Gisele Ishimwe is one of four cricketers in her family. Raised by their mother, the siblings were first introduced to cricket through Cricket Without Boundaries’ community sessions near to their home in Ndera, brought along by her little brother Jules. Since then, Gisele has attended regular training run by one of CWB’s Ambassadors in Rwanda, Eric Hirwa Dusabemungu (“Tall Eric”). Her rise within women’s cricket has been meteoric, making her international debut aged just 15 in 2019 and scoring the first ever century in Rwandan women’s cricket, 114 runs in 69 balls against Estwatini in the T20 World Cup Qualifier. She is now leading Rwanda in their U19 World Cup campaign which is underway in South Africa, since January 14. Of the Rwanda U19 squad that traveled to South Africa for the World Cup, nine of the 15 players started their cricketing journey with CWB. Reflecting about her cricketing journey, Ishimwe says “Cricket has given me so many friends, and it has made my family bigger through friendship.” “The money that my sisters and I have got through playing cricket has really changed our lives at home,” she added. Thanks to Cricket, she said, I helped my mum pay the school fees for my sisters, and it has given me the chance to attend college. “We used to have to fetch water from our neighbours, and sometimes it was hard to get water, but now using the money I got from cricket I have been able to get a water tap installed at home,” she revealed. Ishimwe, who plays for local cricket side Indatwa Hampshire, is now the captain of the U19 Women’s national team. A very good all-rounder, the 18-year-old bats and bowls very well for the team. Nhamburo admires her for the fact that, when it gets tough, she delivers where the team needs her most. and that’s what she did when she orchestrated Rwanda’s victory over Zimbabwe on Tuesday as her 34 runs in 23 balls rewarded her a player of the match prize after helping the country beat the Southern Africans by 39 runs to record their first win in the tournament. The win saw Leonard Nhamburo's side climb to second on the table behind England, their next and last group opponent.
