In June 2013, one soccer ball began to change hundreds of lives. In May 2013, I, Brittany Ammerman, and 11 other girls from the University of Wisconsin-Madison traveled from Madison, WI to Lunga Lunga, Kenya for community outreach to promote women's health and educate about women's health in Rural Kenya. We were members of a nonprofit organization called Nikumbuke-Health by Motorbike (N-HbM). In short, we were health promoters who put together a curriculum to teach to selected women (and one man) from several different villages. We held "class" each day and taught topics such as maternal health, nutrition, disease, etc. Once the curriculum was completed, we administered an exam to the health promoters and once passed they received a certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison deeming them official health promoters for their villages. 

We traveled through Mombasa in Southeast Kenya to get to the village of Lunga Lunga. While in our matatu (bus) on the ferry from Mombasa to land, a man approached my window. He was selling soccer balls. I bought one with thought in mind that children would want to play with us in our free time. 

 

Surprisingly, the women were the most eager to play and found the most joy in one ball. After I, and the other students, departed for home, the women asked our Professor if they could start a soccer team. They saw soccer as a mental health outlet and a sport of joy. My professor then left me in charge to be the founder and coordinator of the Nikumbuke Women's Soccer League.

 

On June 14, 2014, the first Nikumbuke Women's Soccer League game was held between the villages of Jirani and Mpakani. This game of soccer has allowed a mental health outlet for the women of these villages, has created a sense of women's empowerment in this part of the world, and has also served as an active path to cohesion between ethnic tribes and villages.