By Kamila Gojobe

Mental health is a pressing crisis affecting individuals across the board, encompassing emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences our thoughts, feelings, actions, stress management, relationships, and decision-making. This issue isn't limited to urban areas but is particularly prevalent among urban youth, especially those in poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Recent years have witnessed a steep rise in mental health issues among teenagers and young adults, including suicidal tendencies. Contributing factors include drug abuse, anxiety, depression, sexual and gender-based violence, self-harm, performance pressure, social media exposure, and stress.

In response to the escalating cases in their informal settlement, the Amusha Community-Based Organization, located in Mukuru kwa Njenga, has taken proactive measures. They launched a street soccer tournament in collaboration with other stakeholders, involving youth from Mukuru kwa Njenga, Mukuru kwa Reuben, and Viwandani. The whole idea was for youth to form a team from their bases. Each village formed teams, with a requirement for at least one female player per team. Approximately 30 teams, each with 12 players, participated in the 7-a-side tournament, hosted at the Embakasi Girls Community Ground. The venue was equipped to accommodate two concurrent games, allowing all teams to participate simultaneously.

Mental health remains stigmatized in informal settlements. Toure, the leader of Amusha group, explains, "One of our biggest challenges with mental health is the stigma around it. One is not able to get help as they will be stigmatized by the community, family, and friends." Those facing mental challenges are often misunderstood as being mentally unstable, or mental health is wrongly attributed to black magic. This stigma impedes help-seeking and speaking out, which can lead to harmful behaviors such as alcoholism. To address this issue, the team organized street soccer events to raise awareness about mental health and to connect youth with service providers offering mental health support, including Kwa Njenga Hospital and Our Lady of Nazareth Hospital. Moreover, the youth were linked with various counselors, including those from Amusha, and provided information on how to access these services.

While mental health is a top priority, it's not the sole issue affecting youth in informal settlements. The tournament provided a platform to discuss other concerns, including crime, drug and substance abuse, and gender-based violence. These issues have become more prevalent due to school closures, demanding focused attention and intervention.

Many of the youth saw the opportunity as a safe space and came out in numbers. David Kayo, one of the players and a community champion, says, "Today has been an exciting day as the youth have come together, especially those who are hard to reach. The tournament has created a safe space for all of us, and personally, it has been therapy for me." A lot of the youth in the informal settlement engage in drug abuse if they have nothing to do. But on that particular day, they were all engaged in football, either playing or supporting their team to win. The tournament helped the youth stay away from bad habits. Ledasha, one of the girl players, said, "The tournament has been helpful. It has engaged many youths and taken them away from their bad habits on this day." Ledasha loves playing football, and her advice to the other players is, "Let's have discipline and always train; football will take us far."

"This is our first edition; we will make sure every quarter we have the street tournament. The main theme will be mental health, and we will also speak about these other challenges," Toure explains. They planned the mental health initiative quickly because schools were closed and the issues were rapid. The next edition, they are hoping to have many stakeholders involved and make it a major event.

Mental health is of utmost importance, which is why street soccer not only provides a safe space for our youth but also empowers them to tackle their challenges head-on. Together, we're making a difference, one safe space and one conversation at a time.