Esther Nalule is one of our best girl footballers; she's a very gifted #2. But more importantly, she works hard and is determined. She's earned the trust of her teammates and can rally them, she's a great leader. She knows what is right and is confident enough to fight for that.
A few weeks ago, we did an activity with the kids to get them thinking about their dreams. While many girls chose nursing or teaching; Nalule chose football, here a typically male dominated sport. Ever since she shared her dream with us (not that we couldn't already tell!) she's shown some serious improvement, most impressively with her work off the field. She's expressed interest in joining a competitive team and she wants to go running in the mornings. Here, running-or roadwork as it's lcoally known-is done only if something is wrong or if you are sick (seems ironic right? Welcome to Africa!). At practices, where she used to slack on warm up laps, she's now leading the pack. She's encouraging other girls to keep running, too, and we've seen her pick up teammates after a goal was scored. But when she catches us watching, she'll take off in the other direction, laughing the whole way...
Angel [left], from St Andrews School and
Nalule from HOPE School have become inseparable.
What I most admire about Nalule is that she's reached out to girls from neighboring schools and welcomed them to the program. It's pretty remarkable to see, especially as you can imagine among teenage girls. When we first started working, the girls had this fierce loyalty to their school and the others girls that went there. Those were their friends;, but with the growth over the past 6+ months, it's a lot more friendly and for the girls team, that means a heck of a lot.
If Nalule knew I was writing this about her,
she'd cover this beautiful face and laugh hysterically!
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