Mathare, Nairobi
Under a bright Nairobi sky at the rehabilitated Mathare Community Park — affectionately known as “The Park in the Ghetto” — Mathare River FC launched its 2025/2026 home and away kits in a ceremonial event. The park itself, once a dumpsite and now a green public space, is the perfect stage for a club founded to keep plastic out of the Mathare River. What the club calls “football with grit” now comes stitched with purpose.
The home jersey arrives in a deep, water-evoking blue — a deliberate nod to the club’s mission to protect and restore the Mathare River — while the away kit’s cool grey references Nairobi’s urban fabric and the resilience of the people who live here.
The new kits were presented by World Waternet’s Kenya team, led by Country Director Peter de Koning, in front of players, coaches and a buzzing of community supporters. The moment underlined that this is more than a merchandising event — it’s a visibility moment for a growing movement.
Mathare River FC’s work extends well beyond the pitch. In 2024 the Mathare River Future Design Basecamp convened stakeholders — community leaders, civic groups and partner organizations like World Waternet — to chart a roadmap for the river’s revival. Out of that basecamp came a Recreation Taskforce: a working group designed to align sporting and cultural activities with cleanup and regeneration efforts. On matchdays, football becomes both entertainment and action.
A standout program is the Mathare River Regeneration Network’s (MRRN) Football for Plastic league. Teams earn their right to play by collecting recyclables: each club registers a plastics quota, then mobilizes neighborhood cleanups before kickoff. It’s a simple, clever marriage of Kenya’s most popular sport and urgent environmental work — and it works. To date the network reports roughly 7.8 tonnes of plastic diverted from the river and surrounding communities. Every jersey sold and every fan who brings in recyclables is a direct boost to the clean-up drive.
World Waternet — a Dutch water utility partnership — attended not just as sponsor but as a strategic partner, bringing water-system expertise and practical resources to the grassroots campaign. Their Kenya office (WaterWorX/BlueDeal program) has lent technical support and visibility, helping translate community energy into measurable environmental outcomes. As the club put it during the launch: this isn’t sponsorship for logo placement — it’s partnership for regeneration.
Mathare River FC will make the new kits and a full range of merchandise available through the Mathare River FC Store (both online and at a local pickup spot). In a neat loop between consumption and stewardship, the club is offering discounts or store credit in exchange for sorted plastic recyclables. Translation: you can literally “buy” a jersey with bottles and wrappers — turning everyday trash into funding for river cleanups.
This approach supports MRRN’s zero-waste ambition: manage waste at source so it never reaches the river. Fans who bring sorted recyclables at game days or to the store get rewarded — and the community wins.
The jersey launch was a public reminder that community pride and environmental care can—and should—go hand in hand. Players wearing blue and grey now carry a message: the goal on the scoreboard is only part of the scorecard. The bigger win is a revitalized Mathare River — a cleaner, greener, safer space that belongs to everyone.
As participants from the basecamp put it, the vision is simple and powerful: “a revitalized Mathare River with a clean, thriving, and serene ecosystem.” Every match, every collection drive and every jersey sold brings the club and its supporters a step closer.
Want to join? Grab a jersey, bring a bag of sorted recyclables, and show up. Twende kazi — let’s turn passion for football into pride for the river and the Environment.