The transformative power of sports cannot be underestimated and one of the best catalysts for this is sports facilities. Today we tell the story of Dandora Stadium, how it is a source of pride to the community, and how having Safaricom Chapa Dimba kicked off in high gear as the inaugural tournament.
I had a sit down with Godfrey Okoti, who as chairperson of Dandora Stadium is charged with the responsibility of taking care of it. It is under his stewardship that the facility will continue to stand as a symbol of hope for the youth in the area, and he gives the assurance that it will not deteriorate either in form or in performance.
Okoti, popularly known as Seke has been a sports administrator since 2003 and is the founder of Dandora Youth Football Club. He is also a representative of many other activities in the area which he describes as the home of sports and arts.
The story of Dandora stadium is long and winding but it is finally here and fully operational. Construction was started in 2007 by the late Mogabe Were, the then MP for the larger Embakasi. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could do much, and construction was them taken up by Mike Mbuvi Sonko years later. The stadium stalled again for reasons beyond residents’ power and was only completed and officially launched by the current Nairobi Governor, Johnson Sakaja after a four-year hiatus.
Given a chance, the residents would have wished that the stadium be named after Mogabe but that did not come to be. He is however immortalized as part of the murals that line the stadium.
Operations at the 4000-capacity stadium started big, having hosted Safaricom Chapa Dimba as the first ever tournament just two weeks after official launch. Many things came out of Chapa Dimba’s presence, one of the most important being demystifying Dandora and disassociating it with crime and the dumpsite tag.
Dandora played host to the digital and financial literacy training, the players and coaches’ clinics that fall under community engagement, and finally the tournaments over the weekend. That was more than a week of interacting with the people of the area and not a single incidence of security lapse was reported. Successfully running a tournament of this magnitude without incident is outstanding and testament to the safety of the area.
Furthermore, for the four years that construction had stalled, the stadium remained intact. There were high value materials in there and nothing was vandalized or taken away. This, according to Okoti, is due to the fact that Dandora youth have recognized the stadium as a goldmine for their future and taken protective ownership of it.
Dandora stadium is now open for business and will be of huge impact not only for Nairobi, but the whole country since teams will be coming from far and wide. Safaricom Chapa Dimba has truly put Dandora on the map and on behalf of the community, Seke says a big thank you.
The economic ripples courtesy of the stadium are almost immeasurable. At launch for instance, there were hundreds of small businesses around the stadium selling foodstuff like samosas, ice cream, mandazi, water and other wares. Shops and restaurants sold to capacities they don’t usually get to. Case in point, a local butchery sold a whole cow in two days, something generally unheard of in the area economy which is mostly kadogo. Matatus, taxis and boda bodas too reported more business.
How will the stadium sustain itself?
Gate fees mostly. The stadium is open for business to host tournaments and corporate sporting events. Sustainability is primarily daily maintenance and security and for that, there is a model in which as earnings go to the county exchequer, some of the money is separated and left within the stadium accounts as service charge. This will be within immediate reach for use in daily activities like cleaning, garbage collection, small repairs, security, and crowd control during tournaments. This doubles up as a great initiative to directly put money in the pockets of the locals who will be employed to offer these services.
To the youth who would want to take up football but are afraid or demoralized, Seke says go for it. Football is a very big industry that beats lots of other professions in terms of potential earnings. Take advantage of the facilities near you, practice your craft and you could very well end up in the big professional leagues with time. The talent industry is littered with names like Victor Wanyama and Ferdinand Omanyala who utilized their talent and won big.
Okoti describes Dandora stadium as the oil of the area. A facility that guarantees long term empowerment and raises the status of the area. It has a lot of goodwill from the residents, and they will protect it with all they have.