Nottingham connected
5
THE MAASAI CRICKET WARRIORS AT
NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY
It was with great excitement that Nottingham
Trent University (NTU) welcomed the Maasai
Cricket Warriors on campus this Summer. Having
been asked by Valentine Nkoyo (an NTU alumni
and Director of the Mojatu Foundation) to act as
the main sponsor for the 2018 tour, NTU opened
its doors to the players.
By Teresa Dymond
Hosting the team at the Brackenhurst campus, near
Southwell, the University was able to offer the players
a taste of the British countryside during their stay.
The campus, which houses the School of Animal,
Rural and Environmental Science, has beautiful
grounds, including a cricket pitch where the team
were able to put in some out of hours practice.
The formal welcome event for the team took
place on Friday 17th August and was attended
by distinguished guests from Nottinghamshire’s
sporting and civic organisations, as well as VIPs
from further afield. Including the Kenyan Education
Attaché to the Kenyan High commissioner (Mrs
Dorothy Kamwilu) who made the journey from
London especially to meet with the cricket warriors.
Of particular importance to NTU is the role that
the Maasai Cricket Warriors play as advocates for
gender equality. NTU is aware that in strongly male
dominated communities like the Maasai, there
are serious injustices faced by girls and women. As
such, the team have educated and campaigned on a
number of issues close to NTUs heart: ending Female
Genital Mutilation and tackling modern slavery are
two such examples.
In Nottingham, NTU seeks to make a difference
on these issues. Through the association with the
Mojatu Foundation, the University has supported
campaigns on FGM with its academic research,
student engagement and staff commitment. NTUs
work on modern slavery includes Professor Ian
Clark’s work around car washes that has helped
inform a parliamentary inquiry into modern slavery.
NTU is also proud to be founder members of
“Nottingham Citizens”, a diverse alliance of 36 civil
society institutions set up in 2012 to work together
in tackling issues of social injustice.
Within NTU the School of Social Sciences has been key to
bringing the Maasai Cricket Warriors to Nottingham and
supporting the tour’s agenda.
NTU is proud of its global commitment to social justice and we’re
honoured to have been given the opportunity to be part of such
an important tour.