Ibrahim Kiyemba (left) last played for SC Villa in the Uganda Premier League (file photo)VIpers Sports Club has added former Lweza captian and canter-back Ibrahim Kiyemba on their list of new acquisitions.This comes days after completing the capture of former Police FC captain Rahmat Ssenfuka who signed a three year deal.Kiyemba who can play anywhere in defence and can also anchor the midfield is believed to have put pen to paper on a three year deal which will keep him at Kitende until 2021.Ibrahim Kiyemba started his footballing career at Artland Katale before joining Lweza in 2012 in its struggle to join the top flight league a mission he eventually accomplished with the team in 2014.He played a key role as the Captain of Lweza for two consecutive seasons 2014/15 & 2015/16 with eye catching performances thus SC Villa signed him at the start of the 2016/17 season.His departure dealt Lweza a very big blow as it left yawning gaps within the team setup leading to their demotion to the big league a year after he left. During the 2017/18 mid-season transfer of players, he left the country for greener pastures in South Africa at Stellenbosch FC but the deal fell out due to unsuccessful negotiations between the two clubs.Following that setback, he decided to return home to relaunch his career and his preferred destination is at Vipers thus becoming the club’s third signing in readiness for the Cecafa club championship.Speaking after the move, Kiyemba couldn’t hide his delight to have signed for the Venoms.“Im happy to be here hence looking forward to step on the pitch for this winning club, said Kiyemba.“I have been out for a while now but always kept my self-fit and i can assure you am ready to go.When asked about the competition for places in the team, Kiyemba had this to say.“Vipers has good players but i am always ready to face competition because it pushes me ahead.Vipers now have five established Center-backs including Halid Lwaliwa, Shafick Bakaki, Geoffrey Wasswa and Bashir Asiku.Comments Tags: Ibrahim Kiyembavipers sc read more

ShareTweetShareEmail0 Shares September 19, 2014; KRCC (Southern Colorado Public Radio)“Do you have what it takes?” asks an advertisement for volunteer fire fighters in Colorado. All over the U.S.A., the firefighter you see arriving to extinguish a fire could be a volunteer, especially in rural areas and places outside cities. A recent report from Radio Colorado College highlighted the current challenges of volunteer fire departments in Colorado.Volunteer firefighters protect about half of Colorado’s residents. Seventy percent of the land in Colorado is protected by solely-volunteer departments. Recent reports highlighted that Colorado needs 3500 more volunteers over the next three years to reach National Fire Protection Association Standards. Many volunteer fire fighters work full-time elsewhere and many live in the rural areas where the next closest fire station can be a 40-minute drive away. Most of the calls to volunteer fire departments are to natural disasters and motor vehicle accidents as first responders, with only 15 percent of their calls to actual fires.Those in the nonprofit world know well how volunteers are often the backbone of an organization. The passion and the commitment that volunteers bring to an organization allow for increased capacity to move the mission forward. Costs are minimized by volunteer contributions to the workload. Sometimes, though, there is that tension between volunteers and staff. Retaining great volunteers is difficult enough without the threat of bodily harm as one of the risks of the job.Even as a volunteer, firefighting involves a huge commitment of time and money. Required training can take a new volunteer up to eight months to complete and often involve weekends and evenings. Often, the training is used as a way of keeping volunteers interested, reports Gary Briese, Executive Director of the Colorado State Fire Chiefs. “The fewer fires you have, the fewer activities, the more volunteers will drift away.” Federal funds help volunteers pay for the training costs, and there are state grants to purchase the new gear needed.Then there is the fundraising, which can be challenging to the all-volunteer brigades. Volunteers may spend more time fundraising than firefighting. They host fundraisers, apply for grants, or establish support through local tax levies. (One fire chief said she spent a “good chunk of her time writing grants.”)“Many of the all-volunteer departments raise their money with things like pancake breakfasts,” Briese said.The state fire chiefs are addressing the issue by developing a 36-hour safe firefighter training course. It is then left up to the individual fire departments to adopt the shortened training schedule. In the meantime, Colorado is looking for those 3500 volunteers, as well as an innovation in how to recruit and retain the volunteers who “have what it takes.”—Jeanne AllenShareTweetShareEmail0 Shares read more