PLAYER SPOTLIGHTS - A TALE OF TWO KENYANS

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PLAYER SPOTLIGHTS - A TALE OF TWO KENYANS

Post by scottsdale_joe » Thu Aug 16, 2018 4:54 pm

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PLAYER SPOTLIGHTS
A TALE OF TWO KENYANS

by Caitlen Sullivan
Vancouver Sun Sports Reporter
September 15, 2035


From the 1st century through the 19th century, What we now know as Kenya was ruled under a complex amalgam of city states and by the Kilwa Sultanate based in Tanzania. Its colonial status dates from 1885 when Germany established a protectorate over the Sultan of Zanzibar’s coastal possessions. In 1888 the Imperial British East Africa Company arrived and an imperial rivalry loomed. But in 1890 Germany handed its coastal holdings in East Africa to Britain.

The territory was then under British rule until 1962. In 1920 The East Africa Protectorate became a British colony and was renamed Kenya. In 1952 Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, were vacationing at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya when she received word that her father, King George VI, had died. It is often said in Nairobi that Elizabeth went up a tree in Africa as a Princess and came down a Queen.

From 1952 through 1959 Kenya suffered through the violence of the Mau Mau uprising. In 1962 it gained independence from Britain with Jomo Kenyatta as its first president. In 1978 Kenyatta died and Daniel arap Moi became president. Having survived a military coup, he was democratically re-elected in 1992 and 1997. He was constitutionally barred from running again, and in 2002 Mwai Kibaki, the opposition leader, was elected to the presidency in what was by all accounts a fair and open contest. He was re-elected in 2007.

After the election in 2007 there was widespread unrest and violence throughout Kenya. It is at that time we will begin the story of two Kenyans. Interestingly enough, there are two Kenyans playing in the Brewster Baseball Association that a sport positive WAR rating: outfielder Gebre-Egziabher Mwaka and catcher Hotha Popo. They both play for the Vancouver Mounties, but they could not have come different backgrounds.
  • Hotha Popo was born in Nairobi on October 20, 2011 to an unwed mother in the infamous Kibera slum. To this day he does not who his father is. He grew up in abject poverty.
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  • Gebre-Egziabher Mwaka was also born in Nairobi just 25 days later on November 14, 2011, the son of a prominent Kenyan doctor and surgeon. His family lived in Lavington, a high-income residential estate located northwest of the city center. His father was a high profile doctor to the rich and famous and a surgeon at the upscale Gertrude Children’s Hospital.
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While Mwaka grew up attending privileged private schools and living the good life in Lavington, Popo lived in poverty most of his life while sporadically attending public schools. They both loved baseball and played whenever they could, albeit under totally different circumstances. They came across each other for the first time in 2026 at age 15 at a baseball clinic co-sponsored by the BBA and the Kenyan government. The purpose of the clinic was to identify potential Kenyan baseball talent for the BBA. Kenyans from all walks of life were invited to attend the clinic which ran for ten days. Popo walked forty minutes to the clinic each day from the Kibera slum; Mwaka arrived each day in a chauffeured limousine.

Oddly enough the two became friends as the clinic proceeded. After the ten day event was over, the BBA offered to send five Kenyans to the United States and Canada to go to high school and play baseball. Both Popo and Mwaka received invitations. Mwaka had the blessing of his parents to go, and he went with plenty of money in his pocket. For Popo’s mother, it was a much more difficult decision. Only the promise of all expenses paid for her son’s trip and a stipend of 10,000 Kenyan shillings for her family in Kenya convinced her to let Hotha go. He went with nothing in his pocket.

Popo and Mwaka came to the United States together as friends on the same plane, but they were immediately separated. Mwaka attended Asus High School in 2026 and 2027 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Popo attended Sim City High School in Sacramento, California. They both lived with a sponsoring foster family. In 2028 they both became eligible for the 2028 BBA Amateur Draft.

An outfielder, Mwaka was the more highly regarded prospect. He was drafted in the third round as the 77th overall pick by the Vancouver Mounties. Popo, on the other hand, was not taken until the ninth round by the same Mounties as the 225th overall pick. Both began their professional careers in 2028, Popo at Laramie in the rookie league and Mwaka at Coxen Hole in short A ball. Throughout 2029, 2030, and 2031 they were teammates, off and on, at Prince George (A), Charleston (AA) and Victoria (AAA). Whenever they were together on the same team, the unlikely pair were roommates.

In 2032 Popo joined the Vancouver Mounties fulltime as the backup catcher to Elroy Hinson. Mwaka started 2032 at Victoria but was promoted to the Mounties late in the season. Popo and Mwaka were reunited again and have been road trip roommates for the Mounties ever since. They share an apartment in Vancouver.

The two Kenyans are now inseparable both in their private lives and on the baseball diamond. At age 23 both are now fulltime starters for the Mounties. Both are engaged to Kenyan Canadians whose parents were born in Kenya.

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Re: PLAYER SPOTLIGHTS - A TALE OF TWO KENYANS

Post by RonCo » Thu Aug 16, 2018 5:13 pm

Nice read.
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Re: PLAYER SPOTLIGHTS - A TALE OF TWO KENYANS

Post by 7teen » Fri Aug 17, 2018 8:31 pm

Your team is a cultural melting pot.
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