AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
You've heard of the soccer teams Manchester United and D.C. United. Well, in northern Kenya, there is Grannies United. It's a group of grandmothers who use the sport to reach teenagers to mentor and inspire. Kenyan journalist Emmanuel Igunza met up with the team and brings this report.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Laughter).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
EMMANUEL IGUNZA: On a cold evening in Njogu-ini, in the foothills of Mount Kenya, I arrived at a dusty soccer pitch as people rushed home from farms and work. But for a dozen or so grandmothers, the exciting part of the day was just beginning. The first player I noticed was Ann Wanjugu, a 72-year-old grandmother dressed in a fading white baseball cap, an oversized T-shirt and maroon silk trousers.
ANN WANJUGU: (Speaking Swahili).
IGUNZA: The oldest on the team, she grins as she tells me she left her kitchen mid-cooking to run and register.
WANJUGU: (Speaking Swahili).
IGUNZA: "To the other grannies, I encourage them to come and join us," she says, "because we are already reaping the benefits."
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
IGUNZA: I've played soccer most of my life, but watching Mrs. Wanjugu spring past women young enough to be her grandchildren, I felt something I hadn't expected - a renewed urge to get back on the pitch myself.
PAUL GIKONYO: They are telling me that they want to see whether they can be able to beat other teams.
IGUNZA: Their coach, Paul Gikonyo, runs the youth soccer academy next door. Now he has a new team, and he has no doubt about what they are capable of.
GIKONYO: I can say that surely, any opponent who will come to just play for a friendly with them, they will be beaten thoroughly.
IGUNZA: I also met 58-year-old Merioth Muthoni, a grandmother of three, and soon learned that she was the chief mobilizer of Njogu-ini Grannies United.
MERIOTH MUTHONI: I enjoy the training because I wanted to lose weight for some time. Now I am very happy when I'm going to the field because I'm reducing. Right now, I have reduced the five kgs (ph), and I'm very happy about it.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: So I'm comparing waxing and things like sugaring.
IGUNZA: But the pitch is only part of the story. Behind it sits the Njogu-ini Career Training Center. My childhood friend Miriam Wangui spent 20 years doing humanitarian work at the U.N. in Geneva, then came home and opened it last year. She planned for teenagers. She never planned for grandmothers.
MIRIAM WANGUI: It seems like it's something they had been waiting for that they didn't know that they needed, so they're taking it in such a positive way. So now, when the grannies play, they encourage the youth.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: (Non-English language spoken).
(SOUNDBITE OF KICKING SOCCER BALL)
IGUNZA: The grandmothers, she says, just arrived on Friday and said they wanted their own team.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: (Non-English language spoken).
IGUNZA: Now, on weekends, the grandmothers mentor the teenagers here at the beauty school. Some of the grannies are trying on nail polish for the first time. No uniforms. No proper boots. Just grandmothers and teenagers shaping each other, one sprint, one laugh, one first at a time.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #7: (Speaking Swahili).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: (Speaking Swahili).
IGUNZA: For NPR News, I'm Emmanuel Igunza in Njogu-ini, in the foothills of Mount Kenya.
(SOUNDBITE OF FLYING LOTUS SONG, "NEVER CATCH ME (FEAT. KENDRICK LAMAR)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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