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From playing barefoot, surviving being poisoned and growing up in a country that discouraged women’s sports, netball has helped provide meaning to Proscovia Peace’s life.
As the Uganda captain prepares to lead her side in a three-match series against England, she has been reflecting on her journey.
Avoiding teenage pregnancy and marriage, which friends as young as 12 were forced into, were among the early challenges she faced.
“I witnessed it with my own eyes – at that stage I feared for my life – but what made me get through was determination,” she told the BBC World Service.
“Even now, teenage pregnancy in Uganda is at the peak. That shows me that most of them can’t see any future ahead and they are forced into situations like this.”
Peace grew up in the Arua District in north-west Uganda, where playing netball eventually provided her salvation – even if her early years playing the sport were not easy.
“The situations under which we trained were horrible, and we never had a proper netball,” the 32-year-old said.
“We made netballs out of shopping bags, and we went into the forest to get sticks to implant as a [goal] post, before tying a rope around it.
“And all this training we were doing, there were no shoes. If you look at my leg you’ll see so many scars. Every time people ask why I have so many scars, I tell them every single scar can tell a big story – it is what has made me.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/63130299
