George Mwaura: Coaching Boys To Men

George Mwaura has become a good friend of mine and I have learnt a lot from him.

Allow me to tell you about him.

George grew up in a dysfunctional family in Mathare, one of the biggest slums in Nairobi, Kenya. His father had a chronic drinking problem. He did not have regular work, and they were always short of money. His mother did her best to keep the family together through selling vegetables to commuters coming home from work at a kiosk next to a busy street leading to the city.

Although George’s dad was not a churchgoer himself, he sent his five children to church, and even gave them some money for the collection.

As a youngster, George vowed that he would never touch alcohol. He went to church regularly and started believing that God was able to take him out of the cycle of poverty that had been part of his life from the time he was born. 

With his grandmother’s help, through his perseverance buoyed by his faith in God, and through earning some money by doing work for people in the church, George completed his high school. 

After school George volunteered to work for Campus Crusade Kenya teams that promoted clean, honest living amongst scholars in high schools in Nairobi. An application to join J-Life, a South African Christian organization, on a bursary scheme was successful, and George, through this organization was accepted as an intern for a youth development program run by a group of churches in Westville, KwaZulu-Natal. 

That is where I got to know George. At the time I was a member of the leadership team at one of those churches. George showed that he had an amazing ability to connect with boys and young men who, like him, had grown up in difficult home situations characterized by absent fathers, gender-based violence and poverty.

After 10 years of very impactful work amongst surrounding communities, and with the encouragement of successful business men who had become part of George’s network, George started his own programme of mentoring young men to become reliable brothers to siblings, sons to their mothers, supportive husbands to their wives and present fathers to their families. He called this initiative Isiseko Imara, which stands for strong foundations. Their website link is www.isisekoimara.co.za. It is a non-profit organization. George has started a delivery service to generate income, but is also supported by donations from friends and other benefactors.

George uses sport as a means to connect with the young men. 

Isiseko Imara works in communities in South Africa. The programme is based on a whole life coaching model. Its operation reflects his own life experience. Through the church’s teaching George found that God keeps His promises, and can be trusted to deliver what He promises. God is our ultimate life coach. The model addresses spiritual, physical and mental development of young people in poor communities. Isiseko Imara is affiliated to another non-profit organization, Heartlines – Fathers Matter (www.heartlines.org.za) that has very similar aims.

Isiseko Imara trains young men to become coaches who not only teach sporting skills, but act as father figures to all those they mentor – like George was mentored by his grandmother who encouraged him, and sometimes helped with financial needs, by people in his church who gave him jobs to earn some money, and sympathetic teachers who understood the difficult circumstances under which he had to study or do his homework. 

The coaches are drawn largely from men who have been recipients of the coaching intervention that had been started by the churches.

The coaches connect with the team members’ families, and get to know their home situations. The organization provides help with schoolwork, physical development and spiritual growth. George has a group of bright school kids drawn from youth groups in churches who offer help to those on the programme with learning difficulties. Sport is used as the example of different life situations posing challenges for us to overcome.