SONIA LIGHTS UP KISUMU’S POPULOUS NYALENDA SLUM
▪️ Her trip to Algeria for the inaugural African Schools Games from July 26-August 6 has popularised boxing in Nyalenda and brightened hopes of the slum girls who now want to take up the sport
Sonia Atieno’s trip to Algeria for the Africa Schools Games has catapulted her to instant fame and lit up Nyalenda slum in Kisumu, Kenya’s third largest city.
The 16-year-old sensation will represent Kenya in boxing together with Mombasa-based Lukeman Shaffi, son of Kenya’s international star boxer Bakari Shaffi.
Sonia and Lukeman were selected by the Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) in what is viewed as their devoted initiative of Ndondi Mashinani project.
A grade nine pupil at Central Primary School in Kisumu, Sonia’s selection is a testament to her passion in this combat sport she has embraced with unwavering dedication.
She has already made a big statement this year by winning the national novices and intermediate titles.
Her trip to Algeria is therefore, as a result of her successful gradual ascent, and from the look of things Sonia is favoured for a podium finish.
Sonia’s mother, Pauline Auma Safia, is now the darling of Nyalenda residents who are referring to her as Mama Champ.
“I just don’t know how to describe the feeling, we’re so happy for my daughter’s achievement,” says the single mother of four children faced with the burden and challenging task of raising up her children in the slum.
“I was against her involvement with boxing because I thought it will affect her mentally like what happened to Conjestina Achieng. Even people in Nyalenda were surprised by how my daughter was doing boxing normally yet it looks like a masculine sport,” explains Pauline.
“I was afraid of attending her first competitive bout I didn’t want to see my daughter getting hurt but when I heard fans shouting Sonia! Sonia! I knew she was doing well and I rushed to watch the last minutes of her bout since our house is just near the hall. Now I’m a big boxing fan.”
Pauline, who lives in a two-roomed semi-permanent house, hopes her daughter will eventually punch her way to the top to enable them to move out of the difficult slum life.
“Life is so hard here, feeding four children single handedly is tough, catering for school expenses and a monthly rent of Sh3,500 is a nightmare to me. It drains me mentally. I’m appealing to the boxing authorities to support me especially with the monthly rent. Right now I’m just hustling selling liquid soap, but the business is crowded and the benefits are minimal.”
Sonia is the third born in her family, she was born after Shakespeare Ouma. The first born is Ashley Akinyi and the last born is nine-year old Robert Bruce Ofena, who has also taken up boxing.
The chairman of Korumba Delta Boxing Club in Nyalenda Estate, Simon Wasuna, is impressed by the increasing popularity of boxing in Nyalenda following Sonia’s trip to Algeria.
“Sonia has inspired more female boxers to try their hand in boxing, I now have 30 boxers, 10 adults, eight ladies and 12 youth. However, we lack proper facilities, training gear and competition kits as well as gloves.
“Parents usually come to me for assistance, and I tell them to bring their girls to the gym to prove themselves in the ring because there’s no shortcut,” says Wasuna. He describes Sonia as a brave boxer.
“Sonia is not shaken by her opponents, she’s not a coward. She has a right strong punch and she really knows how to use it to punish her opponents,” says Wasuna.
In addition to Sonia, the other promising talent at Koruma Delta is 13-year-old flyweight Joy Atieno, a grade four pupil at St Mark Nyabera.
“Joy is so good, she’ll also rise to the top. She gives Sonia a hard time in sparring despite being a flyweight,” says Wasuna. The coach plans to shift Joy from her mother’s place to keep her away from the vagaries of her mum’s lifestyle. Her mum is a single parent and lives in a one-roomed shack.
“We’re very inspired by Sonia at our club, we want to succeed like her,” says Joy.
“Boxing has helped me get a new school uniform from our chairman, he also caters for other expenses. I want to succeed in boxing to help my mum (Lydia Achieng) move out from this place, we’re suffering a lot here. Our house also leaks when it rains and I’m not comfortable staying here.”
Wasuna has expressed his gratitude to BFK for selecting Sonia for the Algeria competition.
“I thank the BFK under President Jamal (Anthony Otieno Ombok) for doing fair selection of the boxers and giving a chance to the deserving ones, this is the true meaning of ndondi mashinani,” says Wasuna.
Sonia becomes the third Kisumu female boxer to rise to prominence. The first one was Ruth Odongo who represented the national team in their maiden appearance in the Women’s World Championships in Barbados in 2010 and then followed footballer-turned-boxer Evelyn Akinyi, a gold medallist at the 2022 Zone Three Championships in Kinshasa, DR Congo.
For now, Nyalenda residents cant wait for their boxing queen Sonia to make them proud in the Africa Schools Games to run from July 26-August 6th.
Nyalenda slum is an informal settlement in Kisumu characterized by densely packed, makeshift structures, often built from iron sheets and mud walls. These houses are typically small, irregular in shape, and constructed with substandard materials, reflecting the informal nature of the slums.
The narrow, winding paths between the houses highlight the lack of formal urban planning and infrastructure.
The houses are primarily constructed from corrugated iron sheets and mud, with some using other readily available and often substandard materials.
The dwelling structures tend to be small and irregular in shape, differing from the more uniform structures found in formal urban areas.
Nyalenda is densely populated, with structures built close together, creating a maze of narrow pathways.
Access to basic services like sanitation, water, and electricity is often limited or nonexistent.
Vehicle accessibility is often limited due to the narrow, unpaved pathways and poor road conditions.
Like any other slum, Nyalenda is associated with squalor, drunkenness, drug abuse, immorality and crime.
