My

Story

Jennet

My name is Jennet, I’m from South Sudan, living in Rhino Camp. I came here in Uganda as a refugee because of the crises in South Sudan.

Since I was a child, I have loved sports. When I was in primary and secondary school, I played football and volleyball. I attended school competitions, both in girls’ teams and mixed teams. As I grew older, I said, “I will need to start training children and will not be much playing football,” because I am also a parent. If I get injured, no one is taking care of me, but it has not limited me in doing sports activities.

Since I came to Uganda, I became a community leader in our village where I live and also make myself useful to the community. I engage the children, teaching them in school and in the church, where I am a Sunday school leader.

I applied to the Young Coach Education so that as a Young Coach I could continue my journey of teaching children. In our community, we lack coaches for the ladies. Most of the coaches are boys, and boys take most opportunities because there is no one looking for the girls. People perceive that girls cannot play football, but girls do best.

My vision is to reduce teenage pregnancies in the community because most girls in the community were not included in sports activities. Most of the sports activities which are implemented in the settlement are for boys. Girls are eager to have these sports activities, but because they are not inclusive, they go out with their peers and have higher chances to get pregnant. When you involve them in sports, it brings them together to create unity and teaches them the bad things and negative results of teenage pregnancies.

Through the Young Coach Education, my skills improved. I learned from other coaches, and I feel there is unity, teamwork, and networking. When we first meet the children at the festivals, they may see us as strangers, but when we continue coaching them and being with them, they feel included and valued. They even ask if we are coming tomorrow or if they can take a ball home.

I now am working with 30 children at the local church where I lead Sunday school. We do fun games, arts, drawing, and other activities. I want to continue teaching the children that denomination should not limit them, and that tribes, colours, and belongings should not take us apart, but we should belong together.