I played chess to prove a point

Robert Katende’s background is like that of the children he has coached over years. Perhaps even worse. He was orphaned at an early age and lived on handouts from relatives.
“If it wasn’t for the mercy of God, I don’t think I would be alive today. I considered my grandmother as my mother,” he says.
“My mother gave birth to me while she was still in school. I was told my father had another family. So I was never a priority.”
So Katende lived with his grandmother up to when he was four years. “All this time, I thought she was my mother and I knew only one name ‘Katende’.”
All seemed well until one day when a woman came to his “mama’s” house and they introduced her as his mother. She called him Robert. No one had ever called him that name. He did not know whether to be happy or to be sad. After the introductions, Katende went on to live with his mother in Katwe. Unfortunately, this reunion was short-lived.
“I think we stayed together for like a year and she died,” he says. He had no choice but to go back to the village to stay with his grandmother. A few years later, his father also died.
“It is against that background that I prayed to God to enable me find ways of helping children in need, especially those with a past like mine,” he says.

Fascination with chess
Katende grew up hoping from one relative’s house to another. Ironically, he says he was never interested in playing chess until he was challenged by a group of students who considered chess “a game for the brilliant”.
I learnt chess when I was at Lubiri Secondary School. I was a famous footballer at school and I was nicknamed Spoon because of the way I used to flip the ball. So one evening, I found some students playing chess and I asked them what type of game it was but their reply hit me hard. They told me that the chess was a game for the brilliant. Being an academic giant, I was challenged and embarrassed so I started to learn the game to prove a point to them,” he said.
After learning it, he decided to continue with his football until he finished high school. But when he joined Kyambogo University, he was surprised that chess was a big deal, so he used the little experience in high school to improve his game. He practiced so much that he even represented the engineering faculty in a chess competition.

Chess programme in Katwe
Katende says he had never given up on playing football even at university and used to play for Miracle Football Club under the guidance of Coach Aloysius Kyazze who also used to work with Sports Outreach, an organisation that looked after less privileged children. As a means of engaging children in sports activities, the board decided to start up a football club (Sports Outreach football club) with Katende as the coach because of his footballing skills but there were a were challenges. First, Katwe lacked football pitches and the only available one was always busy. Besides that, girls could not play football. But nonetheless, he went to Nkela, a locale in Katwe, cleaned the place where they threw garbage and started teaching children football until he resorted to giving them chess tips.

Pioneers of the chess club
“I started with 20 students on the first day but only seven remained. Benjamin Mukombya, Phiona Mutesi, Ivan Mutesasira, Richard Tugume, Julius Ssali, Samuel Mayanja and Martin Tumusiime. These are the pioneers of the chess programme,” Katende says. He adds that they are all certified by the world chess federation.
He, however, says the rest of the children could not continue playing because they moved houses. That is why he decided to start up programmes in five different slums including Katwe, Kibuli, Bwaise, Nateete and Kawempe. He also set up camps in seven communities in Gulu District.

Financial muscle
Katende credits Sports Outreach Uganda, where he is director, for standing with him for 14 years since the programme was introduced. He adds that individuals, families and organisations that have chipped in.

Depiction in the movie
He says that David Oyelowo prior to the movie did a lot of research about him, looked at documentaries, interviews, read books written about him. “He even went a step further and came to Uganda, spent two weeks with me learning how I behave, speak so that he could fit into his character which he actually did in the movie.”

Effects of the movie
The movie, according to Katende, gives some insight about Katwe but does not paint the real picture of what transpires there. He gives an example of the floods in the movie which can not be compared to those in Nkele area. “When it rains in Nkele, the floods reach window level and in most cases, people lose their lives. Even if it does not rain in Katwe, water from other places converges in Katwe and floods the whole area to the point of people losing life and property.”

Movie’s impact
The former footballer says the movie has helped in selling Katwe to the western world because people travel distances to come and experience it “first hand”. On the other hand, every street child now wants to join the chess programme yet they do not have space and the requirements to enroll all of them. The three rooms they are renting are no longer enough to accommodate all the children.

plans:
What next for Coach Katende
“This is just the beginning. I’m working on getting a permanent place in Katwe that can accommodate many children in my chess programme. I want to give them hope but I would also be grateful if the Government, NGO’s, capable individuals and well-wishers can come and give me a helping hand so that I construct a bigger centre and keep helping me because the chess programme does not only help in teaching children how to play chess but also encourages and teaches them to be responsible citizens. “

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