: : Zeitz Foundation : :

The Laikipia and Beyond Unity Cup seeks to utilise the unifying power of sport - football - as a means to bring together in a constructive spirit of peace and harmony, the diverse people within Laikipia (ethnic, class, gender and age) and utilise this constructive engagement as a platform on which to build environmental awareness and understanding and deliver health care to the marginalised communities of Laikipia.

The 2010 events were timed to coincide with the World Cup in South Africa to ensure that the enthusiasm and spirit of this global event was brought to bear in Laikipia.

The teams are divided into 2 pools with each team playing up to 3 matches. At the end one of the regional teams are then crowned the Regional winners.

The best players from the 8 regional teams are picked to form a combined regional unit team. Not only did this serve the purpose of putting the strongest players in the team but also set about integrating the different players from the different communities in the particular unit who may have previously not engaged with one another in a peaceful situation.

The 4 combined teams are:

Central Rhinos

Northern Elephants

Uaso Lions

Eastern Grevys

These teams met at the final to see who would be crowned the Laikipia and Beyond Unity Cup Champions.

Environment

As well as being a football competition there was also environmental component. The Green Pledge;

"The Earth is our home and together we must conserve our precious water, land, forests and wildlife. I am proud to pledge that I will unite with others throughout Laikipia and that I will give a red card to environmental destruction and defend our natural heritage,”

signed by Samuel Eto'o will be signed by each of the captains to show their commitment to environmental conservation.

Different environmental activities, ranging from local town clean ups, to lectures on conservation agriculture and sustainable water management as well as tree planting and through to the construction of predator proof boma's, will be carried out.

In order to make the tournaments holistic a medical camp will be present at each of the regional matches and MYSA (Mathare Youth Sports Association) from Nairobi will be there to hold football and environmental clinics.

The Tournament