Of the many success stories that emerged from Makoko, the 10 year old is momo ferdinand who won the junior category of a local event in May this year in less than a few weeks learning the basics of the game. Ferdinand — affected by cerebral palsy — caught the attention of Onakoya who had gone with his team to coach the children in the slum. At the conclusion of two weeks of intense training, an event was held that saw Ferdinand as an extraordinary artist. “He’s a natural talent and in no time—Ferdinand was making moves that were a delight to everyone,” Onakoya told TOI.
Ferdinand, who comes from a low-income group, was regularly ridiculed by his peers for being handicapped, but his skill at chess meant that was no longer the case. Ferdinand’s talent did not go unnoticed as he got to play a formal game against Lagos State Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu. The match lasted for about 30 minutes and ended in a draw. Babajide also awarded Ferdinand one million Nigerian naira and offered scholarship aid for the education of him and his siblings. Ferdinand is one of many young people who have benefited from the chess initiative in slums in Africa.
Momo Ferdinand during a session organized by Chess in the Slums
Onakoya, 26, started the project in 2018 and uses chess as a framework to provide access to education and mentorship to children from low-income communities. “There has been countless research into the benefits of chess and how it aids cognition. More importantly, chess leaves a long-lasting effect in the minds of young people. For the children in these communities—theirs. The family cannot have three full meals every day. Some children have to do small jobs to support their parents and it becomes impossible for them to go to school or get an education. So, I play chess to bridge that gap. I use,” Onakoya explained. She and her team of volunteers engage with the kids—and teach them the rules of the game.
“The process of learning chess requires a lot of discipline and a lot of effort and to get them to school. Our team has trained over 200 children and about 50 of them have got scholarship support in the school,” he informed. Onakoya feels that his volunteers have been tireless in their efforts and that is what is yielding results. “It costs money to set up training centres, equipment and get trainers. Also, it can sometimes be difficult to gain access to these communities. But we have some very committed volunteers and they are facing these challenges,” he said.
Despite the odds, Onakoya believes that power chess has to shape the future of children in the slums. “Nigeria is one of the worst slums in the world and it also has the worst education crisis in the world. More than 70 million kids are out of school and we are targeting to teach chess to these vulnerable kids and give them some scholarship support so that they can go back to school. Chess is a game that is respected all over the world. We are teaching them so that children can grow out of their poverty. They are able to see the prestige that comes from knowledge of the game and it is important to do so so that people see them in a different light,” Onakoya noted.
Onakoya is acutely aware that the kids he trains will not go on to become grandmasters. “We are not training them to be grandmasters because not all of them will be talented enough to become professionals or become masters. Chess is not an end in itself but a means to an end for many of them. Chess is a is great disruptive and it engages the mind severely and so it is a game that will keep kids off the road.Instead of involving kids in criminal activities— chess keeps their minds busy and that’s ours The main motive,” Onakoya explained.
The Chase in Slum project has also moved overseas, with the team recently expanding its initiative to Burkina Faso. “We set up a program in an orphanage in a village called Kaya in Burkina Faso. The village has been disturbed by the terrorist attack. Many children do not go to school and people have been displaced. We have established our intervention there by teaching them chess and also connecting them to a global community of chess players and we have started this recently. It has really shown us that our program can be replicated in other countries. We have received emails from Scotland, Lebanon and the United States asking how we can get there and set up our program in low-income communities,” Onakoya revealed.
It is also keen to expand operations in India in the near future. “I have good friends in India. We also look forward to expanding our operations there as India has a large child population and this program will be massively beneficial for nurturing champions there. Thanks to our partnership with Chess.com and Chesskids.com we have access to a lot of technology because we want our kids to have nothing but the best possible facilities,” he said.
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