Recent statistics indicate that 70.8 million individuals have been forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations with the UNHCR, the UN body responsible for refugees saying the world is witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record.
As the world marks World Refugee Day 2019 today, in our Africa Feature, we shine the spotlight on one of the refugees who have beaten the odds against them, picked themselves up, dusted themselves, fixed their crowns and conquered their world.
Ode Fulutudilu made history by becoming the first female South African footballer to play in Spain’s top league after joining Malaga last year. She is currently taking part in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, playing in the South African national team and has also previously played for ONS Oulu Women in Finland.
Born on February 6, 1990 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ode escaped from the country that was being ravaged by a civil war, to Angola at the age of 3, with her family . Unfortunately, Angola was also far from safe as a bloody civil war escalated, forcing them to flee further to South Africa where they eventually got asylum and settled. It was here that her passion for football knocked at the age of 9 and she answered.
“I was always hanging out with a group of boys who played some kind of sport every day after school. I found myself enjoying playing with them compared to playing with girls who never did anything active.”
As luck would have it later, she was put in the care of a foster mother who harbored similar love for the sport. Her foster mother turned out to be an instrumental figure in developing her career as she supported her through training and helped her secure a scholarship at Lee University in US college where she could study and develop her talent.
“In my four years there we won two national titles and three regular season titles. The environment was extremely competitive and really gave me a platform to grow as a player.” She reveals in an interview with The South African.
After graduating in 2014, she returned back to South Africa where she was called to join football club Banyana Banyana and helped it win the Western Cape Sasol League and Coke Cup, and finish runner-up in the 2017 Sasol League National Championships.
“It was a dream come true that I was being given a fair, fighting opportunity like everyone else.”
Since then her star has never stopped rising even though her status as a refugee has been a stumbling block at times, but she refuses to let it get into her way of achieving her ambitions.
“In South Africa, whenever the league started I would not be able to start the league with everyone else because my refugee papers were not seen as legitimate papers. I would always have to wait a month, two months, three months, until I could join my team mates and play. All because I had refugee papers.”
Ode intimates in a recent interview with the Olympic Channel Podcast, that the current refugee crisis is a sore topic, that breaks her heart.
“No matter where I am, if I hear of them being treated bad, my heart breaks because that’s who I was. When I hear of them not being given equal opportunities, my heart breaks because that’s who I was. When I hear of countries closing their borders to them, my heart breaks because that could have been me. I could have been stuck in the DRC (or) maybe killed because a country closed their doors to me. It has made me more sympathetic. I am always for refugees and I think that always will be.”
She advises people to never ever give up on their dreams, work hard and wait for their time.
“Do the extra that no one else is doing. Go beyond – not just what you’re asked to do. Also, to keep on doing it even when no results are coming. Even when no opportunities are knocking, to keep on doing it, because sooner or later, your time will come. Everyone who never gives up – their time eventually comes. If you have a passion for something, and you believe in yourself, eventually something will break, and some doors will open”
