African Sports Monthly International Women's Day Special Edition | Page 25

She became hooked to the game in 1970s at the mere age of six. It’s a sport she has come to
love passionately because at the time her father used to run a small local football club and
that’s how she got involved.
“I have never played soccer; I always use to lay inside my room. In the 1970s, my father was
an owner of a small club. Every weekend, players came to our home to gather before a
match. Then I will follow them to stadium,” she said.

A mother of two boys who lost her husband to cancer in 2003 she has managed to juggle the
business of running a car repair company and the responsibility of raising her two children
singlehandedly.
“I work in the garage and I help the children do their homework. I also have a desk at home
where I do my work. Weekends are reserved for soccer and for family. My two boys like
soccer,” she observed.
What has been the driving force behind her spectacular rise in a male dominated realm?
“The secret of my successes is, I work and I work, “she told one journalist.

No wonder observers who had predicted that she would go very far in soccer administration
were right. She was elected into FIFA’s Executive Committee even after she lost her position
to Revierien Ndikuriyo in 2013.
“She will go as far as she wants. Thanks to her work ethic and authority,” remarked FFB
Executive Secretary Jeremie Manirakiza.