By: Ronald Twikirize
When you come from a labeled and defined community, your fate is determined by forces one would say are beyond your control.
Unfortunately, marginalized and vulnerable are the words that replace your name and whole identity.
Is it right for one to be called a name of a place they come from or the current circumstances life has for them at the moment?
Well, the answer lies in the perception of the who! The whole fact that a pawn is called so due to its value and size on the Chessboard.
Well, when it strives and gets to the other side to become a queen, then the same people that defined the value redefine it and start singing praises and worship.
At this juncture, allow me to welcome you to the Kisenyi bus terminal, a place of progressing hope that chooses to tone down worries and amplify the genius within a soul through the game of Chess.
The noble cause led by Karibu Foundation, in partnership with the Gift of Chess, called Pawns to Kings rejuvenates the hopes of kids and youths that find the streets home.
In the normal settings and rules of the game, a pawn only becomes a queen. What about
in the real world with an innate freedom to become what one decides?
These souls can be anything; hence the defiance of the term “Pawns to Kings.”
When you visit the place where we have the chess sessions, what you witness is a group that chose a path less traveled.
A complex one, and based on the community and current circumstances, the odds were stacked against them. With a closer look, you witness a unifier that transcends everything and accommodates everyone.
A tryout that chose the outcasts and believed in them to a point of action is transforming lives, changing narratives, and driving conversations toward what can become of it.
This gift casts a vision of action and hope.
Why commit to chess? This is a question I asked the boys. For a place where I don’t have to explain but rather act out myself.
A space where I’m given culture, competition, and community. A place where I’m welcomed and feel it without a second guess.
An escape pod from everything. That’s a place I’m willing to choose. It grew from a tryout to a place of choice. Chess chose us, and now we choose it.
The freedom, love, and community around here we’ve not experienced before. A space of no judgment but correction and growth.
With only three weeks into the project, we’ve built a community of committed, smart, present, and conscious individuals.
When we change the image, we change the story. When we change the story, we
change the perspectives. When we change the perspectives, we inspire conversations that give birth to opportunities.”
Photo Credit: Edgar Hamala
