I met Moreen Ajambo in the Rhino boxing club, located in Katanga, a large slum settlement in Kampala and I was curious about what a boxing club in the slum would be. One of the reasons for my visit was for the well known and famous Cecilia Brækhus, a Norwegian professional female boxer. I have photographed Brækhus on several of her title matches. I knew in advance that the club had some good female boxers. The biggest challenges for the female boxers are actually outside of boxing ring. Boxing is a way of hope and an oportunity for a better life outside the slum.
BOXING IN KATANGA.
By John T. Pedersen
Moreen Ajambo is a 30 years mother of seven children, and she´s a boxer at the Rhino boxing club in Katanga, a large slum settlement in Kampala.
Since 2007 Moreen has been a member of the Ugandaen female national boxing team.
There is a major challenge for me says Moreen Ajambo.
There are no boxers who are at a higher level than me in Uganda, so I have to leave the country to find these. In countries like Kenya and Tanzania.
To do this I need support and money, something that makes it difficult for me to accomplish.
The boxing club receives no outside funding. Men’s boxing has a long history in Uganda, but women boxers are often frustrated by the few opportunities to compete at an international level.
More than 20,000 people live in Katanga, crowded together and often in extreme poverty.
Moreen grew up in a rough an poor neighborhood of Katanga with her mum and step dad.
She has been living here all her life, with terrible sanitary conditions and open sewers in the streets.
I have raised my children in the slum and hopes they find a way out.
I dream that my children will have the opportunity to complete school and education she sayes.
My man is a driver, but I do hope he will get a more stable job in the future.
I have made my closest friends in the boxing club, they are my boxing family.
At the sporting level, participation in the Olympic Games is my goal.
“I fight for the future”
And one day I will be able to get out of the slum with my family sayes Moreen.