We were very disappointed by Karembo's response. Everyone in the organization was excited when she was invited to play for a Women’s premier league club.
 

Karembo not her real name is an outstanding player, she had reached the peak of her football career and the next big thing for her and our organization was her career growth.
This was her time; the new challenge came at the right time. Everyone in the organization was shocked to learn that she turned down the offer we felt that she had made a poor decision.
 
"No one says No to a top-flight club! Who says No to such opportunities?"
 
We never took the time to understand her reasons. We could only see the lost opportunity.
 
2 years later, I got an opportunity to sit down with Karembo when we all felt that her career had stagnated. I wanted to understand if she still had dreams of progressing in professional football.
The conversation shocked me, I discovered so many things that Karembo never shared.
She expressed fear of being away from her family with no clarity of payment or plans for accommodation, she didn’t want to put her life at risk, she had seen so much insecurity. She noticed that the club did not have a code of conduct for coaches, many times the coach called her at night and sometimes she was very uncomfortable with the conversation because the discussion was completely not professional.
 
No contract or formal engagement /agreement was referred to and this meant that there was no formality in the call-up. The goal for calling her to speak with me was to exert some pressure of ambition but all this changed when I learnt that Karembo made an informed decision. I learnt so much from her especially as we continue to nurture thoughtful leaders in the field of sport.
 
During the 16 days of Activism against Gender-based violence, we call upon all sporting entities to be GBV-free, to create safe spaces for women and girls, and to ensure that their leaders and people who work with them have the required support and resources to run inclusive programs for women and girls effectively. 

Dorcas Amakobe
Executive Director
Moving The Goalposts