Fish youth group is a catholic group that is based in Kisumu Town, it was founded by Fr. Antony chantry and Sr. Mary Ellen [you can visit http/www.fygroup.blogspot.com for more info on the group]. I joined this group in 1988. I was still a young girl and i felt enthusiastic joining such a prestigious group of many youths within Kisumu. That was when my life as a youth changed for the better. The group had many challenges as well as enjoyable moments.
I grew up within the group as a member of Nyawita fish group, under the leadership of Magaret or Maggy as we called her and the late Lucas Wanyande. Later i got the chance to be trained as a leader of Nyawita fish group. When my family moved to Migosi, I was proviledged to start migosi fish group which i led till 1995 when i joined the Fish Team. The fish team was the highest leadership structure in the group [ref. fygroup blogspot.com]. The fish team also had its own wonderful experiences since i had always admired those who had had the opportunity to serve in the team. Such included Chris Akun, Alphonce Lumumba, the late Alfred Sigar, late Peter owino, late Vincent Njer [veve], Anne Adhiambo [Mathe as we called her], John Oduor amongst others.
My most memmorable times are during the FLTP trainings [Fish Leadership Training Program], social days where we had cultural days, sports days, christmass outings etc. i was an adent member of fish theatre under the leadership of Argwins Kodhek, where I got various certificates of best actress and our group could get best theatre team, best plays. [Argwins has since continued in Theatre and is now a teacher majoring in teaching theatre in schools in Nairobi]. In sports, i used to enjoy netball and later I used to officiate netball matches during the annual sport days.
Another interesting event was the annual Fish outings, which used to be held during the month of December. For between three to five days, the fish group would visit other towns, groups or even the famous ''Youth Challenge Week'' at Mji wa Furaha in Nairobi. Some of the towns we had priviledge to visit were Nairobi, Mombasa, Homabay, Mbita, Nakuru, Kampala and Jinja in Uganda. The most notable times during these outings were the times of ''Milk and Mala'' during bro. Hans ''go-parish'' structure.
There is so much to be writen about the fish group that cannot be completed by the stroke of a pen. I happened to serve in the fish team with my colleagues Steve owiti, Charles Lwanga, Jerusa Deya and martin Opondo as a co-opted member of the team.
I stand for uplifting the esteem of girls in the group and even organized a series of girls empowerment days during my time in the fish team. We have instilled confidence in many young girls and we are continuing to do so even at present through mentorship and recently we formed the 'Fish allumni'' group to help mentor the current fish group.
