• SEP Oyugis' Pauline Msungu was last month nominated as an IOC Young Leader to implement sustainable, sports-based solutions to social problems at the grassroots
• Msungu has been a leader all her life since her footballing days at Tartar High School, West Pokot
•She wants to be remembered for touching the lives of many young people in Oyugis using her footballing platform
Image: /COURTESY
Pauline Msungu is not your average 24-year-old footballer.
Apart from marshalling the midfield of Women's Premier League side, SEP Oyugis, Msungu is a skater, cyclist, sprinter and a social worker, all rolled in one.
Earlier this month, she was nominated as one of the 25 International Olympic Committee Young Leaders across the globe.
The program equips young sportspersons around the globe with the skills and seed funding to impact their communities positively using their sports platforms.
The ambassadors are expected to formulate and implement a sustainable sports-based initiative to improve the wellbeing of poor and vulnerable people in their environs.
Regardless of the humongous task at hand, Msungu believes her shoulders can shoulder the weight of expectations, which come with this position.
The SEP Oyugis skipper is passionate and forward-thinking, envisioning a prosperous Oyugis community even after she has departed the earth to rest with her ancestors.
"My dream is to help someone through sports and to be remembered as a legend who impacted the lives of many people in this area in a positive way. People will not come to your burial because you are dead but because you touched their lives for the better," Msungu says.
Noteworthy, Msungu's work within the Oyugis community began way before IOC nominated her for the ambassadorial role.
During the Covid-19 period when sports activities were halted, she was among many social workers who sensitised locals on how to insulate themselves from the virus as well as other issues, such as reproductive health, hygiene and agri-business.
The former Vihiga Leeds player is grieved by various issues affecting the community, especially the youth who have been hard-hit by HIV/AIDS.
"We are empowering the teenagers and sensitising them on HIV/AIDS. Youth are the most affected and makes them our target group because they are receptive to information. Gender inequality is widespread here. Ladies have no voice in most of our communities and discrimination is rife," the attacking midfielder says.
Msungu hopes she will be an inspiration for many girls to pursue their dreams and surpass the heights she has reached.
"I have been part of the Society Empowerment Project Oyugis Kenya. We are enlightening them on their rights to understand their place in the society. We use football to sensitise on this vice. What a man can do, a woman can do better," the Harambee Starlets trialist says.
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Natural born leader
Born and raised in Cherangany, Trans Nzoia county, Msungu may as well be a natural born leader considering her history of influencing people to the apex of their ambitions.
At West Pokot's Tartar High School — where her football skills were honed — she was part of the team who won two national secondary school titles.
The Bachelor of Commerce holder from Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology then captained the university's football team to the University Games titles in 2016 and 2019.
Her leadership qualities went a notch higher after she joined the Society Empowerment Program — the NGO behind SEP Oyugis — thanks to her interactions with various people of varied social standing.
"I have grown with the local organisation. Now I am enriched in management matters and professionally too. Some leadership skills aren't taught but are exercised in day to day duties. Working with SEP has improved my social life as well," she says.
One of these interactions involved a partnership between SEP and US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which heightened her passion to empower as many young people as possible.
"Through this partnership, girls have been educated on menstrual hygiene. We make reusable sanitary towels and distribute to girls in schools. Kotieno Primary School is one of the beneficiaries. With the small knowledge I have in coaching, I endeavour to help the young boys and girls in their game to become better players," she says.
In March last year, she was among 35 ambassadors of the Bundesliga Youth Ambassadors Project in Kenya, which uses football to enhance awareness of fairness and equality, autonomy and building emotional intelligence.
The project is supported by street football worldwide through a partnership with Bundesliga club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
" We are also equipped with coaching skills through online webinars. Since last year, people have bought into these ideas and there's the overall change of perspective with regards to life," she says.
Image: /COURTESY
Image: /COURTESY
Versatile sportswoman
As a footballer, the peak of her career was a first Harambee Starlets call up in 2014.
She played for Starlets in the African Women's Cup of Nations qualifiers (AWCON) in 2015 and the COSAFA Women's tournament in 2017. Msungu confidently admits she has never faced a tough opponent in WPL.
"Kenyan players are of high standards and sometimes hard to handle some of them. Not all players are equal and we all have our weaknesses. For me, I exploit your weakness to know the best way to handle you and that's why I have not come head on with a player better than me in my role," Msungu, who can also play in defence, says.
Her embrace of cycling began courtesy of a charity ride from Kisumu to Kakamega, spearheaded by a local NGO.
"A certain Mzungu who was doing a project about water for life, cycled all the way from Nairobi to Kisumu to Kakamega and I was in MMUST at the time. I gave them company to Webuye because they were now cycling to Nairobi via the Eldoret route. This was the first time I used a road bike and took it as a learning opportunity," she explains.
Msungu's curiosity also got the better of her when she saw her classmate at MMUST coming to class in skates and approached the classmate for lessons.
Before long, she had fallen heads over heels for the sport and become a regular skater.
Prior to her graduation in 2019, she was a regular sprinter in university athletics competitions, where she participated in 100m, 200m and 4x100m races.
Being a jack of all trade in sports, Msungu has physically reaped dividends.
"Cycling, skating and athletics have boosted my fitness levels. When I am fit I just work on football skills. I do a few kilometres cycling and during the weekend when I don't have a match, I go for skating. Thank God, I have never had a bad injury except for knocks," she says.
Msungu is evidence that sportspersons do not only impact themselves but also their surroundings.
Her achievements at such a young age is a challenge to other sportspersons in Kenya to think big beyond the track and field and revolutionise the world in ways that will outlast them. In this regard, Pauline Msungu is on the right track.