According to the United Nations, the worldwide refugee inhabitants surpassed 16.1 million in 2015, the best quantity in additional than twenty years and better than the inhabitants of 120 nations.
One of these refugees was a thin boy named Bernard Kamungo, who, for the primary 14 years of his life, knew nothing outdoors the teeming camp in western Tanzania the place he was born to displaced Congolese mother and father fleeing many years of battle of their homeland.
Then a lifeline appeared. His household was authorised for resettlement within the United States, and fewer than a decade after escaping the camp for refuge in Abilene, Texas, Kamungo has not solely grown into a person, however has turn out to be considered one of his adopted nation’s finest soccer gamers. Not solely has the FC Dallas midfielder performed for the US nationwide group, however he hopes to compete within the Olympic Games this summer time.
“It was a dream, man, I will not misinform you,” Kamungo mentioned of the day his household left the camp. “Being in a position to depart a refugee camp and are available to the United States is one thing I’ve needed for a very long time. So after I heard we had been coming to the United States, it was unbelievable. It’s a fantastic feeling that I’ll carry with me for all times.”
But that was solely step one of a protracted and tiring journey. When Kamungo arrived in Abilene, a spot he had by no means heard of, he spoke Swahili and French however no English. Football, one of many few issues he introduced with him from the sphere, proved to be the icebreaker.
“Growing up, the one factor I had in entrance of me was a soccer ball,” Kamungo recollects.
In Nyarugusu camp – with greater than 150,000 individuals, one of many largest refugee resettlements on the planet – the time period soccer ball was extra an idea than a actuality as those Kamungo used had been usually fabricated from padded luggage or material wrapped round condoms inflated. and medical gloves.
Yet it was ok to offer a short lived break from the monotony of life there.
“There wasn’t a lot to do,” he mentioned. “As quickly as I began strolling, I beloved the sport, I beloved kicking a ball. At the identical time, it was a means for me to get away from plenty of issues, to only join and maintain my head collectively.
“It by no means crossed my thoughts that if I performed these video games, it may assist me in the long term.”
In Nyarugusu, Kamungo and his household of eight shared a room in a shack with out electrical energy or plumbing. Food was all the time scarce, the soiled areas between the camp’s countless rows of barracks served as a playground, and planning for the long run meant considering solely about tomorrow.
“There’s not plenty of issues to recollect,” he mentioned. “Every single day I awakened and did the identical factor.”
FC Dallas ahead Bernard Kamungo strikes the ball throughout a recreation in opposition to the Seattle Sounders in October.
(Lindsey Wasson/Associated Press)
Kamungo shouldn’t be the primary soccer champion, nor even the primary potential Olympian, to emerge from the monotony, squalor and desperation of a refugee camp. Alfonso DavisA Champions League winner with Bayern Munich and a World Cup starter with Canada, he was born in a camp in Ghana, then emigrated to Edmonton along with his household when he was 5. Lopez Lomong, Abdihakim Abdirahman AND Charles Jock they survived the sphere representing the United States on the Olympics or World Track and Field Championships.
Their success does not shock Sara-Christine Dallain, govt director of iACT, a nonprofit humanitarian group primarily based in Southern California that has used soccer to show teamwork, respect, duty and pleasure to greater than 43,000 kids in refugee camps all over the world.
“There is a lot potential,” he mentioned. “Just as a result of kids or households have been pressured to flee their properties because of battle and battle does not imply they do not have their very own goals and aspirations. Indeed, these kids are so motivated to dream past the confines of their camp and to dream of a life past battle and battle in refugee camps.
“Soccer creates a possibility for teenagers to work in direction of that dream.”
Living in a camp, Dallain mentioned, additionally offers a harsh sense of perspective as a result of nothing these kids face on a playground or monitor shall be more durable than what they confronted as refugees.
“People who stay in a refugee camp are resilient, proper? They should make choices each day, decide and perceive survive,” he mentioned. “That energy, the psychological toughness to outlive and rebuild your life is there and it in all probability interprets into somebody changing into an athlete.”
Once he arrived in Abilene, Kamungo’s expertise rapidly earned him a spot on the center and highschool soccer groups, the place he was the district’s offensive MVP and midfielder of the yr. On weekends he competed in grownup pick-up video games.
Then he nearly tripped on the subsequent rung of the soccer ladder.
Simply making an attempt out for an elite Central Texas group prices as much as $500, a fortune for a refugee household struggling to construct a brand new life in a brand new land. Kamungo’s brother, Imani, finally discovered an open tryout with the event group of MLS membership FC Dallas. Kamungo impressed sufficient to be invited again for additional auditions, and in March 2021, simply weeks earlier than the top of his senior yr, he signed an expert contract.
FC Dallas ahead Bernard Kamungo controls the ball throughout a match in opposition to CF Montreal in March.
(LM Otero/Associated Press)
A yr later, he led Dallas’ MLS Next Pro affiliate North Texas SC with 16 targets, incomes his MLS debut — and a brand new four-year contract — that summer time.
Nine months later, he was again in Africa, referred to as as much as the Tanzanian nationwide group for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in opposition to Niger. He did not play, although, paving the way in which for the brand new American citizen to hitch the U.S. Under-23 group for a pair of friendlies final October. He made assists in each video games and in January began for the senior group in opposition to Slovenia in San Antonio, 400 kilometers from his mother and father’ residence in Abilene.
“This is each kid’s dream,” he mentioned. “If you turn out to be an expert footballer, you’ll all the time need to characterize your nation. So for me to have the ability to do it was a fantastic honor.”
Yet the Olympic a part of that dream could also be receding. Kamungo has performed simply two video games for FC Dallas since mid-March and was left off the roster for the Olympic group’s June coaching camp, the final earlier than the group’s choice for Paris.
The proven fact that he was current within the dialog and never in a refugee camp is purpose sufficient to rejoice.
“I’m grateful to have this chance,” Kamungo mentioned. “I’m simply pleased for each second.”
