Football is a game enjoyed by many in Kenya and across the globe. In fact, it has turned out to be among the most lucrative businesses for many western countries.
Most people watch the game for the thrill of it, while players make a living from it.
The most common type of football is done in an open stadium with cheering crowds and the accompanying hullaballoo.
In Lamu Island, however, beach soccer has become a game of solace for the region’s recovering drug addicts. They find that a match takes away their thirst for drugs as the game keeps them busy and fit.
Beach soccer is a five-a-side game played barefoot on the beach with two referees officiating.
Lamu County Beach Soccer team leader Musharaf Saddat says the game offers both leisure and physical fitness benefits to the participants.
“When they play, their minds are taken off drugs and all they think about is the thrill of the game. One always looks forward to the next match. The game is therapeutic and many can attest to this,” Saddat said.
Hundreds from Lamu’s major drug-dealing areas have reformed just by the kick of the ball on the sandy beaches. This is in islands including Shella, Lamu Town, Matondoni, Pate, Kizingitini, Ndau, Mkokoni and Kiwayu.
Saddat, a reformed addict himself, says he started the game in Shella in 2018 with a single ball and together with a few friends, he would while away the day by the beach, playing and cheering each other on.
With time, he discovered that many other addicts were interested and reached out to them to join him in using the game to distract themselves from drugs.
Beach soccer is free and so far, we have 200 reforming addicts on board. It's nothing much apart from just playing away our addictions
INVITINGLY FREE
In the last year alone, at least 200 people have quit drugs just by playing football instead of having to be admitted to rehab, which would require parting with cash.
“Beach soccer is free and so far, we have 200 reforming addicts on board. It's nothing much apart from just playing away our addictions. Many prefer this kind of rehab because an actual rehab would require you to pay money to be admitted,” Saddat said.
The sport is especially popular in Shella and Lamu islands with more than 100 former addicts being active registered beach soccer players.
Lamu beach soccer star Hussein Fuaz says the game keeps them busy and occupies them, leaving no chance for drug abuse thoughts.
He says it’s a free therapy for him and he attests to having quit his drug abuse tendencies after joining the game in 2019.
“Mine was cocaine, the hard stuff, and I would do it several times a day. My aunt made plans and I was taken to rehab in Mombasa but I escaped and came back to my drugs life. Then a friend reached out to me about beach soccer and my life changed forever,” Fuaz said.
Even when he started playing, he never expected much but a friend kept urging him on.
“When he told me I could play and not think about drugs, I told him off and asked him to stop bluffing. It wasn’t that serious for me initially but with time, my body got used to it and I dropped drugs,” he said.
Now, Fuaz says beach soccer has become his prescribed medication for any misleading thoughts, and he plays every time the urge tries to nudge.
He admits that he still has a long way to go as he keeps getting the ‘urge’ from time to time, but he is grateful that he is now in control of his life thanks to beach soccer.
“I play like my life depends on it because I would never wish to go back to the life I was in before. Any time my mind slides back there, I know it's time to play. I get up, put on my jersey and rush to the beach,” he adds.
NO SUPPORT
Musa Hemed, a beach soccer coach and enthusiast, says the game does not enjoy any support from the county and national governments like the usual soccer.
He says it would be of great benefit for leaders and sports philanthropists to consider forming and supporting a local beach soccer league to enable full exploitation of the sport.
Hemed says the game could be developed and depended upon in the war on drugs in Lamu instead of the ineffective rehabilitation centres, which have been shunned by many due to their cost and longer treatment periods.
“We struggle on our own, from buying soccer kits and balls. We also train ourselves. This is basically an initiative by reformed addicts to help more like them but we need the county and national governments on board because this is not just our problem,” Hemed said.
In dire situations, the beach players are forced to use boat buoys in place of soccer balls to carry on with the game.
Abdulkadir Kiage, who has been on bhang and heroin for more than 10 years, says the game has proved therapeutic for him and he’s lucky that his friend and former addict Musa Hemed brought him on board.
“I was hesitant but he urged me to give it a shot and I did. It’s been eight months since I did any drugs, and I intend to keep playing,” Kiage said.
DESIRE TO CHANGE
Mwashumbe Lali, however, says it all boils down to a desire for change and progress even after the soccer match.
He argues that soccer alone is not enough to make someone quit a lifestyle of drug abuse; it calls for far much more from an individual’s mind.
“You have to want it inside you to change. There is life after the match, you must switch friends and make new ones. I had to shed my drug friends and acquire new ones in my teammates. I chose to change,” Lali said.
Most of these reformed addicts are patients at the Lamu methadone clinic, from where they proceed with their journeys to self-awareness and productivity.
Community elder Mohamed Abubakar urges the government to pay the sport some attention like they pay the normal football.
He says the game is the easiest way to trap the mind and keep it busy, ensuring drugs are the last thing the youth think about.
“An idle mind is the devil’s workshop they say, and it's true. This game is proof that sport can be used to fight the war on drugs. Our reformed addicts here are evidence enough that this can work. We want to see the government investing in the game. Let us have our small Harambee Stars beach soccer team here,” Abubakar said.
He said laziness, idleness and joblessness among the youth are the key hindrances to the war on drugs in the county.
Lamu Sports executive Paul Thairu said the county has embarked on a programme to nurture talent in football and other games.
“We provide balls and jerseys for clubs participating in various games in Lamu. We also award the winning teams with trophies and other game kits. The objective is to use sports to save youth from drugs."
