Gor Mahia FC and AFC Leopards players have gained the admiration of netizens after they held photographs of missing children to raise awareness.
"One child missing is too many" Today @TheOfficialKPL together with @AFCLeopards and @GorMahia_FC supported @missingchild_ke cause through a CSR initiative to raise awareness about the alarming trend of missing children in Kenya. Thank you all. #WapiWatotoWetu #MissingChildKE pic.twitter.com/F7hhKZTRDJ
— Missing Child Kenya (@missingchild_ke) May 19, 2019
Internationally, when they walk into the pitch, football players are accompanied by children termed player escort or match escort, as a way of promoting children rights campaigns and bringing the element of innocence to the game.
The Mashemeji Derby players, however, chose to walk into the pitch holding the portraits of the missing kids.
This even as netizens use #WapiWatotoWetu and #MissingChildKe to advertise lost and missing children.
The move by two of the biggest football clubs in Kenya excited Facebook users who termed it ‘a powerful move’ and a ‘good idea’.
The Standard reports that the magnitude of missing children is not known in Kenya. A baseline survey by the Centre for Missing Children Kenya shows that 710 cases of missing and lost children were recorded at police stations in Nairobi in 2012/13 and this figure has tremendously increased over the years.
