The girl who never looked back: Nelly Chikombe’s rise from Bungoma to Kenya Lionesses

At just 24, Nelly Chikombe’s story is one of courage, faith, and a burning desire to chase dreams beyond her small rural home in Khayongo, Mkuyuni Ward, Bungoma County.

Born the fifth in a family of seven, sport has always been part of her DNA. Her father was once a footballer, her mother a netball player, while her brother still laces up boots for football.

Naturally, she first found herself on the soccer pitch. But in 2022, fate came calling in a way she could never have imagined.

Coach Mary Ochieng, one of Kenya’s most decorated women’s rugby coaches, sent player Esther Juma to their village with a mission to find girls willing to try rugby. Nelly was among the three who agreed to travel to Nairobi. That night before the trip, she barely slept.

“It was my first time going to Nairobi,” she recalls with a laugh.

Stepping onto the lush grass of Impala Grounds, the girls were introduced to an oval ball for the very first time. Confusion and shock turned into curiosity, and slowly, into passion.

The other two girls soon gave up and returned home. Nelly stayed. Under Coach Mary’s patient guidance, she learned the basics, simple passes, positioning, and discipline.

Barely two months later, she was thrown into the deep end, making her Kenya Cup debut as a second row against Mwamba.

Then came the life-changing phone call: a national team call-up to the Kenya Lionesses. Her passport delays kept her from the Elgon Cup, but in May 2023, her dream became real.

That journey to Madagascar was more than just a rugby trip. It was also Nelly’s first time on a plane. She remembers clutching her seat, heart racing as the engines roared, and then smiling in disbelief as Bungoma’s soil gave way to the clouds.

“I just kept telling myself, ‘from a small village to flying with the Lionesses,this can only be God,’” she says.

She pulled on the national jersey in Madagascar, making her debut against South Africa in the WXV qualifiers.

Since then, Nelly has blossomed into a try-scoring machine, 13 tries in just three outings across Christie, Prinsloo, and Kabeberi Sevens. Her speed, power, and determination are now hallmarks of her game.

She dreams of joining the Kenya Defence Forces in the future and looks up to Lionesses winger Sharon Auma. But through it all, she remains deeply grateful to her teammate Esther Juma, Coach Simon Odongo, Camilyn Oyuayo and especially Coach Mary, the woman who opened the door to her destiny.

The fleet-footed winger is now part of the lionesses’ squad in camp.