Kayitesi talks soccer, genocide

The APR women football team coach; Egidie Kayitesi was born was born in 1973 to Mr. and Mrs Essaie Mbarukete of Rukara sector of Kayonza district. Kayitesi attended Rukara Catholic primary school and later Izaza girls’ school for secondary education and started teaching (pre-primary) after her senior six Six. “I taught primary one and two for over three year before the horrible events of 1994 (Genocide against the Tutsi),” says Egidie. The 37-year-old is the last born in family of seven, 4 girls and 3 boys; however two boys and a girl were killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. “I and my two sisters and a brother hid in church at Karumbaba and later were saved by the Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA) who took us to a camp in Gahini,” Kayitesi painfully narrates. “The brutality and killings we witnessed led to trauma and we lost the desire to lead a normal life as my sister and two brothers were killed and my mother crippled. “It took time for things to go back to normal but in 1998 I got saved and fellowships usurped most of my time,” she confessed. In 1999 Kayitesi got married and a year down the road she gave birth to her first child, a baby girl. “I had put on a lot of weight hence had to trim it off, so I decided to try and play football since it was the sport that fascinated me. With the help of Association of Women Football (AKWOF) the current (AKWOS) in 2001, Kayitesi was able to play for Ikipe ya Kimuhurura and was the team captain for a period of two years. Association of Women in Sports (AKWOS) adjured in training of women coaches in 2002 and I participated.“I started coaching Ikipe ya Remera in 2004 but later quit since my family needed me,” she explains. “Ferwafa training of female coaches in 2007 helped me gain more skills hence attained me the position of assistant coach for APR Women football team in 2008 and became champions that same year.” When asked how she is able to balance coaching and parenting, she said, “God enables me to balance both, and my husband likes what I do. I’m able to have time for my family since the team trains three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 4pm) The team comprises of students mostly since it’s an initiative APR took up to promote education of the girl child. This is something Kayitesi appreciates most about the team committee. “To play for APR one must be willing to value education, discipline and have skill and the talent.” Any advice for fellow women? “I request women to always attend the football matches most especially the parents so that they can be judges and eliminate the mentality that it’s immoral for a woman to play football. “It’s up to us women to promote this game and uplift the future generation,” she encourages. Ends