Netball helps towering Nuba find adventurous refuge in Uganda

Joan Nampungu, Betty Kizza and Mary Cholhok Nuba have already ascended to the senior national team yet team captain Irene Eyaru, Suzan Atino and Florence Adunia are already knocking.

But the endearing, towering Mary Cholhok Nuba, a South Sudanese migrant, who has lived in Uganda since she was six, stole the show with her meticulous shooting.

The 20-year-old has intrigued adoring fans the most, earning comparisons with Uganda She Cranes captain Peace Proscovia Drajole Agondua. Standing at 6 feet 7 inches, Nuba scored most of the team goals including the winning goal, as Uganda edged favourites South Africa 44-43.

“Helping Uganda win the title was by the grace of God,” she says. “I am grateful for my team and the victory. It is a moment I will live to remember forever and ever,” she says during an interview at Nkumba University where she broke off from a test for this interview.

Flight from conflict
Born to Agaar Chut Dhiew, a cross-border businesswoman and Nuba Maper (RIP) in Rumbek, South Sudan on January 3, 1998, Nuba left South Sudan in 2004 at the height of the armed conflict between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

Nuba had lost her dad under circumstances she refuses to discuss, a year earlier. Her heart still bleeds with the rough life in South Sudan which she says has turned most of her people hostile. She narrates an incident when she visited Juba in 2016 and all she saw were bullet riddled buildings. She also met girls as young as 14 forced into marriages.

“I cannot figure out what I can do but I have to play netball, become someone and be able to help my people using my story. I do not care how or when,” she said.

Finding a new home
The towering netballer’s uncle, Makerchot Maper sought refuge for the family in 2004. Nuba says, Maper, who works with Nile Petroleum Corporation, the national oil and gas corporation of South Sudan took over the responsibilities of her deceased father. “It is tough to live without a father but my uncle has filled the gaps,” she says.

Getting off the bus, the family first stayed in Namasuba Kikajjo off Entebbe Road before they relocated to Zzana in 2010. Nuba, who is the first born of six siblings learnt Luganda easily while playing with children in the neighbourhood. This was so helpful to her when she started school at Star Primary School in Kikajjo.

Netball journey
But at school, her height was a disadvantage. “I was always denied playing on the school team just because I was tall,” she reminisces.
“It was saddening because I loved playing. But now, I am the ‘girl on fire’. With this height, I can fly anywhere.”

Her dream was to study in the best schools in the country and St Mary’s SS Kitende was her first choice. To get her uncle’s attention, she had to get good grades. Getting nine aggregates in Primary Seven was one thing and getting the fees to Kitende was another.

At school, the accounts teacher, Ssentongo Kisuule spotted her in Senior Two and asked the school coach Fred Mugerwa and his assistant Rashid Mubiru to introduce her to netball.

“It was an offer I could not refuse because I knew if I performed well, I would be given a bursary,” she says. “It was not my choice to play netball but now I like the game.”

The harder part was to learn how to step on the court, a thing that made her train so hard every evening from 5-7pm.

But her grades dropped, attracting her uncle’s reprimand ordering her to stop playing netball. This is how she missed the 2013 East African Games in Lira. It took the convincing of the school director, Lawrence Mulindwa before she was allowed to play. Netball is not a popular sport in South Sudan hence the hesitation from her family. At the time, she used to admire the school’s established stars such as Nampungu and Jessica Jackson, who are now personal friends as well as Fauzia Nakibuule, Sharifah Nalunkuuma and Angel Namirembe.

“Life at school was really good because we were always given money and we were contented as far as our personal needs were concerned. It was also an opportunity to travel,” she reminisces.

Life changing turn of events
Nuba says she had saved herself for marriage but circumstances changed.
“I was not casual in my attitude toward sex, nor was I educated, but when I met my then-boyfriend (whom she refuses to name), I fell madly in love. We were not promiscuous. We were in love. We were naïve.”

This was at the time she was planning to join A-Level and fantasies of university life filled her mind. Then she found out she was pregnant.

With the pregnancy and giving birth, her world was crumbling. Her parents were inevitably distressed. Some family members wanted her to get married but her uncle vowed to support whichever path she chose.

“When my class joined A-Level, without me, friends called, but it hurt to hear what I was missing,” she says.

A new purpose
Last year, she gave birth to her son Laat Nuba. Laat means ‘Warrior strong’. Throughout all of this, she realised that pregnant teenagers are victimised and endure countless wide-eyed stares.
“I cannot imagine what life is like for girls who are forced into motherhood,” she says.
But she has no regrets as she says her choice to be a mother is a life changer.
“I now I have space to do whatever I want. I also have a reason to wake up and work hard because I have to take care of my child,” Nuba states.
I spend several weeks without seeing my son or even stepping at university, especially when we are training with the national team. But I always make it a point to catch up on what I have missed using my phone.”
Her life has been turned around by netball and she is also interested in modelling.