Thread by @Tunde_OD

After two intense weeks of chess lessons in the slums of Makoko, we held a tournament to test their understanding of the game and celebrate their excellence.

The miracle child with Cerebral palsy Fredinard Won with a phenomenal performance.

A star is born.

It didn’t take long to realize that Fredinard was perhaps a savant when I gave him a complex Knight move geometry to solve few minutes after teaching him the basic movement of the Knight piece.

This in itself is an extraordinary feat,even for a genius.
He was born to play chess

I visited his home and met his family to tell them what a wonder their son was.
His father is a poor fisherman and his mother a petty trader.
They barely make enough money to feed daily, hence the reason why Fredinard and his three siblings do not go to school.

For a child with such incredible gift, it broke my heart to learn that he and his siblings have never had any form of formal education.
The @chessinslums has decided to put Fredinard on scholarship support, and will continue to sponsor his education for as long as possible.

For the little boy with dreamy eyes, this is just the beginning of his beautiful story.
In those two weeks where we taught him chess, I never heard him speak an English word but on the final day of the tournament when he held up his trophy, he muttered the word “champion”.

The Makoko Chess dream was a resounding success by every metric.
We introduced the magic of chess to 30 children from being complete beginners who had never seen a chess board before to competing and showcasing the gift of chess that they had just discovered.

We had a revolutionary idea to Make suits for the boys and dresses for the girls(Inspired by The queen’s gambit) to tell a new narrative of children in the slums that is not just one of poverty, but an image of what is possible if they’re given equal opportunities to excel.

We couldn’t have just taught them about the prestigious game of chess without letting them feel prestigious.
There is potential for greatness in every child, what they need is an someone who sees the best in them regardless of their background.

A slum is just a place, it doesn’t define the people who live there. This is why we must be relentless in our fight to create an equitable future for these children who have been marginalized for so long.

To let them know that their dreams are valid too.

In the two weeks spent in Makoko, we profiled about a 100 children who do not go to school and we’re kickstarting a global campaign to get them back to school and establish a Chess center in their community.

It is possible to do great things from a small place
#Makokochessdream

Thank you everyone 😊
Chess in slums Africa (@chessinslums is a non profit organization that uses the game of chess as a framework to promote education and raise champions from underserved communities.
You can donate to our project here:

0491316991- GTB

gofundme.com/f/chess-educat…