From refugee to netball stars

Veronica Gwaze-Zimpapers Sports Hub

FOR the pair of Eliana Lusolo and Ilunga Tshongo, netball is more than just a beautiful game.

Anyone visiting the Zimbabwe senior netball team’s ongoing camp, is met by two young introverts whose characters almost border on timidity and insecurity of sorts.

In fact, they pretend to cherish the pleasantly tranquil interactions between themselves.

Yet when you start a conversation on netball, or toss the ball around, their faces instantly light up. They both beam with smiles and develop confidence to talk, giggling shyly.

The pair is new in the Gems camp, and their first national team call up came with a lot of hope, a chance to transform life at Tongogara refugee camp where they come from.

At 20 and 21 respectively, Lusolo and Tshongo still feel a little withdrawn in camp, something ordinarily expected from them, not because they are new or perhaps the youngest ones.

But because of their journey.

They are connected by their background and circumstances after their childhood was spent mainly on the run as their parents fled conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo.

At that time, the two families barely knew each other.

It is until they met at Tongogara refugee camp, and found comfort in a place that eventually became home to at least 10 000 immigrants from across Africa, that they became family.

The two only managed school up to Ordinary Level, the cut off stage for free schooling for refugees.

However, despite attaining good grades at O’Level, they could not further their education due to financial hardships as their parents now needed to pay school fees.

And the young girls became grounded.

On a normal day, they wake up before sunrise and head to the market, trading vegetables, cooking oil, sorghum, maize, mealie-meal and other food stuffs and clothes.

Lusolo and Tshongo are both first born in a family of eight each, and the two have to assist their parents to provide for siblings.

For a long time, the two young girls watched as teen pregnancies and early marriages consumed their mates, and they had resigned to that fate.

Yet an opportunity was to come knocking on their door, presenting something that could transform their lives and prove there is hope beyond Tongogara refugee camp.

“Early this year a meeting was held at the camp and as youth we were asked to engage in sports to fight drug and substance abuse, teen pregnancies and early marriages,” said Lusolo.

“This is how we came up with the idea of netball, but we had no coaches so Tshongo came in as a player coach having briefly played the game in school.”

Since then, the community team grew and more youth and young ladies came to join.

With time, the Zimbabwe Netball Association sent representatives to train the team leaders more about the game.

Having spotted massive potential in the girls, ZINA handed Lusolo and Tshongo their first national team call ups when the Gems regrouped ahead of the 2027 Netball World Cup Qualifiers.

The team departs for Kenya this Tuesday where they will fight for a ticket for the World Cup finals scheduled for Australia, next year.

“It felt like a dream, and one that I do not wish to wake up from,” said Tshongo as Lusolo looked on, beaming  a wide smile.

“We are loving everything here; we have learnt so much and cannot wait to share everything with our community…for years we thought we would never have a life beyond the refugee camp.

“ZINA came when we least expected and I already see hope for more young girls, most of our agemates fell on the way side and we are committed to transforming their life through netball.”

From young camp girls playing barefoot in the dust to the elite fields of Zimbabwean netball, theirs is not just a personal triumph but a powerful statement about resilience, community and the transformative power of sport.

The two are an inspiration to each other as they have hurdled over humps and have every reason to celebrate their current situation.

“Even if we do not make it into the final squad to play in the qualifiers, we have already achieved so much by camping with the national team…it is a life-changing opportunity for us,” they said.

“We may not earn directly from the game now, but keeping young girls off societal ills will be enough for us; we will focus on remuneration later.

“The day we finally earn financially from the game, we will buy kits to establish more teams in our community and also buy stationery for local schools.”

The two want to turn around lives through the game and they are prepared to work their way up to make a difference at Tongogara Refugee Camp with the game that pulled them from the abyss.