Written by Canadian SportWORKS Officer, Stephany Gracini Poddis
Stephany’s international experiential learning experience is funded by the Queen Elizabeth Scholars (QES) Program. This collaborative initiative is made possible through the leadership of the Rideau Hall Foundation, in collaboration with Community Foundations of Canada, Universities Canada, and Canadian universities. Through its promotion of international student exchange and civic engagement, the QES program is helping to grow young Canadians into global citizens while promoting Canada as a destination for the world’s top talent and attracting top talent and international research leaders to Canada.
Mambo (Hello)!
My name is Stephany Gracini Poddis, I’m in my fourth and last year of Sport and Recreation Management at Mount Royal University, and I’m honoured to be one of two Canadian SportWORKS Officers to be working on the Cheza Healthy project this fall, all the way from Nairobi, Kenya. I’ve been here for just under a month so bear with me through this long blog, we’ve got some catching up to do. For those who are not yet familiar with the project, Cheza Healthy began as a partnership between Commonwealth Sport Canada (CSC) and the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K). It is a sport for development program that aims to educate youth on the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through physical activity – we’ll get more into that in a bit!
Honestly, I don’t even know how to begin this. I suppose I should start by recognizing all the incredible people and organizations who helped me get to where I am today. I’m beyond grateful for Commonwealth Sport Canada and NOC-K to have trusted me with this project and for allowing me to have the experience of a lifetime, and thank you to the Queen Elizabeth Scholars Program for making it possible. A huge thank you to Ryan Pelley, Gisele Marcoux, Jessica Mossiere, and Tony Karuru for holding my hand and supporting me through every step – I would not have made it overseas without these incredible humans! To David Legg and Julie Booke, thank you for always inspiring your students to go above and beyond for what they believe in. Thank you Gabriel Podivinsky (the very first Canadian SportWORKS Officer to work on Cheza Healthy and a good friend) for inspiring me and pushing me to go on this adventure. A very special thank you to my loving husband, Keegan (miss you), and our families who supported me in this journey and also pushed me to seek out this experience. Last but not least, I’m grateful for the friends who showered me with love and made my last few days in Calgary unforgettable.
I don’t remember the last time I felt such a mix of emotions. Excited to be trying something new, nervous about the work, proud of myself for going out of my comfort zone, sad to be leaving home – Thank you Kyle for reminding me why I said yes to this when self doubt hit the night before the trip.
The goodbyes were bittersweet but now I can say I got on that plane and did the thing; one more plot line added to the mom lore.
Honestly, considering it took us over a day to get to our final destination, this was definitely one of the best flight experiences I’ve had lately. Security was a breeze (there were so many), zero boarding delays, every flight arrived early, airports were so easy to go through (except Chicago, why is O’Hare such a zoo?), and bonus points for scoring an aisle seat with no one in the middle (for the 13 hour flight too!). All in all, this was a great experience to start off with.
The hot, humid Nairobi air hit us as we stepped out of the plane on September 8th at 11PM local time and it made me so happy to be missing a chunk of our Albertan winter this year. After 25 hours of travel, there was a moment of defeat as I waited (and waited and waited) for my luggage at the carrousel. I had convinced myself they got left behind but, my hopes were restored as I saw the red bag peaking out and making its way to me; all was well in the world again. As expected, we were immediately met by around 20, very persistent, cab drivers who just seemed very passionate about the idea of giving us a ride. It was then that we realized we had no idea what Tony, our main contact and supervisor, looked like. Thankfully, he had seen our faces previously and didn’t take long to find us. It also made sense that he would be the one guy with a bright red, NOC-K shirt; I don’t actually think I’ve seen Tony wear anything else. Tony took us out for a steak dinner at 1AM (Calgary could never) and I had my very first sip of the famous Tusker, a Kenyan lager, and it just hit the spot.
We were dropped off at the hotel and as tired as I was, I could not sleep. Maybe it was the fact that I had no option but to take a freezing cold shower rather than nerves and excitement alone. After a 3AM FaceTime catch-up, I tried to force myself to sleep, but not until I read all the goodbye and good luck messages my friends and family had written on my journal in the past week. Yes, I cried quite a bit.
The first day felt LONG. My body had not yet recovered from the long flights but, we needed to get some things rolling. The plan for the day was to move into our Airbnb, get us SIM cards, and set up our banking, which is just mobile money (called M-PESA) and directly linked to your SIM card. First we needed to exchange our currency to Kenyan Shillings to then deposit it in to our M-PESA account. Unfortunately for me, the branch we went to did not accept Canadian Dollars. Shout out to Martin (my SportWORKS colleague and now roomie) for lending me some US Dollars, or else I would’ve been stranded until I found the life changing app that Remitly is – ask me about it if you’re coming to Kenya, I promise you it’s a much better system than physical deposits. Moving on. We now had our Kenyan Shillings and the next step was to get SIM cards from SafariCom and open an M-PESA account so we could make our deposit. I think my luck ran out from having such a smooth flight experience because the entire SafariCom system was down and we had to wait hours before getting our SIMs. If you’re wondering how we got through this day alone… We did not. We had our wonderful coworkers and now friends, Keshiengeshie and Purity to help us. On top of being amazing company during the many hours we had to wait, they walked us through each step of the process and when time came to go home, they introduced us to Bolt, Kenya’s version of Uber. That day I got on my very first boda (motorcycle) and my life was changed. Where in North America could I ever order a ride for a dollar? Not only that but the bikes are so much more fun than cars.
The next two days were a bit of a haze. Most of it was spent sleeping, getting settled in to the Airbnb, and then sleeping some more. Martin and I did begin our quest to find a gym within our first few days and there began my newfound love for yoga. The gym receptionist invited us to join the yoga class as we were about to leave and we thought: “Why not, some stretching might do us good”. Take my advice when I say, do not do a 1.5 hour yoga session after working out your arms. We got our butts kicked, but in the most fun way possible. It was then that we dreamed up the very first internal Cheza Healthy initiative: Staff Yoga Day. More on that later.
Our first official day at the office was on Monday and we were warmly welcomed by everyone and even got our first piece of Kenya memorabilia, a beaded Kenya bracelet. Keeping up with tradition, the team took us out to celebrate the arrival of the new Canadian SportWORKS officers after work. We met the rest of the Cheza Healthy team and immediately got things going by chatting about our goals and expectations for the project. Normally, Cheza Healthy works with primary and secondary schools but between October and January, all extracurricular activities (sports, art, music, etc) at public schools are paused by government mandate because of the exam season. This was a bit of an issue for Cheza Healthy because it makes our target demographic unreachable. So we had to brainstorm, how can we keep the program alive during this time? Well, Cheza Healthy’s motto is “#LeaveNoOneBehind”, and it’s time we start focusing on that. We decided that during the fall, we would target 3 different groups: Specialty Communities, University Students, and Community Members – we each got assigned a group to focus on. Specialty communities was my area and I hoped to be able to work with a number of different subgroups such as teen mothers, youth in rehab, individuals with disabilities, and the elderly community.
Our first week was a little slow as we took time to get settled, learn about the organization and get familiar with Nairobi. For me, that first week also consisted of a LOT of instant noodles. I bragged to Martin about how the jet lag hadn’t hit me at all and I was adapting quite well. Turns out I spoke too soon because almost exactly a week in is when my sleep schedule got all out of whack, can’t really say I’ve completely figured it out yet if I’m being honest.
On our second Saturday we were invited to watch the Men’s and Women’s Kenya Basketball Federation finals. Nairobi didn’t make the cut for the women’s league but the University of Nairobi boys took the trophy home that night. I was surprised by how packed the stadium was and it definitely highlighted the city’s needs for new multi-sports facilities as it can barely accommodate fans as it is. With that being said, something about being shoulder to shoulder the whole night made the experience even better, the crowd definitely shared their energy with us.
In our second week I had reached out to a senior home for a possible collaboration and scheduled a meeting with the director. On our visit we quickly learned that it is much more difficult to program Cheza Healthy events for older adults rather than kids. The senior home already hosts “exercise for healthy aging” days so it was a challenge to differentiate Cheza Healthy from their own programming. The director suggested we focus on educating the caregivers rather than residents, who can be a little stubborn, and brainstorm ways in which the caregivers can promote active living for residents through their work. We’re still working out the logistics for a possible collaboration.
Writing this out now makes me realize we’ve had some busy weekends because the following Saturday we made our way to Kibera for World Cleanup Day with our coworkers Phiona and Jairus. That day I learned that Kibera is not only Kenya’s—but all of Africa’s—biggest slum. The community is so condensed that organizations have not yet been able to properly map out the number of residents in Kibera. It has been estimated that the number is anywhere between 250,000 and 700,000 people; which is a pretty large gap if you ask me. It was fun to meet new people and work together on this project but it was a very eye-opening and sometimes saddening day. Seeing the living conditions of the community members first hand made me realize how ungrateful we can be for the life we have back home. Even with so little they still manage to keep their head up and keep on moving, especially the kiddos, they certainly know how to have fun even when all they have is a dirt pitch and a makeshift ball made of tied up clothes. There was no shortage of the word “mzungu” (white person) being thrown at us by the little ones that day. That Saturday I also connected with Jacob, the founder of an organization called Vision Beyond Eyes (ViBE), who also participated in the cleanup. Jacob was sharing about his organization and their current projects, one of them being working with teen mothers. I told Jacob about Cheza Healthy and my personal interest in working with teen moms; we were both excited about a possible partnership (spoiler alert: we did collaborate!). Not only did I meet Jacob that day, I also met Erik, who told me all about his plans to be Canada’s next Prime Minister (but he still tried to convince me to move to Kenya) and asked for a selfie so that I “wouldn’t forget him”. After a day of hard work cleaning up some streets, Jairus promised to show us the Kenyan way to eat fish and I must say, I can’t go back to eating it any other way. We went to Mahutini Lounge where we got the pick out the fresh fish that was going to be cooked up for us. The four of us shared a wet fry (with tomatoes, onions, and lots of seasonings), and a simple dry one topped with lemon juice and salt. To accompany the fish we also had some ugali, a dough-like mixture of maize flour and water. There is just something about eating with your hands that makes the food taste so much better – just don’t burn your fingers.
Another chunk of time passes and at this point it’s safe to say I’m pretty settled in and getting into a routine. Unfortunately, I could not attend our very first Cheza Healthy event, the staff yoga, because I got hit with a stomach bug. Although it wasn’t that bad, I didn’t think downward dog would’ve done me any good. Luckily we had back-to-back events and I was feeling much better on Saturday, when we got to attend the Bumblebee Tennis 10’s Tournament at Nairobi Club. The plan was for us to lead a warm-up session with the players but due to some scheduling issues, we had to rethink our plan. We ended up leading a dance session and playing fun games with the kids in between matches. The kids definitely got more dance moves than me, but I’m learning. Martin and I even got the honour of presenting the medals and trophies to the winners and runner ups.
After Tennis, our coworker Alphonce invited us to a rugby tournament called Legends Cup. It’s a recreational tournament with teams made up of retired national players. I thought it was the funniest thing that for Kenya’s team, you must be at least 35 years old with 3 kids to participate. We played Uganda and won (of course), then stuck around for a concert that was happening at the stadium. No idea who performed but can confirm the music was dance worthy.
The following week I got to put my networking to good use by hosting our third Cheza Healthy event, this time in partnership with ViBE. As an organization, ViBE does SO much for the community. The list is long but here are some of their current projects: Education support and school feeding program, livelihood and youth empowerment programs, human trafficking prevention, domestic violence and sexual assault support, smart agriculture and climate change interventions, leadership and governance programs, and capacity building initiatives. The organization also works with 6 different schools (around 250 kids) in the communities of Kibra and Langata. ViBE started off in 2024 but they have already come so far and I can’t wait to see what else they’ll achieve. As I mentioned to Jacob during our first meeting, I really wanted to host a Cheza Healthy event centred around teen mothers, and that’s exactly what we did together. The girls and their babies were definitely shy at first but it didn’t take long until we were laughing and playing together. We focused on emotional wellbeing by leading a perceived stress questionnaire. After the questionnaire, Denis and Martin facilitated several fun exercises, which we used to link physical activity to stress management and ultimately, long term health and wellbeing. Lots of the moms had brought their kids, one of them was especially young so for his mom to participate, I offered to take over babysitting duty. I got told I look good with a baby on my hip, a compliment I never thought I’d hear but appreciated nonetheless.
The girls all thanked us for coming out and even said they considered each other friends after our event; we had no idea they didn’t know each other beforehand. Although the event was successful, it did leave me wondering how we can make Cheza Healthy more sustainable when it comes to reaching these ‘special communities’. It’s easier to plant a seed when teaching young kids about the importance of physical activity through fun games, but it proves to be more challenging when your demographic has so many other things on their plate, such as being a single mother at the age of 18.
After our event, Jacob and his team took us to visit Haywood School, where ViBE originated from. Haywood is one of six schools that run with support of the organization. Our next collaboration will be to bring together three of the schools together for a Cheza Healthy Sports Day. We’re still figuring out logistics as we have a very busy few weeks ahead of us, but I can’t wait to have all the kids together. The school is an extension of a church, so we also met one of their lead pastors – a sweet old lady who has declared herself my Kenyan mother and invited me to spend a weekend with her family. ViBE was also kind enough to invite us to a fundraiser dinner they’re hosting in November.
The day after our event I caught a nasty cold that took me out for quite a few days. Because of that I could not attend our next Cheza Healthy event on Saturday, which was another Tennis 10’s Tournament, this time hosted by Omanyala Foundation. With that being said, I did get myself out of bed on Sunday and survived (with only a handful of coughing fits) the day at Simba Union Club for the Annual International Nyota [Field] Hockey Festival. The tournament is an initiative to raise awareness about breast and prostate cancer (both NCDs!) so, we had the opportunity to tell players and spectators about Cheza Healthy during the closing ceremony.
And now you’re all caught up!
For the ones who made it this far, here’s a funny clip of a monkey trying (and succeeding) to eat the food we left out on the counter:
We’ve barely been here for a month but I feel as if I’ve already lived multiple lives. And if Nairobi has taught me anything, it’s how to cross incredibly busy streets – there are pretty much no streets lights here! In all honesty, it has been quite easy to call Nairobi [a temporary] home and I can’t wait to experience everything else this beautiful city has to offer.
If you’re just as excited as me about this project, make sure to follow @officialteamkenya on Instagram to keep up with Cheza Healthy in real time. Or come back soon for my next set of photo dumps and updates! Hopefully with less pee and thief monkeys next time…
Thank you for following along on this journey! Chat soon!
Steph