Fundraisers, Diaspora
Dennis Kimani & Serge B. Buhendwa, August 2013
African Sunz and partners organize fundraising campaigns in the Diaspora, and we are gaining new supporters. We will ship off one container of equipment well before the festival so that it will reach Kenya in time for the festival. We are gradually expanding the centers to include music, dance and drama production, and we are therefore dependent on material support. We collect all sport equipments, music gear and musical instruments, computers and other equipment that may come in handy. This is an independent project, which thanks to our friends and partners, is hailed by the entire community.
The container will be shipped from Oslo by 01. november, and is estimated to arrive Mombasa the first week in december.
Juatoto partners with Utdanningshjelpen
Dennis Kimani, October 2013
Utdanningshjelpen and Juatoto will primarily cooperate in connection with UHs resource center at Osiri beach. Juatotos resource centers open in December and we will then initiate various courses at the centers.
We have long worked with sports, music and art and would now like to expand our activities to include education. This work involves a lot of reserarch on many different topics and we are there too dependent on cooperation with people who possess that kind of expertise.
Juatoto thanks Utdanningshjelpen for the collaboration. Read more about their work at www.ny.utdanningshjelpen.no
Postponement of the festival due to delays in shipping container.
Dennis Kimani, January 2014
Due to delays in shipment of the container from Oslo to Mombasa, we have postponed the festival that was supposed to take place in Kenya late in December 2013. We expect to send container from Oslo in January, and expect that it arrives in Mombasa late in February. More information coming soon. Juatoto thanks everyone who helped us with equipment and we look forward to further cooperation in 2014.
Juatoto Center, Maragua - Kenya
Dennis Kimani, May 2013
African Sunz are constantly striving to expand Juatoto in Africa. In December 2013, we are launching Juatoto Center, in Gakoigo - Maragua. Juatoto festival will therefore this time be held in Kenya. Planning is already underway and the work is coordinated by the Board. We work diligently with various fund-raising campaigns so that this time we will get to ship one container to Kenya, in time for the festival.
The challenges are many, but with the help of our friends and partners, nothing is impossible.
Juatoto Minifestival, Gisenyi - Rwanda
Dennis Kimani & Serge B. Buhendwa, May 2013
Juatoto Mini festival was a great success and the community hailed the involvement the youth demonstrated by actively bridging networks across national borders. The festival had participants from various countries and managed to gather up to 300 young people over a time span of three days.
We arranged among other things, a football tournament and a concert, which was a huge success among the younger participants. We also arranged various discussion forums where many new ideas were presented to the board. By defying all the barriers we were able, by means of cooperation, to brave the many challenges that we faced before and during the festival.
This is an independent project, which thanks to our friends and partners, was hailed by the entire community in Gisenyi. The youngsters showed great commitment and took on a lot of responsibility to make this happen. The festival helped to highlight the many talents that exist in our society. Juatoto has also recruited and engaged many new members..
The container is shipped:-)
Dennis Kimani, March 2014
The container is now sent from the Oslo and can be expected to arrive in Nairobi in April. We look forward to continue working with the centers when the container has arrived. Half the content of the container shall be transported to Rwanda, so we are still working to facilitate this. Juatoto thanks everyone who helped us with equipment and we look forward to further cooperation in 2014.
Juatoto partners with Nginda Girls Secondary School
Dennis Kimani March 2014
Nginda Girls Secondary School and Juatoto will primarily cooperate in connection with the Juatoto Festival in April in Maragua Kenya.The festival will involve schools and teams from the local community, teams from Nairobi, Mombasa and Rwanda are also in invited. We are currently raising funds in the diaspora and we are gratefull to everyone who supports and helps to make this a successful festival.
Juatoto support venue
Jeton Sejdijaj, March 2014
Hausmania - Friday 14. mars 2014.
A special thanks to Jaja Mohamed and Leyes Teks together with Hausmania whom made it possible to arrange the last fundraising consert before the festival in April. Juatoto aslo thanks every one who was there to support the cause. I hope that everyone enjoyed and will be back at the next event. Thank you.
Donations Container - 2014
Dennis Kimani & Serge B. Buhendwa, August 2014
African Sunz and its partners successfully managed to send a container from Norway to Kenya in February in connection with the initiation of the resource centers in Kenya and Rwanda. The content of the shipping container mentioned were donations from volunteers, friends and partners of Juatoto including primary and secondary schools in Norway, football clubs, companies etc.
African Sunz and its partners held fundraising events in Norway and managed to collect enough funds to ship the container from Norway to Kenya. The recipients were mainly the members of the Juatoto centers in Kenya and Rwanda, and members of our longtime partner in Kenya, MAONO CULTURAL GROUP. We have since 2008 worked with MAONO and other local organizations in Nairobi and we are now contributing our knowledge also in the rural areas.
Nairobi & Mombasa(March - June)
Dennis Kimani & Serge B. Buhendwa, August 2014
Nairobi
The container arrived in Kenya at the end of March. African Sunz along with the Juatoto board from Norway arrived in Kenya shortly after. Donations are normally tax exempted in Kenya but since the government enforced the VAT act in August 2013, shipping containers containing donations are rarely tax exempted now. We therefore found ourselves in a very challenging situation.
Mombasa
We initially decided to travel to Mombasa after paying Oceanfreight in Nairobi a visit. There we spoke to the managing director Pauline whom advised us to travel to Mombasa. At this point we also realized that the company handling the container did not prioritize our container due to the content. After numerous meetings and letters back and forth with Pauline we decided to travel to Mombasa and hopefully get this solved as soon as possible.
Arriving in Mombasa we were very surprised. The bureaucracy related to shipping overwhelmed us and we were considering giving up the pursuit of the container. The storage costs were accumulating and we had to come up with the funds for KEBS. We were also forced to cancel the flight back to Norway and all appointment had to be canceled due to the fact that unless we were present in Kenya, we would have lost the container.
The board in Norway successfully held a fundraising event in Norway and was able to raise the required funds. We therefore paid KEBS and were further assured that the container now would be released. Nearly 2 months after the container had arrived in Mombasa, we finally made the last payment related to the transport and import of the container.
Juatoto Festival, Gakoigo - Kenya
Dennis Kimani, August 2014
We were forced to postpone the festival and prioretize container. The budget that was set aside to organize the festival assisted us in covering the costs related to the import of the container. We paid a total of approximately 1.6 million Kenyan shilling for freight and other costs related to the container. We are now working overtime to plan the next Juatoto Festival which takes place in Kenya in December, we look forward.
Juatoto Academy, Gakoigo - Kenya
Dennis Kimanim August 2014
Juatoto FC in Gakoigo is finally manifesting, after 4 months of intense work with the local youths. Since the container arrived in the beginning of June, Kimani and Chege mostly spent time with the younger boys from Gakoigo, Maragua. Mobilizing and recruiting the youths was as expected an easy task. By providing sporting equipment for the local community we created a platform for the youths to meet and train regularly.
The Juatoto Center also quickly served as a meeting point for people of different age groups and the activities the Juatoto Center runs attract many people, especially children and young people. By providing services that the local community otherwise would have to pay for, we slowly have gained local support amongst the elders in the community. The Juatoto Center in Gakoigo has now over 200 registered members that participate in our activities.
Juatoto Academy, Gisenyi - Rwanda
Dennis Kimani & Serge B. Buhendwa, August 2014
Idrissa from Rwanda arrived in Kenya from Rwanda in July for the second time in two months. This time he came to collect some of the the equipment to be transported to the center of Rwanda. The transport of equipment has proven to be very difficult because neither the customs in Kenya or Rwanda could facilitated a tax-free import of the donations container. Idrissa therefore collected some of equipment for the academy in Rwanda, but he unfortunately had to leave a lot behind due to costs related to customs in Rwanda. We have already paid approximately 1,6 million Kenyan Shillings in freight to the customs office in Kenya, and we are therefore tring to avoid additional costs related to import of the donations in East Africa. The center in Rwanda is officially running and the soccer team is training regurarly.
Juatoto Academy, Girls Team - Gakoigo
Dennis Kimani August, 2014
Stephen Mwangi Mburu along with Samuel Mungai Chege took the iniative to train Gathera Secondary School during the period of school games. Mwangi know as Mwas, gathered about 20 girls from Gathera secondary. We provided them with uniforms and boots and this quickly created huge enthusiasm within the team. These girls were between 15 and 18 years old and surprisingly many of them mastered basic football skills.
This interaction set the foundation for the Juatoto Girls team which was founded during this period. Mwas gathered about 25 young girls from Gathera, Maragua and Ichagaki to participate in the Juatoto academy in Gakoigo. Kimani at this point appointed Mwas and Issa as head coaches for the girl’s team.
Juatoto Community Service, Gakoigo
Dennis Kimani August, 2014
Juaoto volunteers for charity work at Gakoigo, Maragua. The community service cleanup is conducted by members of Juatoto inclusive of other youths within the village of Gakoigo. Our goal is to KEEP THE ENVIROMENT CLEAN as well as mobilizing the youth to engage in activities that can benefit the society. Juatoto aims to pass a message to the community that it’s good to keep our environment clean by volunteering to collect garbage and cleaning the town.
The clean up is held twice a months and starts at 10.00 Am. We improvised brooms to be used for the clean up and asked some assistance from Maragua sub-county for tools such as wheelbarrows, pangas, spades, slashers and other cleaning tools. We mobilized all the youths that turned into two groups so that the activity could be more fruitful and up to expectations. All members did a diligent work and the people of Gakoigo applauded the initiative and called for more such cleanups.
Juatoto FC, Rwanda
Serge B. Buhendwa & Dennis Kimani, Oktober 2014
The team in Rwanda has long had strong challenges with poor football field and as a result many players got easily injured and the balls used during training quickly got worn out. In Rwanda we have now arranged a new training field in Mudugudu which is near the center and easier to access.
Juatoto FC U15 in local championship, Rwanda
Serge B. Buhendwa & Dennis Kimani, Oktober 2014
This championship is aimed at young children. The participants get to exhibit their talents by playing every weekend and prepare well for the future national U-15 championship which will start in January 2015. If the qualifies, any material or financial assistance will be humbly accepted.
Seeds of consciousness
Dennis Kimani & Serge B. Buhendwa , Oktober 2014
Seeds of consciousness seeks to create a platform for empowering youths and young adults through agriculture by giving them more opportunities to do business.
Seeds of consciousness
Dennis Kimani & Serge B. Buhendwa , Oktober 2014
The members of Seeds of consciousness are currently preparing for cultivation as we enter the rain season in Kenya. The farmer are cultivating beans, maize, sweet potatoes, cassavas, arrowroots ++++. The project offers an experimental platform to investigate the process and context of organic farming.