Four female athletes land scholarships in Kajiado County

Rainbow of Magnolia Fountains of Life founder Dariusz Stuj

Rainbow of Magnolia Fountains of Life founder Dariusz Stuj (centre) with the four athletes who have received scholarships.

Photo credit: Abdulrahman Sheriff | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • The World Under-20 Championships will be held in Nairobi in August. The girls will receive training from Boniface Wambua, who has competed in several national and international races. 
  • Saruni said the girls were spotted by Wambua during the Coast Region Cross-Country Championship held at Dawson Mwanyumba Stadium in Wundanyi in February.

Four upcoming female athletes in Taita Taveta County have received scholarships from Rainbow of Magnolia Fountains of Life, a non-governmental organisation.

Three of them- Agnes Mwashigadi, Jardeen Malemba and Phelice Malemba are in high school, while Maria Shali is in class eight. The NGO has started an athletics training camp in Kimana, Kajiado County. 

The organisation, led by its founder Dariusz Stuj, a U.S. citizen and director Robert Saruni, will pay for the education of the girls in boarding schools in Kimana and provide athletics training under coach Boniface Wambua. 

The budding athletes will join 13-year-old Josephine Sempeyu who is already under care of the organisation.

She is expected to compete in the 1,500m race during next month's World Under-20 Championship trials at Nyayo National Stadium.

The World Under-20 Championships will be held in Nairobi in August. The girls will receive training from Boniface Wambua, who has competed in several national and international races. 

Saruni said the girls were spotted by Wambua during the Coast Region Cross-Country Championship held at Dawson Mwanyumba Stadium in Wundanyi in February.

"We want to nurture the talents of these girls whose parents cannot afford to send them to training camps so that in the years to come they will manage to win big races. We’ll emphasize more about their studies as it is also important for them to be successful in education,” he said. 

The Rainbow bosses met with the parents of the four girls on Friday last week and agreed on a number of issues including allowing the girls to live in a camp headed by women while schools are closed for a few days.