Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ANGELINE NYAUNDI (pictured) can at best be equated to a prophetess without honour in her home.
Yet this unsung heroine of Zimbabwean sport remains grounded in humility, with the veteran administrator and coach a proud and grateful woman.
Much of her 71 years of age has been dedicated to serving local and regional sport during which she played a huge role in shaping the careers of many athletes and administrators.
Despite her colourful career largely going unnoticed, a silver lining recently shone on Nyaundi when the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 rewarded her for the role she played in promoting the participation of women and girls in sport over the years.
Nyaundi was recently among the recipients of the AUSC Region 5 silver jubilee awards.
This came as the region celebrated 25 years of existence.
AUSC honoured 25 men and women who made significant contributions to sport in the last 25 years.
In honouring Nyaundi, the region cited her instrumental role in revitalising the Women and Sport Development Trust to tackle numerous challenges that women and girls in Zimbabwe encounter in sports participation.
“It means somebody has taken account of the work that I have done, and I feel very proud,” she said.
“I am grateful and this award motivates me to keep fighting. So, when this happened, I thought, oh, some people are watching! I can give credit to the region itself, in particular Stanley Mutoya (AUSC Region 5 chief executive).
“And I was also supported by people like Mrs (Eugenia) Chidhakwa (principal director in the Ministry of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture),” she said.
Nyaundi, also an athletics coach, believes the country has made positive strides in promoting inclusivity and participation of women and girls in sport.
As she looks back at some of the challenges she faced when she began championing the participation of women in sport, she feels more improvements are needed in some areas.
“With some activities, in the individual sport activities, we are progressing well,” said Nyaundi.
“But somehow, it is getting the majority of the women to participate which is taking a lot more time. We are still lagging.”
Born in Nyimba village, Zambia, Nyaundi began her journey in sport in the 1960s while still at school.
“I am a teacher by profession and not even a sport teacher for that matter,” she said.
“My subjects are Geography and Art. There was no such thing as physical education.
“It was a matter of interest and who was teaching you. If you were interested in sport, they introduced you to sport.
“I was lucky that I was in a mission boarding school in Zambia, a girls’ only school.
“The teachers there were very interested in athletics in particular. They used to make us run early in the morning before we went to church.
“And then from there I got inspired.”
She took up athletics and continued during her days at a teacher’s training college in Zambia, where she met her husband, a Zimbabwean, also interested in sport and is an athletics coach.
They got married in 1979 and moved to Zimbabwe, where they both continued pursuing their passion, making a difference in the lives of a number of upcoming athletes.
Besides competing, Nyaundi went on to attend athletics coaching courses until she reached the World Athletics Level Two (then known as the International Association of Athletics Federations).
“As we were competing, we realised that the prize money for women was very little,” she said.
“We were running the same distances, 42 kilometres, but at first we were given nothing, but the men were receiving prize money.”
Nyaundi then teamed up with one of her fellow female athletes to use the small prize money they got to form a women’s committee in athletics to push for equal participation and recognition.
Her passion for women’s participation saw her spreading her ideas through initiatives such as women and children festivals to other disciplines.
Some of the disciplines they brought on board included volleyball, netball and football.
She continued working with her husband and at some point they housed a number of athletes at their house in Greendale.
“So, what we did, I was then teaching at Tafara High School, and my husband was teaching at Mabvuku, he was also coaching athletics and doing very well. Those are the days of the Gailey Dubes and so on,” said Nyaundi.
“At that time we formed what we called Mafara (Mabvuku/Tafara); it was a combination of the two suburbs because he was at Mabvuku, I was at Tafara.
“Then at the same time, we realised that the disabled also, the Special Olympics, were not being catered for.
“We lobbied the athletics association to adopt a component of the physically challenged athletes to be taking part in athletics to start with.
“Then, at the same time, we started community sport development in Mabvuku and Tafara.
“We started by having fun runs, then we lobbied companies like Dairibord, quite a number of companies, like Tanganda, and so on, to sponsor us.”
National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president Tendayi Tagara heaped praises on Nyaundi, whom he said was a huge inspiration to him.
“We were honoured as an association to see one of us being honoured,” he said.
“The Nyaundi family set the blaze of sprinting outside the Chamber of Mines, as they became the first couple to be both sprints coaching powerhouses.
“I learnt a lot from her in terms of dedication and commitment to coaching.
“They went out of their way to house athletes at their home.
“I copied from them and I housed a lot of athletes who went on to dominate, including Sydney Makuwaza, 800m and 1500m, now with Platnum Mine; and Munyaradzi Jari, a marathon runner now with ZRP (Zimbabwe Republic Police).’’
Nyaundi’s efforts to spread sport among women resulted in the Sports and Recreation Commission employing her in 2000.
She started off as a volunteer, with the help of other women, who had also come on board.
Nyaundi was then employed as a women and sport programme manager.
She went on to hold other positions and became involved with the National Paralympic Games, National Youth Games and the Youth Education Through Sport programme.
She worked at the Sports Commission for quite some time before she retired.
Nyaundi remains involved in sport.
In the early 2000s, she and other women in sport attempted to form a women’s sport foundation with the hope of providing the needed support for females in sport.
But it failed to take off.
It remains her wish to establish the foundation someday.
