NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Throughout the globe today, communities will be celebrating World Water Day, an annual occasion catalyzed by the United Nations in 1993 to focus attention on the sustainable management of water resources. Remembering my first trek to the dirt football pitch in the Mathare slum several months ago, I realize now that perhaps nowhere else is this year’s message of “water quality” more relevant than in the slums of Nairobi.

Squeezing between rows of shanties with a fellow board member from Community Transformers (CT) – a community based organization that’s focused on creating a healthier and more holistic community in Mathare – I was suddenly saved from stepping in a pile of defecation. What he didn’t need to point out was that this pile would eventually be washed by the rain down to the Nairobi River a few meters away, where mothers would be cleaning clothes, children wildly splashing each other, and fathers taking sips from their hands during work breaks.

Despite the selection of Nairobi as the location for this year’s “Official World Water Day Event” and the number of “water quality” messages being delivered to these Mathare families, it appears as if informal communities are noticeably absent in the agenda. Brainstorming this dilemma a few weeks ago with David Kuria, the CEO of Ecotact (recently written about here), we decided a “World [Water] Cup” would be the perfect venue to spread the gospel.

We envisioned this event to be as magnificent as the title implied, with eight championship football (soccer) teams, thousands of fans, five performing groups, four corporate sponsors, numerous media houses, the deputy mayor as a special guest, and a first place prize of 10,000 Kenyan shillings (USD $130), a goat, a trophy and a Roto water tank.

With the support of CT as the on the ground organizer, the first referee’s whistle Saturday marked the kickoff of everything we had envisioned. As if on cue, a brief set of raindrops began to darken the thirsty brown colored pitch – World [Water] Cup had begun.

Little boys and girls skipped up and down the sidelines and climbed trees to see over the masses. The deejay played Bob Marley and shouted swift Swahili commentary. The Zanaki Acrobats constructed a human pyramid, pinnacled with an 11 year old in a handstand. Roto and the other sponsors handed out flyers and discussed water management techniques, while Ecotact distributed beverages and shared the various water challenges experienced operating their Ikotoilet facility adjacent to the field.

Within no time at all, the two final teams – CT United and Mathare Tsunami – faced off in true World Cup fashion, with a penalty kick shoot-out concluding a previously scoreless championship match. The two teams tensely battled back and forth – with each team responding to the other’s penalty kick – until CT United’s striker hooked his shot to the left, leaving the tournament (and the prizes) wide open for Tsunami.

As if following a movie script, the final Tsunami striker approached the goal, pulled out a water bottle from his shorts, took a big drink and splashed his face, and buried the ball in the back right corner of the net.

(Editor’s note: Be sure to check out 10 beautiful photos from the event, posted to Flickr here. Photos by Faiz Ahmed and Jonathan Petrides.)

After the 20 minute celebration had finally quieted down, the awards were presented to the yellow Tsunami squad while the golden sun began to set over the brown tin roofs in the Mathare Valley.

As the music began to fade, it was exciting to see the level of private partnership in promoting both the health and economy of informal communities. As the general manager from Chandaria Industries – a regional tissue products company – commented: “We’re a part of this greater community, whether we realize it or not, and we need to invest in them and explore innovative solutions to meet their needs.”

He concluded by expressing a desire to see the World [Water] Cup annualized and rolled out to other slums, which is exactly what we are planning!