People

From the US to Kenya: 'I fight for African development the best way I know how - through basketball'

Being a professional basketball player in a country of 40 million people gives Silalei Shani Owuor the platform to be a leader in Kenya, but many still ask why she chose the country over her life in the US

Thu Feb 19 2015 - 12:00

[ Inside Out ]

Kenya has so much potential and I wish the world could see more than what is portrayed by the media. We are more than our wildlife, more than our slums, more than our issues of insecurity, more than our corrupt political leaders. Kenya is the next manufacturing and technology hub, the next breeding ground for sports talent and strong leaders…the next big thing.

That is what I have always seen even amidst my frustrations of why we aren’t there yet. I hope to do all I can to get us there in the best way that I know how even if it’s through the unconventional avenue of the game of basketball.

Silalei Shani Owuor: I knew what Kenya had to offer … or didn’t have to offer and I decided that in my own capacity I was going to fill in the gaps the best way I knew how, through the game of basketball.

More often than not when people hear my life story and journey in basketball, I’m asked with a look of immense confusion, “But why did you come back to Kenya?” Initially this question confused me too, then it offended me, then I decided to really think about it and my answer.

Why did I come back to Kenya? A country of over 40 million individuals where the life expectancy is 48 years old for males and 46 years old for women. The country with one of the largest slums in the world, deplorable traffic and high levels of insecurity due to terrorism - there are many reasons not to come back.

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But Kenya is home. I may not have been raised here but I was born here and my parents made sure that every summer, my brothers and I would spend two months reconnecting with our roots. When I finally finished school in the US and got the opportunity to pave my own path in life, I realized that it was time to go home, not for two months, but for good. I knew what Kenya had to offer … or didn’t have to offer and I decided that in my own capacity I was going to fill in the gaps the best way I knew how, through the game of basketball.

I began playing basketball at a young age when my mom bought my brothers and me a basketball. She would dribble the ball and in our childlike minds she seemed like the best player in the world. I was determined to become better than her. My father taught us the fundamentals and the seed was planted. Through obsessing over Michael Jordan videos and playing basketball in our backyard hoop, my brother and I developed our talent to a level that was noticeable. After a while, injuries and other interests caused my brother to stop playing but I kept going. Winning trophies and awards throughout high school and at camps, I made it on to the NCAA Div. III Messiah College basketball team in Pennsylvania where I studied for four years and helped lead our team to a national runners-up award in my 2nd year of playing, among many other personal awards. I got an offer to play professionally in Italy during my last year of school and that's when I decided to sit and really think about where I believe my purpose would flourish. I was passionate about African development and basketball.

I decided it was time to go home.

I was only three months in Kenya when I was asked to join a club team in the premier league called Eagle Wings. A year later I was asked to become captain of the women’s national basketball team of Kenya as well as captain of my club team. A few years after that, I became the host of a basketball magazine show on Kenyan television. I had the platform, I had the influence, I had my talents and I had my passion. I fight for African development the best way I know how, through the game of basketball.  I jump at the opportunity to speak to the youth about using sports to propel them in to achieving their dreams; using basketball to develop life long skills like leadership, teamwork, confidence and time management. I am conscious of being a role model for young women in Kenya having been asked to speak on TV shows, on radio stations, high schools and at universities and it's a platform I plan to build on.

The writer, Silalei Shani Owuor, is a human resource manager and production manager at Africa Insight, a multimedia production company. She is also host to East Africa’s only basketball magazine show, BAQE, and is a fierce activist for positive change in the basketball industry in Kenya