On October 7th 2018, the Manitoba Basketball African Association (MBAA) held a basketball fundraiser tournament to raise funds for the rehabilitation of a basketball court in Kapsengere, Terik ward. MBAA is a nonprofit organization that is based in Manitoba, Canada that aims to bring people of African origin together through the sport of basketball. They hold annual tournaments that fundraise for different community initiatives. This year, TEPAD Kenya was the beneficiary with the raised funds going to rehabilitate the basketball court used by the schools and community in Kapsengere. Different teams from 7 different African countries (Kenya, South Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Zambia) took part in the one-day tournament organized in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Among the players for Team Kenya was Abraham Kimutai who hails from Kapsengere. Abraham was the first beneficiary of the University of Manitoba Mentorship Leadership Excellence in sports (MILES) scholarship in 2012. This scholarship is an initiative of the President and Vice Chancellor of University of Manitoba, Canada Prof. David Barnard and a Canadian non-profit organization- Canada Swahili Institute Inc. It is the outcome of a collaboration between TEPAD and University of Manitoba, on the use of sports for community development. He completed his degree in Bachelors of Kinesiology in 2017. Abraham took initiative with members of the MBAA executive to organize a fund raiser initiative that would benefit the community back home. Abraham grew up playing in that same court and thus he saw a need to assist and link back to the TERIK community.
The fund raising initiative was highlighted in local Winnipeg news outlets (CTV and Global News ), bringing more awareness to MBAA, TEPAD Kenya and the fundraising initiative. Abraham will be continuing with the fund raising efforts with other groups in Manitoba to ensure enough funds for the rehabilitation of the basketball court.
Watch the local news reports:
https://globalnews.ca/news/4525671/manitoba-basketball-group-raises-funds-for-new-court-in-kenya/