Kenya's Kings Off The Street bid to grow breaking and "convert the lives of young people"
B-Boys Mzushiafrica and Drift had to raise money via social media to cover their air fare to Rabat for the first African Breaking Championship. Find out about their efforts to build the breaking scene in Kenya.
Breaking
Reaching the Olympic Games is a dream for most athletes.
For Kenyan breakers George Kaminju, aka B-Boy Mzushiafrica, and Omondi Joseph Milla, B-Boy Drift, just making it to the WDSF African Breaking Championship - the contintental qualifier for Paris 2024 - was a mission in itself.
Merely getting to Morocco's capital Rabat, and the costs involved, proved too much for many competitors with only 12 nations represented in the end.
That was almost 11 as, one week before the event, Drift and Mzushiafrica had to raise 300,000 Kenyan shillings (USD 2,200) to pay for their flights.
The pair just about succeeded and, while they failed to reach the last 16 in Rabat, ensured Kenya was represented as they continue their mission to build breaking in their homeland.
"It's not just a sport. It's not just something that we do for fun. It's also a tool that we use for societal change. We use it to convert the lives of young people within Africa." - B-Boy Mzushiafrica speaking to WDSF
Building the breaking scene in Kenya
Breaking has long been popular in the streets of big cities like Nairobi and Mombasa, but it was not until December 2019 that the first international contest was held in Kenya.
B-Boy Vick's Slum Dance Africa - assisted by Dutch legend Menno and French star Sarah Bee - organised it and continues to promote breaking throughout East Africa.
Drift and Mzushiafrica (also known as JiJo) - who soon established themselves as two of Kenya's top breakers - founded King Off The Street to help grow the sport in the country.
London-based collective Floor Rippers and Street Off, run by Algerian-French superstar B-Boy Lilou, have also staged competitions and workshops in major Kenyan cities.
Internationally, Drift and Mzushiafrica have gained experience by competing in big events like the prestigious Battle de Vaulx in Paris last year.
As Mzushiafrica admitted in March, 2022 was a hard year for Kenyan breaking with just three events - Floor Rippers' Kenya Breaking Battle, Slam Dance Afric,a and the Mviringo Breaking Battle - being held.
That prompted many of the breakers to take it upon themselves to stage competitions with the likes of Dance Mtaani and Halisi Breaking doing their bit to help build the Kenyan scene.
Mzushiafrica said, "I feel excited. I remember last year we had a big struggle putting out events because there's little support for us. It was concerning. The dancers need more platforms to keep practising, to exchange, and to battle and see where they're at.
"I'm excited about a special group of people going out of their way to make events happen. This speaks to the dancers' determination to see the scene grow bigger, to see dance grow bigger. Now it has become up to dancers to put out events. I'm really proud of these people. It's a learning process. Most of us were not even organisers before but now, because of the need that arises, we find ourselves doing things we didn't know how to do."
But funding and support has remained hard to come by, with Mzushiafrica - in his capacity as secretary of the Kenyan Breaking Union - having to call a meeting in April to hastily arrange a national qualifier for the African Breaking Championship.
As if to prove what can be achieved when people pull together, the Kenya Breaking National Qualifiers were organised within a week and held on 22 April with Mzushiafrica and Drift clinching qualification.
Kenyan B-Boys manage to make it to Morocco
Having obtained Moroccan visas and travel documents, Mzushiafrica and Drift needed 300,000 Kenyan shillings (USD 2200) for the air fare.
With just days to go and still short by half that amount, they hit social media for one last fundraising effort which proved successful.
They did get a brief taste of Paris - a transit in the French capital's Charles De Gaulle Airport to be precise - as there were no direct flights from Nairobi to Rabat.
The pair took part in pre-selection with just 16 of the 45 B-Boys going through to the round-robin stage.
Mzushiafrica was 32nd and Drift 37th as they both missed out on the chance to gain tickets for the first Olympic breaking competition.
But Mzushiafrica, speaking to WDSF in Rabat, hopes that this is just the beginning and urged governments, ministries of sport, and National Olympic Committees to "help support the push for Kenya and Africa for the Olympics".
He added, "Breakdancing is not just a sport. It's not just something that we do for fun. It's also a tool that we use for societal change.
"The community that I come from in Kenya is a slum and we use breakdancing to make change for the society. We use it to make change for drug abuse, we use it to make change for people who have no jobs, we use it to convert the lives of young people within Africa."
On the lack of participating nations, he reflected, "This is a big blow for Africa because we need as many African countries to be present at the Olympics. This year, there are about five more qualifying events left around the world and the more support that African countries can get, the more people we can send to go and try qualify for the Olympics.
"Our governments, this should be a priority for you because this is changing the lives of young people. And so the more you support it, the more we are able to go out here and the more we are able to reach young people."
While he and Drift may not have yet achieved the success they had hoped for, this is another step for them and the next generation of Kenyan breakers.