ROW4LIFE Mission & News Flashes
Building Future Leaders of Africa by Promoting Global Diversity
NEWS FLASHES:
DEC 2023; Kyle and Row4Life were invited to attend Boys in the Boat movie premier and Red Carpet Gala in New York City. See official trailer and other videos in section below.
JAN 2024; Kyle gave an in-depth radio and podcast interview to Dennis Puska at the Sports Hub Network. See the following link.
https://on.soundcloud.com/P8ZUjBc1fiQqAWKy8
JAN 2024: Kyle gave an in-depth television interview to Jackson M'vunganyi and his Up Front TV show at the Voice of American network (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA5ozG57rq4) broadcast around the world "on the air" to 326 million people in 48 languages.
AUGUST 2024: Kyle made another visit to South Sudan where he donated additional erg concept 2 rowing machines to the Juba and Wau Row4Life sites. As of now, Row4Life has a total of 14 rowing machines in South Sudan in 6 states: Juba, Central Equatoria (8), Wau, Western Bahr el Ghzal (2), Torit, Eastern Equatoria (1), Malakal, Upper Nile (1), Warrap Town, Warrap State (1), and Bor, Jonglei State (1).
DECEMBER 2024: Samuel Aru, a 17 year old senior 1 (U.S. equivalent of a high school freshman) Row4Life Scholar-Athlete who is 6'8 tall and the son of a local chief received a 7:19 2K Erg time! This is an incredibly fast erg time for a beginner level rower and Samuel is only increasing that time as he continues to practice.
OCTOBER 2025--8 members from Row4Life-Wau participated in the Concept2 2025 Skeleton Crew Challenge. All rowed at least 31,000 meters from Oct 25-31, 2025; All received super-cool t-shirts, too.
DEC 2025; Kyle and Row4Life partnered with GS Byumba Catholic in Byumba, Rwanda, a town in Rwanda's northern province. Row4Life donated one Erg Concept 2 Rowing machine to the school to be utilized by the students for Row4Life leadership activities and rowing practice.
June 2026; An additional 4 Erg Concept 2 Rowing machines were donated to GS Byumba Catholic. A new school, Ecole de Sciences Byimana, in the southern province of Rwanda also partnered with Row4Life and currently has one Erg Concept 2 rowing machine. Rwanda now has two Row4Life partners in country.
July 2026; Terry Chitukuza, Row4Life's new Vice-President for African Expansion, and a native Zimbabwean successfully delivered a rowing machine to Magunje High School in Zimbabwe's Eastern Province. Row4Life now has expanded to 3 countries in Africa; South Sudan, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. This makes Row4Life an organization dedicated to training not just South Sudan's future leaders, but Africa's next generation of leaders!
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MISSION:
Row4Life will, though erg-rowing competitions mitigate conflict, foster friendships among all ethnicity and genders, establish national pride, and avoid a return to civil war in South Sudan.
Row4Life Actions:
- Provided Concept2 (world standard for the erg rowing machine) to various locations (schools, community centers, etc.) throughout South Sudan. There are currently 17 Concept2 Ergs in South Sudan, spread across six towns and six (of ten) States in South Sudan and soon to be one erg in Byumba, Rwanda as we expand Row4Life into Rwanda.
- Students (boys and girls) between ages 12 and 19 have been introduced, and trained, and encouraged to compete. There are currently over 100 young men and women from Wau and Juba participating in the program on a daily basis.
- Recruited teachers as coaches, Site Managers, Country Managers, Erg Technicians, IT technician, etc. These individuals currently include HeadMaster Vincent, HeadMaster Emanuel, Deputy Headmaster Charles, Mr. Geoffrey (our Country Director), Mr. Evens, Mr. Primo, and Mr. Isaac.
- Competitions will be sponsored throughout S. Sudan, and will be between schools, towns, States, and also between SS and other countries. Modest awards (t-shirt, etc.) will be given to encourage participation. In S. Sudan, the average wage per month is about $10 USD, so a fancy t-shirt is a HUGE deal. These actions will begin in early 2026.
- Athletic super-stars, ages will be identified, nurtured, and coached.
- U.S. Colleges recruit for Rowing based primarily on Erg times for 2,000 meters. Once students reach these metrics and are 17-19 years old, visa applications will be made and these students will visit the U.S. for 2-3 weeks for on-the-water training in Virginia and to visit various universities and their rowing programs.
- Nobody else is recruiting for any other sports in South Sudan except for Soccer and basketball, from time to time. These sports to not require athletic excellence, and instead are much more focused on skill. Rowing requires skill, which can be taught, but it's absolutely essential requirement is athletic excellence. This is measured by the erg!
This project has several positive effects on the youth of South Sudan:
- Mitigate conflict amongst the youth of South Sudan by providing an outlet for competition other than crime, violence, and mortal combat.
- Nurture school pride and spirit while groom leadership as a result of inter-school and inter-town competitions, on-line.
- Groom future leaders of South Sudan by discovering rowing prodigies amongst the youth, who can then be awarded athletic scholarships from top world-class universities. Upon graduation, these athletes (men and women) are South Sudan’s future leaders.
- It is important to note that #2 above is not just a vision or hope. Scholarships are already being awarded to American high school students based nearly entirely on their score on the Concept2 erg.
NATIONAL PRIDE
It is our dream as well as our realistic expectation that within ten years South Sudan can enter and competitively race in world-level rowing competitions (Olympics, World Games, etc.) as the South Sudan Rowing Team.
Rowers practicing at the Wau Standard Secondary School in Wau, South Sudan.
Status, Press Relases; Key Downloadable Material
Status & Summary
Kyle visited South Sudan (Juba and Wau) for nearly two months in 2020, three weeks in July 2022 and six weeks (Juba, Malakal, Bor, and Torit) in July-Aug 2023, and 4 weeks in March 2025. Click below for updated brochure on our status.
17 erg Concept2 rowing machines are now present in Warrup Town, Wau, Juba, Bor, Torit, and Malakal. These are the capital towns in six of the country's ten states. Juba and Wau have multiple ergs are are currently our two most active sites. Eventually, one of these locations will be designated as the South Sudan National Erg Rowing Training Center.
9 members of the Row4Life-Wau team recently participated in the Concept2 Skeleton Crew Challenge where each member was required to row 31,000 meters from October 25-31st. The group of 6 young men, one young woman, and the Coach rose to the challenge and all received very cool T-shirts in recognition of the event.
Exciting Future News: An on-line competition is going to be held between Row4Life Wau and Juba in early 2026. Supporters throughout South Sudan as well as worldwide will be able to view the race, real-time, on-line. This is only possible because of our state-of-the-art Concept2 ergs, which have the ability to link into the internet. Details will be provided as this event is scheduled.
Exciting News: Row4Life is expanding to Byumba, Rwanda in December, 2025.
YOUR DONATIONS ARE CRUCIAL
Your donations are very important. Please give generously. We also renovate used erg Concept-2 Rowing machines, and so we will gladly accept these donations, too.
