A chain of role models
Jinless Simfukwe is surely an Mbete role model. Sunday, we visited the young, female football player in Nakonde, a town approximately 1000 times bigger than Mbete. Here, she has joined the elite football club Ntindi Stars, thus becoming our first ever professional player.
It was never our intention to nurture professional football players. Consistently, we’ve repeated our aim: To include as many youngsters from Mbete and its surrounding villages, no matter how poor or brilliant their football abilities….
Last year, however, we received a call from Nakonde, a busy border town with Tanzania. A newly founded club by the name of Ntindi Stars had seen our women’s team in action. Subsequently, they invited four of our sharpest players for a try-out in Nakonde, a four hour drive from Mbete.
Of our four players, only three of them returned to Mbete.
Jinless Simfukwe, a hard-working, defensive midfielder remained in Nakonde. For the past year, she has established herself in Zambia’s National Division One. Being part of her new club means living in a bording house with 15 fellow players, speaking a new language (Nakonde is known for the Namwanga language), attending a different school, and, in the weekends, travelling to various destinations all over the country in pursuit of football triumph.
For long, we’ve been eager to visit Jinless, and Sunday, we finally accomplished our aim. In company with her father, Mr. Simfukwe, our Project Managers Buster Emil Kirchner and Galilee Simuyemba watched Ntindi Stars in a friendly versus a lower ranked Nakonde team.
The following day, we paid a visit to Jinless’ bording house from where we interacted with fellow players, coaches, and the club chair man. It was indeed a memorable time!
Back in Mbete the following day, our players wanted to know: “How is Jinless? Where is she staying? How are the conditions there, and what do they eat?” In fact, it’s not just her former teammates who are asking; it’s the whole village! Though it might sound like a rather stereotypical narrative, Jinless Simfukwe is a living testament that someone can indeed expand her opportunities in life by kicking a rolling ball!
