Minkail Olatian -Managing Editor Nigeria
“Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.”
— George Bernard Shaw
Reconstruction. That’s the trenchant term to describe the impact that every appearance of chessboards in places has had so far across the world. The conditions may differ, yet they point to sharp uniqueness traceable to attendant institutional differences and recipients’ responses. However, history in those places has not only been altered, but the narratives have been revised and are still ongoing.
Kibera is arguably Africa’s largest informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. It sprawls southwest of the capital city. While its true population remains a subject of fierce debate, even conservative estimates place at least 250,000 people within Kibera’s borders. To match the human weight of just one small African nation like Seychelles is a feat; to do so in an area smaller than a typical international airport is a testament to the settlement’s extreme urban density.
Similar to the plight in every other slum, to paraphrase Collins Ouma Agayi and N. Sag in their essay, “An Evaluation of Urban Regeneration Efforts in Kibera, Kenya Through Slum Upgrading,” Kibera, a slum in Kenya, experiences social, economic, and spatial challenges and the inability of the government to provide affordable housing. The environment lacks basic facilities, despite its proximity to Nairobi. Establishing once again that proximity to the capital city might not influence a positive shift, rather, the Kibera environment serves as a final destination for those who couldn’t keep up with the demands of the city. These dumps contributed to the towering population density in the area.
Also, to underscore another reality across the slums, about 90 percent of the inhabitants are tenants, while approximately half of the population is estimated to be under 18. Tellingly, Kibera is a large eyesore that is begging for radical positive initiatives and agents of change that will reinvent narratives, capture and introduce new cool, especially to the masses who have sunken deep into social rot. While it’s easily believable that the hardest-working people live in the slums, they push mountains but earn miserably. It’s also, though scarcely known, that there’s a trend of self-taught helplessness. A phenomenon that has become a subtle coping mechanism, daily affirmation, and/or in-built cage.
People seek hope but refuse to learn about its dynamics, talk less of mastering the principles that effectuate it. The government, teachers, few successful leaders, and parents tell the young folks to dream big, but institutional poverty, unsettled mental conflicts, and social isolation impose a stark contrast. This is the fate of young people in slums like Kibera, the dwellers of Makoko in Lagos, Cazenga in Angola, or Khayelitsha in South Africa, etcetera. But the truth remains, they are not incapable of dreaming big, achieving their dreams, and manifesting a colorful future.
He Who Bears the Light Comes From Thousands of Miles Away
Every transformation requires a transformer. The situation of Kibera is not an exception to this fact. Matter of fact, in such areas the overall renewal must come with the agency of a fresh thought and effective initiative. Otherwise, this rot eats deeper and overwhelms without limit.
Ken Kaplan, an American technologist, semi-retired teacher, and chess enthusiast, showed up in Kenya in 2019 and was nudged to Kibera by the unmistakable force of destiny. It was a time when the decadence festered uncontrollably; the disheartening sights poured into his eyelids and instantly influenced his perceptions. For a man who was born and raised in New York, United States, he understood the importance of the institution and the living conditions at home. He saw with his own eyes how people survive daily in Kibera’s trenches and how little children are constantly hypnotized by poverty, with their potential undiscovered.
According to Ken Kaplan, “Sometimes I take walks through the dense areas of Kibera. I marvel at how the people manage to live in there, and the kids, they were brimming with energy, perhaps with aspirations, but there’s no source of inspiration directly connected to them. Sadly, not their parents, except in some tiny cases, their teachers and the politicians.”
Deeply struck by the misery bedeviling Kibera, Ken considered crafting personal success, but that requires incentive, apparatus, leadership, and some funding. The latter was not really a principal factor at the early stage. He was willing to start with what he called “a shoestring budget.” Principal to him was redefining the reality of the kids wallowing in hopelessness, even if it meant starting slowly and imperfectly.
Before Chess Became an Apparatus
In an exclusive interview, when asked about his trip to Kibera, Kenya, Ken answered, “Here in New York, as a semi-retired teacher, I work part-time at a high school here as a teacher, and I also work for a nonprofit organization in Nairobi, Kenya, called ‘Crossing Threshold.’ The organization supports four schools in Kibera; built computer labs, Wi-Fi, and trained students in computer literacy. And my roles include developing technologies within the schools, aiding the teachers in their presentation materials and lessons, and teaching the students computer literacy. And that’s what brought about my first visit to Kibera about seven years ago. Much of a service trip.”
Possibly, the realization that education, though a powerful weapon, also needs extracurricular activities to complement its effectiveness later brought about Ken’s introduction of innovative and creative activity. According to him, he started playing chess at the tender age of six, which afforded him the opportunity to have firsthand experience of chess’s impacts, its undeniable influence on his daughter’s cognitive ability, as well as on people around him who engage with the game. Looking back, he recounted playing chess with his father and his first competition at age six.
Later on, he joined Marshall Club, a prestigious chess club in New York, where he learned, played, and met several chess masters. “Marshall Club is a global chess club; Bobby Fischer and other grandmasters walked through the same club,” he added. This history, amongst other things, spurred him to launch a chess club which he named “Kibera Knights” two years after his first arrival and school activities, which is about five years now. For him, it’s more than an activity to pass time, but to effect a profound mental awakening and identity reconstruction.
King, Queen, Rooks, Knights…
Decision has a gravitational field. Once it’s established, it provokes responses. This is exactly what happened to Ken Kaplan.
“Training at the Marshall Chess Club inspired me. One day I just thought about teaching chess to students in Nairobi, and yes, that’s how it began. I spoke with the leadership at Marshall Club and they donated 50 chess sets to the initiative. I shipped the chess sets over to Nairobi for the propagation of the Kibera Knights in schools in Kibera. And as soon as I did that, a team of chess coaches and conveners was formed that oversaw the smooth running of the club.”
A few months later, the kids in Kibera Knights were receiving chess lessons from the instructors. However, Ken had a prerequisite for the team to participate in competitions, and that was for every player in Kibera Knights to master notation and how to use clocks. To achieve this proficiency, he bought chess clocks and the kids practiced nonstop. A couple of months passed, then the team reached out to Ken to tell him that the kids had mastered notation and the use of the clock.
Although he had online chess lessons at least three times a week with the kids, he noted that he was surprised when he learned the kids had mastered and passed the prerequisites that quickly.
“I was surprised by the update, and instantly it became clear to me that people equate poverty with ignorance. These kids have the same tendency for success. Their plights are not unchanging or immutable,” Ken recounted in the interview.
Now ready for competition, the Kibera Knights started playing against one another. Then the club was formed of students in the four schools where Ken was working, so they played among themselves. Then came their first-ever external tournament. Ken recalled that 10–15 Kibera Knights players were registered. Unfortunately, due to the time difference, he was not able to keep tabs on the tournament. However, when he woke up, he received news that the players did remarkably well, and one of them, by the name of Mary, took first in her division. This broke the gridlock, and right there, the new story began.
The Sacrifice, and Kibera Knights in Cairo
Unlike in the olden days, when chess tournaments and competitions were not frequent, the proliferation of chess games through different channels has led to myriad chess tournaments across the world. The likes of the technological revolution that birthed chess applications like Chess.com and Lichess, and movies like Queen of Katwe and The Queen’s Gambit, contributed tremendously to the popularity of the game across the world, especially in Africa, where the rise of Phiona Mutesi in Queen of Katwe was a relatable story, especially for those in squalid regions of Africa.
Nowadays, tournaments are everywhere, and all it requires is excellent chess knowledge, not flawless language skills. Chess has its language. This is the language that six Kibera Knights players gained proficiency in. They won through the local tournament, regional, and national, all the way to qualifying for the African Junior Championships in Cairo, Egypt, at the time.
“When this happened, I said to my wife that there’s gonna be one first time that my kids are in the international event,” Ken said excitedly.
Ken flew to Egypt and spent a week with Kibera Knights, which he found fascinating. He recalled when the players lost the first round at the tournament in Cairo. They were unfamiliar with the fact that during a match, players can take a stroll and come back. Thus, they found it hard to believe. That and other minor things contributed to the reasons they had a bad opening game. He noted that afterwards, they had quite a brilliant game.
It was not just a tournament for the kids. It was more than fascinating. It was rewriting history that once seemed ultimately decided. Suddenly, they were no longer slum kids from Kibera. They were chess players and chess champions. It was an entirely new identity for them. It was definitely overwhelming for them considering their impoverished backgrounds: some of them had never slept in a real bed, never been on an airplane, never stayed in a hotel, or met in the same room with people from different backgrounds.
Ken recalled the speech he gave the kids in Cairo:
“I want you to understand that it’s a big world down there. You’ve now seen it’s a lot bigger than the streets of Kibera and you are part of it. And you can be part of it. If you work hard, there’s a big world that you can become part of…”
He proceeded to take the kids on excursions to see the River Nile and the Pyramids. He noticed the kids were overwhelmed by the knowledge that there’s indeed a vast world beyond Kibera’s trenches.
The kids who left as a group of slum kids returned as champions in Kibera. They became knights of honor in their communities. Not only did they shatter the prevailing notion that had crippled them, but the way they were received by their communities showed they had made a bold statement. Subsequent to the grand return, Ken noted that parents started sending their children to join Kibera Knights and were hopeful that their children would travel to Cairo to represent the community and rewrite their families’ histories. While he was excited by the popularity of the Kibera Knights, he quipped jokingly that if only the parents knew that the next African Junior Championship would take place in a different African country.
Kibera Knights Is a Collective Vision
Since the inception of Kibera Knights, the team of instructors has demonstrated uncommon zeal to ensure the knights outdo their previous best, despite the challenges they face at different junctions. Likewise, Marshall Chess Club’s donation of the chess sets laid the foundation for the Kibera Knights, along with other ways they’ve supported the initiative.
Eminently, Crossing Threshold has contributed tremendously to the running of the initiative, as well as the overall redefinition of what Kibera represents. Also, the impacts of the amazing teachers in the four schools that formed Kibera Knights cannot be underestimated. They ensure the kids’ mental and psychological reformation is natural and well tended to, and not some controlled growth that fizzles out.
The Gift of Chess is another wonderful organization that supports Kibera Knights. Kibera Knights have benefited immensely from its vision to distribute a million chessboards across the world. Not only that, the connection, according to Ken, has opened a remarkable opportunity.
“I and Russell Makofsky are currently working together on something really exciting for Kibera. We’ll turn Kibera into a chess capital of the world in a few years. Not for chess-playing’s sake, but to sweep through society with undeniable transformation. To reawaken dead purpose, to impress upon people the ability to rekindle their light and shine unashamedly. To incite among students the mental recalibration for optimal performance. I see it firsthand when these kids come back from Cairo. It would definitely be precious to see it among elderly ones too.”
Ken’s Hope. Kibera’s Possibility.
When asked what his hopes are for Kibera, chess, and Kibera Knights, Ken stated:
“Let me remind you, we started with 50 chess sets. We have liberated several constricted young ones, helped the ostracized build a more positive identity. My hope is that when I next travel to Kibera, I want every house to have a chess coach, every joint a chess game, and everybody realizes that a pawn, if moved intentionally, can become Queen. And most importantly, the towering youth population embraces and redefines the narratives of Kibera.”
TODAY’S QUESTION
Kibera Knights began with 50 chess sets and a belief that children should not have their futures defined by the circumstances surrounding them. Those chessboards eventually carried young players beyond Kibera, into competition, onto airplanes, and all the way to Cairo.
So today we’re asking:
What changed the way you saw what was possible for your life?
Was it a teacher? A book? A trip? A mentor? A piece of music? A game? Or simply one person who saw something in you that you had not yet learned to see in yourself?
Tell us. Your answer might be the thing somebody else needs to hear today.
STAY IN THE MOOD
Sometimes changing a life doesn’t begin with a grand plan.
Sometimes it begins with 50 chessboards.
A child learns the game. Then learns discipline. Then competes. Then travels. Then sees the Nile and the Pyramids and discovers that the world is much larger than the streets they have always known. The Kibera Knights returned from Cairo not simply as children who had traveled, but as champions their community could look toward.
That is your reminder today:
Never underestimate the power of giving someone access to a possibility they have never seen before.
Stay curious. Stay open. Make room for somebody else to discover what they can become.
And wherever today takes you, take WHRL Mood Radio Harlem with you. Music, culture, conversation, and the sound of our community, connecting Harlem to the world.
Read Mood. Listen to WHRL. Watch Mood TV. Live the culture.
Let us curate your Mood.
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