Young Kenyan Muay Thai fighters

train against all odds and dream of a triumphing

in the face of adversity

Rael Ombuor

NAIROBI-When now 20-year-old Rael Ashubwe turned 18, her father put her in a bus to Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city. It was her first time in any big city. She was born in rural western Kenya and had only seen images of Nairobi in newspapers and magazines. In the big city, she was determined to pursue her dreams of completing high school and joining the Kenya army.

Her family was too poor, her mother had died when she was three years old and so when she arrived in Nairobi, she lived in Kayole, one of Nairobi’s poor neighborhoods that is ridden with a high rate of crime, drug use and unemployment, and where teenage pregnancies are at an all-time high.

During her free time, she roamed around the neighborhood and one day found a team that was training in a sport that seemed to her then like boxing. She had loved combat sport since she was young and would spend a lot of time watching American wrestling. That year in 2021, she asked coach Gilbert Miruka, 52, if she could be part of the holiday and weekend training sessions.

She learnt that the sport was called Muay Thai or Thai Boxing, a martial art and combat sport with origins in Thailand.

And so Ashubwe joined the early morning trainings at Kayole two social hall in Nairobi where other fighters also met to train with volunteer coaches such as Gilbert Miruka. She learnt stand-up striking along with various clinching technique and gained physical and mental discipline  that comes with the sport

“It was challenging to train because when I started, my guardian who I was living with told me to stop training because she thought I would turn out to be a gangster” Ashubwe said. “Not so many people in Kenya know about Muay Thai or mixed martial arts, but the sport is a good one, for me, it has helped me avoid a lot of things like bad company, stealing or getting pregnant” she said.

Ashubwe has since won dozens of competitions in Kenya. Apart from dreams of joining Kenya’s military, she has dreams of becoming a professional Muay Thai fighter and competing in the sport at international levels.

“I dream of going to represent Kenya in different countries and coming back with medals.” she said.

Coach Gilbert Miruka, 52, has been training Muay Thai and Mixed Martial arts for almost 20 years in Kenya.

Kayole where he trains is a neighborhood where he grew up in as a young man, and where he is now raising his family. Miruka is a former drug addict. He says when he started getting involved with the sport as a young man addicted to drugs, his life changed, and he found a sense of purpose, and then when age caught up with him, he decided to train the young girls and boys in his neighborhood.

During school breaks, kids as young as five years old are sent by their parents to train with coach Miruka and a team of other volunteer coaches. All these children come from poor neighborhoods and most come to training without a meal. “Some go back home and do not have something to eat” Miruka said.

“It is a tough life to live, but they train so hard and many from this neighborhood have made it to International competitions and have won many titles” Miruka said. 

Miruka mainly relies on well wishers to get his team to various competitions, but sometimes, the help does not come. He also does not have a salary. Two years ago, they were invited for a competition in Thailand. A well-wisher offered to cater for their accommodation and expenses, but still they could not afford the costs of the flight, and so they missed the competition.

Miruka’s team trains with worn out gloves, and without shoes and many team members are prone to injuries because of this.

“I would like the international bodies that manage these sports to know that there is so much talent here, we are looking for partnerships and support” he said. “I believe we have some of the best Muay Thai fighters among us and with the right support, they can be very successful.” 

When James Tachiah was 19, he won a junior featherweight title in Muay Thai. James who is now 21 years old started training in 2019 when he was 18. At that time, he lived in Kayole and went to school, but his family struggled to pay his school fees. 

He dropped out of school for a year in 2018 because they could not afford food and school fees. And when he went back to school after missing out for a year, he still topped his class.

During the time he dropped out, he was stressed and so he spent a lot of time training at Kayole two social hall where the other athletes also met.

“When I joined training, the coaches told me that the training area was a drug free zone, and this was at a time when there was peer pressure” James said “so coming for training everyday helped me stay away from crime and drugs”

Tachiah dreams of becoming a doctor and hopes that Muay Thai can help him achieve the dreams. “I want to compete in international competitions so that I can get money to go to school” he said

Apart from the junior feather weight title, Tachiah has won dozens of other competitions within Kenya.

On a Saturday morning, coach Miruka trained dozens of youths at the Kayole Social Hall. Some had come in carrying bottles of water, looking determined. Young children also joined in some warmup sessions, sometimes playing games in between the sessions as their parents watched closely. Young men and women also joined in the session.

“This is our community, and we are stronger together, sport has made us a family and helped us to become better people” Coach Gilber Miruka said. “We hope that the world hears our story and gets inspired” he said.

※ Views in this writing are the author's own