10-year-old Ferdinand Maumo has emerged overall winner of the Makoko 2021 Chess Competition organised by Chess in Slums Africa in partnership with Chesskid.com.
Born with cerebral palsy, Ferdinand Maumo is a quiet boy whose condition and poor background deprived him of an education, friends and the care he needed to treat his illness. However, to coach Babatunde Onakoya, Ferdinand immediately looked like a natural chess talent.
According to Ferdinand’s mother, Jesuwame:
“At first I was sceptical, because he kept going to the chess club. But then I thought that it’s better for him to play chess than to roam around the streets.
I cried joyful tears on that day, as I saw that my child was no longer the joke of the community, but had become a small local hero.
He is more grounded at home and he’s even teaching chess to his little brother. The other mothers of Makoko come to congratulate him. Now I can hope that he will become something in life.”
“This is a unique opportunity to showcase how helpful chess can be to help people in need.” What’s more, Ferdinand’s story was an eye opener for the people of the Lagos Lagoon, many of whom developed a whole new perspective on disabilities and access to education.”
Chess in Slums Africa is a volunteer driven non-profit organization which aims to transform impoverished communities and empower its young ones by using the game of chess as a framework to teach academic skills, critical thinking, and a lifelong appreciation for learning.
