Three kingdom kids from Kenya recently qualified to represent the country at the World Youth Chess championships to be held in Slovenia in November this year.Gilliane Otieno, Raisa Wanjiku and Maxwell Wambua from the Nairobi church achieved this distinction after a competitive and challenging two-day chess tournament held in Nairobi. And they received a standing ovation from the Nairobi church as they were recognized and awarded gifts and trophies one Sunday for their stellar achievement.
Disciple Kimani Ng’ang’a is the children’s coach. He came up with idea of training church children in chess after observing that, “during school vacation, many are idle, and I thought it wise to introduce something that can change their lives, capture their attention and make them better people as they grow up.”
However, God had even greater plans for it. Within just three weeks of starting the training, two of the kingdom kids went to a regional tournament in the Mount Kenya area. Gilliane arrived as a novice but emerged as regional champion.
This was followed a few months and tournaments later by the tournament in which the three thrilled. If you compare the time and the cost implications it takes to train a child, then you see how God came through in a great way to show how mightily and richly he rewards those who humbly and faithfully follow his commands.
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At the recent tournament, Gilliane (right) won all her seven matches to emerge as national champion in the under-8 age category. Rose excelled too, finishing national runner-up in the same category in what was only her third tournament. Maxwell surprised everyone by finishing third in the World Youth Championships qualifiers after giving some of the best players in the country a stiff challenge, after which some even tried to use unfair means to take the trophy from him. But God prevailed.
Kimberly Wanjiku was joint third in the girls’ under-8 category and improved from her fifth position in the earlier round of the World Youth qualifiers. Though she did not get a trophy since she lost by a tie-breaker to a third placed opponent, she has improved a great deal since starting to play chess last December.
Abigael Wairimu is also among the church chess children. Despite her busy schedule and lack of training time because of school work, she has improved greatly since taking up the sport. Though she did not get any trophy, her major improvement makes her a winner in her own right. She is set for big things if she maintains such determination in future competitions.
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Coach Kimani, pictured with the three award-winners, notes that children have a lot of energy which needs to be directed towards doing better things. “Parents should expose their children to activities undertaken by the church for their potential to be realized in time. Children need to be exposed to things which can challenge them in thinking and concentration as it will enable them to grow. At the moment I have about 30 children I am training and it is amazing to see how the children themselves have reached out to their friends whose parents are not disciples.”
The children were happy and thanked Kimani for his support and training them for almost nothing at a time when some parents are paying large fees for their children to be taught the sport. Truly it is awesome to be in God’s kingdom!
The writer can be reached at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For more accounts of God’s work in East Africa, click here.
However, God had even greater plans for it. Within just three weeks of starting the training, two of the kingdom kids went to a regional tournament in the Mount Kenya area. Gilliane arrived as a novice but emerged as regional champion.
This was followed a few months and tournaments later by the tournament in which the three thrilled. If you compare the time and the cost implications it takes to train a child, then you see how God came through in a great way to show how mightily and richly he rewards those who humbly and faithfully follow his commands.
At the recent tournament, Gilliane (right) won all her seven matches to emerge as national champion in the under-8 age category. Rose excelled too, finishing national runner-up in the same category in what was only her third tournament. Maxwell surprised everyone by finishing third in the World Youth Championships qualifiers after giving some of the best players in the country a stiff challenge, after which some even tried to use unfair means to take the trophy from him. But God prevailed.Kimberly Wanjiku was joint third in the girls’ under-8 category and improved from her fifth position in the earlier round of the World Youth qualifiers. Though she did not get a trophy since she lost by a tie-breaker to a third placed opponent, she has improved a great deal since starting to play chess last December.
Abigael Wairimu is also among the church chess children. Despite her busy schedule and lack of training time because of school work, she has improved greatly since taking up the sport. Though she did not get any trophy, her major improvement makes her a winner in her own right. She is set for big things if she maintains such determination in future competitions.
Coach Kimani, pictured with the three award-winners, notes that children have a lot of energy which needs to be directed towards doing better things. “Parents should expose their children to activities undertaken by the church for their potential to be realized in time. Children need to be exposed to things which can challenge them in thinking and concentration as it will enable them to grow. At the moment I have about 30 children I am training and it is amazing to see how the children themselves have reached out to their friends whose parents are not disciples.”The children were happy and thanked Kimani for his support and training them for almost nothing at a time when some parents are paying large fees for their children to be taught the sport. Truly it is awesome to be in God’s kingdom!
The writer can be reached at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For more accounts of God’s work in East Africa, click here.