Photo: Adrie Manolo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Listen to this article2 min listenAI voice
Tap play to hear this story
You are listening to Kibra News Network.
From Kibera to Boston: young footballer among six Kenyans headed to FIFA’s Festival 26.
A young footballer from Kibera is packing for the trip of a lifetime after being selected – alongside five other Kenyan youngsters aged 13 to 16 – for FIFA's Festival 26 in Boston, held on the sidelines of the 2026 World Cup. The event gathers around 400 young people from 40 countries for a global celebration of football and culture.
The six were chosen by CFK Africa (formerly Carolina for Kibera), the only Kenyan organisation invited to take part. More than 500 applicants from five informal settlements competed for the places, making the achievement all the more remarkable. Those selected – Harriet Sandra Achieng, Erick Manchang, Nigel Mali Imani, Valary Ayuma, Faridah Mahmoud Kamene and Nehemiah Ongori Ayora – will represent not just their neighbourhoods but the belief that talent in Kenya's settlements deserves a global stage.
CFK Africa chief executive Jeffrey Okoro said the trip was about opening doors. For a child from Kibera to stand among peers from 40 nations is exactly the kind of story that reminds this community how far its young people can go.
This story was put together by K N N from material first published by Mozzart Sport & Daily Nation.
That was a Kibra News Network report, read by an A I voice.
A young footballer from Kibera is packing for the trip of a lifetime after being selected — alongside five other Kenyan youngsters aged 13 to 16 — for FIFA’s Festival 26 in Boston, held on the sidelines of the 2026 World Cup. The event gathers around 400 young people from 40 countries for a global celebration of football and culture.
The six were chosen by CFK Africa (formerly Carolina for Kibera), the only Kenyan organisation invited to take part. More than 500 applicants from five informal settlements competed for the places, making the achievement all the more remarkable. Those selected — Harriet Sandra Achieng, Erick Manchang, Nigel Mali Imani, Valary Ayuma, Faridah Mahmoud Kamene and Nehemiah Ongori Ayora — will represent not just their neighbourhoods but the belief that talent in Kenya’s settlements deserves a global stage.
CFK Africa chief executive Jeffrey Okoro said the trip was about opening doors. For a child from Kibera to stand among peers from 40 nations is exactly the kind of story that reminds this community how far its young people can go.
Source: Mozzart Sport (9 July 2026) & Daily Nation.
KNN Newsroom is the staff byline for stories written, rewritten and edited at the Kibra News Network desk. Where a story credits an outside outlet, the original source is linked at the foot of the piece.
