Rwanda's tennis number 1: 'playing is my medicine'
A chance encounter led Joseline Umulisa to tennis as a teen, it began as an aid to heal from the trauma of the Rwandan genocide and then she became the country's top player.
Joseline Umulisa was nine at the time of the Rwandan genocide, when her world was destroyed. She only escaped because a man who could have so easily killed her, chose to save her life instead. Years later, the emotional and physical scars still ran deep. Joseline couldn't sleep and the pain in her back was constant, she was told to try sport but nothing helped until a chance encounter with a man with a tennis racquet led her to a court and a training session, she slept through the night for the first time in years. The sport became her means to heal, she became obsessed, working her way up through the ranks to become Rwanda's top female player. She's now opened Tennis Rwanda Children's Foundation, helping kids like her and searching for Rwanda's next champion. Her one remaining dream is to meet Roger Federer.
This programme includes descriptions of events of the Rwandan genocide.
Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Andrea Kennedy
Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707
(Photo: Joseline Umulisa. Credit: Courtesy of Joseline Umulisa.)
Last on
Broadcasts
- Thu 14 Aug 202511:06GMTBBC World Service
- Thu 14 Aug 202517:06GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Thu 14 Aug 202521:06GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Fri 15 Aug 202502:06GMTBBC World Service
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