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Music everyone can dance to: How defenseman Gode Katembo is using his business savvy and soccer prowess to raise up a community
"Soccer has a language we all understand, a music that everyone will dance to."
Gode Katembo, 23, is a fourth-year business student and leading defensemen for the CMU Men's Soccer Team. Playing for the Blazers, his job is to keep his eyes up, plan ahead, and protect his team's goal. Playing for his other home team, Manitoba's pan-African community, his approach has been similar: last summer, Katembo founded the Manitoba chapter of the African Cup of Nations (MACN), a recreational soccer league bringing diverse African communities together through sport and solidarity.
"The MACN began as a way to bring people together, build up a community where everyone could belong. I realized that there were many African communities here, but they are separated from one another. One group will say 'it's because we are French-speaking,' another will say 'because we are Muslim,' or 'because we are Christian' or 'our community belongs to people who attend X church.' I could only think of one thing that would bring us all together into one big African community, and it was soccer.
"Football is the only thing for which we can set aside all our differences. With music, language can be a problem—can everybody understand the words? With dance some have religious reservations that prevent them fully participating. But soccer has a language we all understand, a music that everyone will dance to."
Katembo was first scouted for the Blazers in 2015, during his final year of high school. At the time, he was ill-equipped to accept the opportunity. His family, originally from Uganda, had been living in Canada as refugees for just four years; he had no money saved for post-secondary study and had little idea what the Fall might hold.
"After graduating in 2016, I took a year off to work and plan my transition. I later accepted a soccer scholarship that funded a two-year business administration diploma with a local college. But my parents encouraged me to go farther, pursue university. That's when I reconnected with Russell Willms, who had first scouted me."
Gode Katembo joined the CMU Blazers in the Summer of 2019, the same time he founded the Manitoba chapter
of the African Cup of Nations
Katembo signed contract with the CMU Blazers in Summer of 2019, accepting an athletics scholarship that would once again fund his education. He has since won merit funding for excellence in his studies and demonstrated the highest possible level of citizenship through his devotion to co-curricular community service.
"In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus tells a parable where he teaches that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man going on a journey. Before he goes, he gives three workers different amounts of money, denominated by talents. Reading this story in high school, while I was really struggling to find identity and belonging, truly touched me. I asked myself, what gift or talent has God given me? And what am I using it for?"
"I believe when God gives you a gift or talent, it's not for holding on to. It's for you to use to serve others. I decided to use my talent for sport by volunteering, coaching sports in my community. Through soccer, I serve all genders, all races, people with different beliefs, people with different political views from mine, rich or poor, whether they can speak English or not! I see the life of Jesus the same way: he came to serve all humanity."
MACN teams are assembled by country, and the league's annual tournament runs through the summer. While COVID-19 threatened to stamp out the league's momentum in this all-important second year, Manitoba's timely summer reprieve made room for the game to go on.
"I spent a lot of hours meeting with community leaders in January and February, then the pandemic threatened to ruin everything as many people began cancelling their events. I was worried, but had faith in what God was calling me to do in this community, so I kept planning and recruited five people along the way to join me. Without God and them, MACN would not be the success it is today."
MACN's community-building mandate has a deeper necessity than might first be obvious. Most of the league's members are newcomers to Canada; of these many, like Katembo, came as refugees.
"Many of these people have gone through some of the worst things a human can go through: war, disaster, loss of family members, rape of family members, displacement from their homes and loved ones, years living in camps or being homeless. A lot of these people come to Canada with just the clothes on their bodies. They deal with trauma and related mental health problems. They are the most hard-working people, but they often face difficulties finding jobs, which can contribute further stress."
Speaking from experience, he says for young people especially the challenges can be overwhelming, ranging from brutally pragmatic to more typically teen-age social concerns: "There are language and communication barriers, culture clash, parents constrained from being involved in their children's lives because they work two or three jobs and still struggle financially, lack of outside mentorship, peer pressure at a time when one desperately wants to belong."
Ever the defensemen, Katembo says this is where MACN's hidden superpowers come into play:
"Sport aids mental health, not just through physical activity or having fun but through community. Players can come out and meet other people who are going through the same things. It gives them hope to remember they are not alone. That's the goal of MACN: to bring all these people from different homelands into a community where they can connect with others from their countries, make friends who will help guard them while they find their feet in Canada."
"It was through soccer that I was able to overcome some of my own challenges. Soccer financed my start in life, my post-secondary education. Canadian coaches served as mentors to me, and teammates assisted me in improving my English communications skills. This is what every immigrant or refugee youth needs: a mentor who is committed to their athletic, academic, personal, and mental/spiritual development."
This year's top-four MACN teams are Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Senegal, and Ghana. Cup playoffs begin Saturday, August 15.
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