A teenage football prodigy who trained with Rangers will take a break from his studies at a top Tayside boarding school to play for the Kenyan national team.
Andre Kalama, 17, has spent the past two years studying in Scotland, at Strathallan School in Perthshire.
Originally from Nairobi, Kenya, Andre came to the UK as part of the fee-paying school’s Strath-Kenya project, which sponsors pupils from the African nation to study there.
The midfielder flew out on Friday after a negative Covid-19 test, to play for Kenya’s national under-20 team in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers in Tanzania, starting on November 22.
Andre said: “I’ve been playing football for as long as I can remember and my parents say they took me to an academy when I was six.
“I know I have to keep working hard.
“If you have a big dream, you need to stay focused and keep on track, and do as much as you can to achieve your dream.
“The only thing I have in common with players who have already made it is that I haven’t given up, so that’s what I try to focus on – just don’t give up.”
Last year Andre trained with Rangers FC Youth Academy, which he described as “wonderful”.
Andre said: “I’m very excited to be called up to the national team in Kenya at the under-20 level.
“This qualifier means that I get to play in the Kenyan team in the biggest tournament in Africa.
“It really means a lot, you are playing not just for yourself but for your parents, your ancestors, for everyone.
“I’ve really enjoyed the school system, which is quite different to our education system in Kenya.
“And while I’ve been here my training has been wonderful, especially last year when I was involved with the Rangers Academy.
“It was a great experience for me, it’s a high level, you need to be tidier and much faster, so it really taught me a lot.”
The boarding school has raised more than £100,000 to help educate children in and around Nairobi and has been working in partnership with a Kenyan college for 11 years.
Andre added: “This is my second year at Strathallan.
“When I came here, I had heard about the school through the Strath project and I was very happy to come and see the school and what goes on here.”
Jim Thompson, director of sport at Strathallan, said: “We pride ourselves on being a school with great sporting success, but Andre’s dedication and passion makes him stand out as one of our most focused students and it is great to see his hard work being recognised.”
Strathallan’s deputy head pastoral Dave Barnes, the brainchild behind the Kenya project, added: “I am so proud of everything Andre has achieved so far, and will likely go on to achieve in football.”
