THE STORY
WITHOUT
A
FIGHT
in a divided slum, soccer is survival
Kibera is a powder keg.
After the 2007 Kenya presidential election it was lit.
Violence erupted when most voters and observers—including international election monitors—suspected
that supporters of incumbent president Mwai Kibaki stole the election from popular opposition leader Raila
Odinga.
Kibera, a large slum outside Nairobi, was ground zero for violence because it’s a mix of several long-feuding
tribes, two of which wholeheartedly supported either Kibaki or Odinga. The complex mess of history, tribalism, and poverty led Kibera to explode into violence for three months.
That’s the backdrop of our movie. Set in 2010, it’s a story about two teenagers and their soccer coaches
from different tribes who show through their actions what Kibera is like for them. If history and poverty and
politics pull Kiberans apart, then it’s soccer that unites them.
Most people in Kibera are under twenty years old, and the only thing they love more than watching soccer
is playing soccer. So a group of youth came up with the idea of forming a special soccer league in which all
teams must have players from various tribes. The idea is that on the soccer field, tribal stereotypes will fade
to the background and the players’ shared humanity will rise to the fore.
Our story traces a week in the lives of Nicholas and Adan as they struggle with their daily lives while their
teams prepare to meet in the championship game. Adan, a soft-spoken Muslim Somali, sells fried bread with
his mom in the mornings so his family can earn barely enough money to eat. They’re six months behind on
rent. And the only reason Adan stays in school is because he raises chickens, several of which he sells for
school fees. High school is not free in Kibera. Meanwhile, Adan’s stepfather—illiterate and disabled—can’t
work. He wants Adan to get a job. Stop playing soccer, he tells his stepson. But Adan’s mom, who’s deaf and
prone to pneumonia, wants Adan to keep playing. She sees the good it does for him. She sees his childhood
friends loitering, using drugs, and stealing from others.
Nicholas, a confident Christian from the Kamba tribe, has similar struggles. His family pays the rent and
the week we were there had enough food to feed four children. But they had no money to keep Nicholas in
school. He spends most of his time doing household chores, playing soccer, cleaning up Kibera’s clogged
open sewers, and looking after his little brother Dennis.
Helping keep Adan and Nicholas on the straight and narrow are their coaches, Oyamo and Kennedy, both former soccer players who volunteer most of their time to the league even though they struggle to find enough
work to support themselves.
“We are like parents to the kids,” Oyamo says. He’s not exaggerating. The best coaches don’t just focus on
strategy; they watch out for the players off the field. They give them advice and help them avoid the pitfalls
of crime, drugs, and apathy. For the players and coaches, the pressures of looking for work and ways to
survive mount each day.
Only soccer and their religion—somehow mystically intertwined—give them the faith to carry on.
Nicholas and Adan dream of becoming professional players—which isn’t as outlandish as it might seem.
Most of Kenya’s pro players come from the slums. One of them, Jerry Oyango, used to play in Kibera’s Champion’s League. Now he’s the goaltender for the Kenyan National team.
Adan looks up to Jerry and walks back to Kibera with him after watching him star in a game at a Nairobi
soccer stadium. Three days later Jerry watches Adan play at the Champion’s League title match, a drag-out
battle from start to finish that ends in a penalty shootout. There’s a winner and a loser, as with most things in
Kibera.
But even in the moments immediately following the match,
worn out and wise, Adan sees the greatest victory of the day.
“Of all the tournaments, this is the best of them,” he says.
“You see all the people are together. All the tribes are together. This is how we join them together. There is no tribalism
here.” And then Adan, who didn’t know where he was going
to find dinner that night, told us: “What I can say is, we always do what we can. And with what we can’t, God help us.”
This film will give people a glimpse into an Africa few Americans have seen. Our main characters have the same hopes
and dreams and struggles many people share. They focus on
these things even as they’re forced to address deeper issues
of hunger, extreme poverty, illness, and oppression.
Jason Arthurs on location in Kibera
CREW BIOS
Jason Arthurs
(Director and Editor) is
a photographer and documentary filmmaker based in Raleigh, NC.
He was named North Carolina Photographer of the Year in 2005
and 2006, with portfolios containing work from the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina, a documentary project in India, and a story
about a young mother battling terminal cancer. His work has
also received awards from photojournalism’s most prestigious
competitions including the Pictures of the Year International and
National Press Photographers “Best of Photojournalism” competition. Arthurs graduated from the University of North Carolina,
where he studied photojournalism and history. He has served
as faculty on the University of North Carolina’s Photojournalism Workshops whose projects have also received international
awards for digital storytelling. Jason served for one month in
2009 as a professional faculty coach to students working on
LivingGalapagos.org the University of Chapel Hill’s most ambitious multimedia project to date, documenting the impact of man
on the Galapagos Islands. In addition to keeping strong ties to the
University, Jason remains actively involved in editorial journalism
and has had work published in the New York Times, Washington
Post, TIME magazine, and the L.A.Times within the last year.
Beth-Ann Kutchma
Colby Hoke
(Assistant Editor) is currently
a Digital Media Producer at Red Hat and has edited television and
film projects as part of the Serious Robots Collective at Trailblazer
Studios in Raleigh, NC.
BJ Burton
10 years! Well, it took 10 years to build strong relationships in Kibera. Production, filming in Kenya, lasted just over two years. Post production took another year. The WaF crew worked around
the clock when filming in Kenya. It was worth every second.
(Composer and Musician) is a multiinstrumentalist composer and musical performer who has scored
several short films and toured internationally with Megafaun, his
current band.
2. What equipment was used in filming Without a Fight?
Phil Cook
Brooke Shaffer
(Social Network and
Outreach Coordinator) is a junior studying international public relations and German at UNC-Chapel Hill and manages social media
accounts for several non-profit organizations and publications,
including UNC’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel.
The film was shot using DSLR’s, specifically two Canon 5D Mark ii’s. We used a ZOOM recorder
and shotgun mics to capture audio. For the majority of the filming, we were a lean, mean three
person crew.
3. Do girls play soccer in Kibera?
Absolutely! Our intent was to document both the boy’s and the girl’s tournament but the girls
team had already had their championship before the crew arrived in Kenya. We did meet some
amazing girls in Kibera and learned that they face many different challenges than the young men.
You can meet them in our “Young Women and Soccer in Kibera” video short.
4. What is the name of the organization that runs the soccer program profiled in the film?
That would be Carolina for Kibera (CFK) and it does amazing, impactful work. Thousands of boys
and girls participate in CFK’s annual soccer tournament. Ethnic diversity is a requirement. To play
in the tournament, each team must include youth of different tribes . Players learn teamwork and
form strong friendships across ethnic lines. Tournament players further demonstrate commitment
to community service by participating in trash clean-ups.
Mark Derewicz
(Story Editor) has
been the senior staff writer since 2005 for Endeavors, an awardwinning magazine that features the research and creative activity
of faculty and students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has freelanced for various newspapers, magazines,
and websites, and is currently working on a novel. A native of
Bethlehem, Pa., Mark received his bachelor’s degree in education
and history from La Salle University in 1993.
(Co-Director of
Photography) has worked on projects, which have been recognized for their excellence among professional documentary competitions including the National Press Photographers’ Association
and the SXSW Film Festival. He graduated from UNC in 2010 and
is currently a Communications Fellow for Carolina for Kibera in
Nairobi, Kenya.
1. How long did it take to film Without a Fight?
(Sound Engineer) is an audio and
sound design engineer credited for sound and audio work on
the television series Army Wives and the feature film Nights at
Rodanthe.
(Producer) produces Multi-Media Projects for UNC’s Center for
Global Initiatives. Her photography has been featured in Time
Magazine for Kids and her footage utilized in Sarah McLachlan’s
music video for World on Fire and the K’Naan focused 4RealKenya feature. She is also a musician and song writer who tours
nationwide with the Durham, NC based rock band Red Collar.
Andrew Johnson
FA Q
5. How did this all come together?
WaF crew members with Adan and his mother,
making mandozi on the streets of Kibera
Beth-Ann Kutchma, WaF’s producer was a long-time volunteer of Carolina for Kibera, the nonprofit which runs the soccer program profiled in the film. At a rock in roll show in Raleigh, NC
Beth-Ann ran into Director Jason Arthurs and hoodwinked him into a trip to Kenya to make a film
about the co-founders of CFK. Lots of footage was captured, lots of relationships were fostered
and lots of tired fun was had. At the same time, CFK Co-Founder Rye Barcott was working on his
memoir, It Happened on the Way to War which chronicled the founders story. It’s to safe to say
that Rye’s words simply trumped our video. So we went back to review some of our footage, and
became enamored with how much Kibera youth loved and lived soccer. The idea behind Without
a Fight was born.
Press Clips
Without a Fight—Set in the slums of Kibera in Nairobi,
Kenya, against a backdrop of bloody unrest, village youth
toss aside their often warring ethnic and religious tribalism to instead battle for supremacy on the soccer pitch.
As the teams compete in the local and loftily named
Champions League, the film chronicles the march toward
the season’s championship and the backstories of some
of its participants. Coaches must not only contend with
political unrest and violence, but also players whose
training is inhibited by such obstacles as hunger and
a lack of shoes—impoverished kids occasionally have
been killed trying to steal cleats. The film is both uplifting and illuminating, a look inside a place where the
degree of bloodshed and poverty might seem foreign,
but the healing power of team athletics is universal. (Dir.
Jason Arthurs, 55 min.)
Press Clips
“This is the true life history of what is happening in our community … unifying tribes,” said
Juma at the screening. “Rallying them to a common goal is not an easy job,” he said.
-Durham Herald Sun
“The reaction from my middle school son after the screening: “That was REALLY awesome!”
My youngest son recalls his favorite quote: “There are opportunities out there for you, but
you have to look for those opportunities for they are not going to be handed to you on a
silver platter.”
-ONE.org
“The story line was so refreshing - it showed the real lives of people and
how this soccer league made a difference, without selling it as a silver
bullet.”
-Dennis Whittle, President of the Whittle Group and Co-Founder of Global Giving
-NM, From the Independent Weekly, Full Frame Capsule
Review, Highly Recommended
Another audience favorite with a local connection, “Without A Fight” concerns the work of the Chapel Hill-based
outreach organization Carolina for Kibera, established
in 2001, which sponsors youth soccer leagues in the
ravaged slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Ten years in the making, the film shows how the soccer leagues have helped
prevent violence in Kibera by bringing together young
people across Kenya’s ethnic divides.”
After the screening, the filmmakers were joined onstage
by Kibera soccer coach and community organizer Kenny
Juma, who plays a central part in the film. Juma said the
youth leagues have helped bridge gaps not only between
factions in Kibera, but also between Africa and America.
“This is a true-life story of what is happening in our
community,” Juma said. “Trusting in one another is really
a noble cause that can move us forward.”
-Raleigh News & Observer
MORE TO WATCH, READ AND SHARE
Film website: withoutafight.org
Production company: chasingthemadlion.com
Outreach Campaign: powerof26.org
Non-Profit Partner: carolinaforkibera.org
Associated reading: ithappenedonthewaytowar.com
Facebook: facebook.com/withoutafightmovie
Twitter: twitter.com/WaFdoc
Behind the scenes of Without a Fight: https://vimeo.com/40017699
Film Stills
F E S T I VA L S A N D A W A R D S
A variety of high resolution still images and logos are at withoutafight.org/press
All Sports LA Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA, November 2012
Reel Change Film Festival, Santa Cruz, CA, May 2012
Full Frame Documentary Festival, Durham, NC, USA, April 2012 (North American Premiere)
11 MM: The International Football Festival, Berlin, Germany, March 2012
(World Premiere)
Peace and Sports Special Jury Award, Finalist, 2012
C O N TA C T
Beth-Ann Kutchma
Producer, Without A Fight
Chasing the Mad Lion Productions
901 Washington Street
Durham, NC 27701
USA
919.599.6504
[email protected]