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Tadious Manyepo recently in MUTARE

MIGHTY Warriors players Shyline Dambamuromo and Alice Moyo are the best of friends.

And it’s not by coincidence.

They are both 22 and they have always shared the hunger.

The pair has never played for different teams since starting their professional football journey in 2016 at Faith Drive Academy.

They are currently on a season-long loan at Herentals Queens where they are well on course to win their first league title.

They both hail from Manicaland but they didn’t know each other until they turned 16.

They both count themselves lucky. Their upbringing was rugged.

Moyo was raised at Fairfield Children’s Home in Old Mutare.

She has no clue where her biological parents are.

“That’s how it is. I grew up in a children’s home and my relatives are those whom I grew up with,” said Moyo.

“Growing up, I dreamt of playing basketball at a professional level but somewhere along the way, I decided to pick up football…”

Dambamuromo’s parents, father Joseph and mother Juliet (nee Mujana), are in San’anza Village, Honde Valley.

They were so poor Shyline had to turn to banana vending when she was only 11 years old.

She came even closer to getting married when she was just 14 while in Grade 7.

“I remember I was in Grade 5 when I started travelling to Mbare in those open lorries to sell bananas. You risk falling off if you are not tactful in those lorries. Throughout my school life, I bought my uniforms and paid fees from proceeds I realised from this venture,” said Dambamuromo.

“In 2014, I almost got married but my sixth sense told me otherwise. Most of my age-mates had already been married (or married off) and due to peer pressure and beliefs in this area, I almost fell into the same pit…”

With a broken and an impoverished background respectively, Alice and Shyline had their hopes pinned on becoming professional footballers. But they didn’t know how.

It was not until 2016 when they both found a way to a date with destiny.

Representing their schools Hatzel High and Nyamhingura Secondary, Alice and Shyline met for the first time in a Provincial final played in Nyanga.

They shone and attracted interest from an elderly lady, Gogo Nelia Musikavanhu.

The latter, who is the founder and director of Zimbabwe Women’s Soccer League side Faith Drive Queens, immediately facilitated scholarships for both at Nyamauru High School in Mutare where her team has a partnership.

Alice and Shyline would develop into stars, good enough to play for the national team and they are some of the most outstanding players in the league this season.

But, they are not the only players identified and nurtured by Gogo Musikavanhu.

A host of other female footballers have made it big, including Mighty Warriors linchpins Edline Mutumbami, Maud Mafuruse, Cynthia Shonga, Concilia Madotsa and Bethel Kondo who all came through the Gogo Musikavanhu mill as well.

Aged 65, Musikavanhu, who was born and raised in Chipinge, established Faith Drive Academy in 2004 out of the need to fight child marriages which are rampant in Manicaland Province.

She has even turned her house in the high density suburb of Dangamvura, Mutare, into a club house to accommodate the players she would have scouted from outside Mutare.

“I used to play netball growing up and my colleagues nicknamed me ‘The Scoring Machine’ due to my prowess on the shooting ring.

“My father loved football though and I should say ours was a sporting family. I am a herbalist and during my work back then, I was appalled by the extent in which children were forced into early marriages because there was nothing they would be looking forward to,” said Gogo Musikavanhu.

“That is when I decided to start a girls’ football team, mainly targeting the age range of between 13-19 years.

“Since 2004, many girls have been beneficiaries of this project. Some are now in the uniformed forces; some have earned scholarships at Nyamauru High School which is also playing a big role in the success of the club. In 2011, we realised that we were also leaving out talent out there in the remote rural areas. That’s when we decided to have our own clubhouse so that we would accommodate all talented players from different areas in the country.

‘’At the moment we have 18 girls from areas such as Honde Valley, Buhera, Macheke, Bocha, Rusape, Nyazura and Chipinge, among others staying at the clubhouse.

“We also now have teams in the First Division on top of the one playing in the Women’s Super League.”

Dambamuromo’s mother, Juliet, said she cannot thank Gogo Musikavanhu enough.

“We are a poor family here in Honde Valley. My daughter, Shyline, used to get her school fees from selling bananas.

“Most of her age-mates got married when they were about 14 years old and we thought she would also take that route, especially given that her father didn’t want her to play football,” she said.

“But, somehow along the way, she was identified by Gogo Musikavanhu who gave her a lifeline. Now Shyline is a huge inspiration to kids here who converge at our homestead whenever she is back in the village.”

Once Gogo Musikavanhu recruited Alice, she also decided to adopt her.

Faith Drive Academy coach, Admire Mahachi, who has been with the team since its formation in 2004, said he is mostly driven by the level of professionalism on the part of Gogo Musikavanhu.

“We have achieved a lot as Faith Drive Academy since 2004. We have had more than 40 players who have represented the national team from different age-groups.

“We have also exported talented players like Berita Kabwe and Maud Mafuruse.

“We salute Gogo Musikavanhu for the role she continues to play in uplifting the girl child,” said Mahachi.

One of the 18 girls housed at the club house in Dangamvura, Cotilder Chirinda, is just 13 years old and has played more than six games in goals.

“I come from Rusape and being here with the senior girls makes me very happy and confident.

“I am grateful to Gogo Musikavanhu for affording me this opportunity. Just knowing that more than 40 players who have made it in football came through this club inspires me to work very hard knowing that I stand a good chance of making it big as well,” said Chirinda.

“Look at one of the best goalkeepers to play for the Mighty Warriors, Cynthia Shonga. She passed through here and that gives me a lot of confidence playing for this club. When I am given the nod to play, I don’t have any nerves, I just want to do my best and help my team win.”

Strikingly, Gogo Musikavanhu funds the academy from her not-so-hefty earnings she gets from her herbal business.

“I fund this football project on my own. I am driven by passion and the desire to reduce and eventually end child marriages in Manicaland. I am appealing for partnerships or sponsorship from individuals and corporates to keep the academy going.

“It’s not very easy to look after a girl child. There are so many needs. Sometimes, we also have to make do with a single meal per day when my business is not flourishing,” said Gogo Musikavanhu.

She has already established a boys’ team playing in the Second Division.

“I have realised the need to take the fight against vice to the boys as well. Substance and drug abuse are some of the issues we also need to fight using football. We will use the same model we have used for the girls because for me, football is much more than just a game,” she said.