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Thembi Kgatlana, a star of Banyana Banyana, founded the Thembi Kgatlana Foundation to support girls in balancing education, health, and football. The foundation aims to empower future generations by addressing challenges faced by young female athletes.
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âWe see youâ: Banyana Banyana star paving the way for future generations through Thembi Kgatlana Foundation
The Thembi Kgatlana Foundation was founded by South African international Thembi Kgatlana to ensure no girl has to choose between her education, health and football.
âWe see you, we recognise you, you donât have to stop going to school, or stop playing football because you get your periods.â
For Thembi, this message defines the work of the Thembi Kgatlana Foundation, which was first founded in 2016. It is a message of promise to the future generation, guided by Thembiâs lived experiences.
Long before the global stage, individual honours, and international moves, the 29-year-old understood what it was like to grow up in a society where womenâs football was unheard of. Where opportunities were limited, invisible even.
Today, her foundation is working to change that and capitalise on the growing movement of womenâs sport.
Through movements like âBuy a Girl a Padâ, the foundation is tackling one of the most overlooked barriers in girlsâ education and sporting careers. By providing access to sanitary products, it means no girl should have to choose between her education, her health, and her love for the game.
âGirls miss school because they get their periods, and that affects their performances in school. If they play sports, they miss going to school and going to play football.â
Thembiâs journey into football was like many others. She grew up in Mohlakeng, a township just west of Johannesburg, where football was not known to be a womenâs sport.
At eight-years-old, she began playing for fun with nothing more than a ball and her group of friends.
She admits that most children play football rather than rugby or golf because itâs cheaper for parents to purchase football equipment. However, there was a quiet reality where football didnât appear a viable career option.
The Thembi Kgatlana Foundation aims to ensure that girls do not have to choose between their education, health, and playing football.
The Thembi Kgatlana Foundation was founded in 2016.
Thembi Kgatlana supports young female athletes by promoting a message that encourages them to continue their education and sports despite challenges like menstruation.
Thembi Kgatlana promotes a message of recognition and support, assuring girls that they can pursue education and sports simultaneously.

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âI was about 12 years old when I joined an official womenâs team, and I didnât know this existed,â she said. âIt came as a very huge surprise for me, and I was very interested to see where playing football would actually take me.â
Then followed a journey full off triumphant highs both domestically and internationally. But more importantly, a career which allows her to continue her dedicated work with her foundation to improve opportunities for girls who stand where Thembi stood.
Credit: Instagram kgatlana_foundation
Thembi notes she always had âa dreamâ but she patiently waited for the right moment, as âsome dreams come later than expectedâ. For Thembi, the defining moment came when she returned from the 2016 Rio Olympics.
âI realised thereâs so much that could be done for womenâs football. Not just getting the girls to play but rather we want to change their lives,â she said.
Thembi knew there was a big space for womenâs football back home and set out to raise awareness through word of mouth. While menâs tournaments were the norm, she went out to speak to fans and pitched the idea of the foundation.
âI thought, why not go out, get some funds, pitch this idea to people to say âhey, womenâs football is growing everywhere else in the rest of the world, So why donât we just start the ship now to see where it will get us?'â
The forward recognised it would take a lot of âtime and investmentâ, but was willing to take small steps towards her goal of changing the lives of so many back home.
Having come from an underprivileged community, what stood out was something deeply personal.
âGirls were missing school. And not only girls that are playing sports, they miss school because they get their periods, and that affected their performances in school,â she explained. âI imagined that if they play sports, that means they miss going to school and going to play football.â
It was these revelations which planted the seeds for the Thembi Kgatlana Foundation, where sport can help drive a change for the girls back in South Africa.
Credit: Instagram kgatlana_foundation
The âBuy a Girl a Padâ campaign has become central to work of the foundation.
By asking people for donations, the foundation was able to provide girls with 12 packs of sanitary pads, so they were able to attend sports and school for the whole year.
In 2021, the movement hit new highs by raising enough money to purchase 2,500 packs of sanitary pads. The solution was practical, but its impact on girls has been transformative.
âI think a lot of girls throughout the rest of the world, they just need an opportunity, they need someone to believe in them,â Thumb said. âThatâs how we show that we believe in them by giving them something that is part of their journey so they can go to school and play any sport and not miss the things that really matter in their lives.â
Thembi details how a âreally big milestoneâ arose just a few years into their work.
âThree or four years into the project of running my foundation, we had two girls who got their national call-ups,â she explained.
âWe created a platform for someone not to miss school, for someone not to miss sports and now national coaches are coming to see them.â
For Thembi, who had to leave home at 15 to play football, here main drive is âbringing opportunitiesâ to people.
âIt was really a moment of pride for me to say that I was able to get out, but now I bring the opportunities that I carry so that other girls can have those opportunities with them.â
Success for the foundation is not about the number of players that go on to play for Banyana Banyana. Rather, success is about alleviating the barriers young girls face and not making them choose between their education, health or football.
Opportunity is at the heart of the foundation. Itâs not just about giving the girls an opportunity through kit or sanitary pads, but giving them these opportunities in a âsustainableâ way.
The foundationâs work doesnât just consist of dropping the equipment off and leaving the players. No, the foundationâs work goes much deeper.
âItâs more about a plan not just ticking boxes. It is us dropping off the pads, following up with the players, seeing that they get national call-ups at junior level or at senior level, fulfilling their dreams.â
Thembi is one of the most recognisable female athletes in South Africa. She describes 2018 as the âbiggest of her careerâ.
The year saw her take home Player of the Tournament and Top Scorer at the Africa Cup of Nations, while also winning African Player of the Year.
âIt really shaped me or even created a path for me internationally. I think from there, more people started recognising me as a player, as a South African player, and also the impact that I had for my national team, because from there, my football career started growing.â
After playing in the United States with Houston Dash, her newfound fame led to moves across the globe. Playing in China, Portugal, Spain, and now Mexico has helped create a platform where change was possible.
Although Thembiâs career has taken her across continents, her focus firmly remains on girls back home.
âThese girls donât just see me on TV, I also come back to also show them this is the way I started. So they can also see that my story is similar to their story.â
The commitment to her foundation has also shaped how she approaches her career â actively seeking for her clubs to partner the foundation.
Thembi praises Nike, her sponsor, who provide equipment such as boots and kit for the girls.
âIâm very thankful to Nike as my sponsor to be able to also understand the work that we do with the foundation to be able to come with us to these communities, to these teams to give out these boots. Itâs a good thing that I have people around me who also want to see my dream of giving back the success that I had to all the other girls.â
Thembi also believes the action isnât just about giving a pair of boots, but providing the equipment which opens a pathway into the world of professional sport.
âSome of the girls, they donât go to training because they have no equipment,â she said. âSo now when we even bring this equipment to them, it gives them a chance to be able to compete, to be able to play and thatâs the job that we do and we love doing the job.â
Credit: Instagram kgatlana_foundation
When Thembi returned to America and signed for Racing Louisville in 2022, her foundation was a main topic of conversation. She recounts those early meetings with the club before signing her contract.
âA bigger project started with Louisville where I told them before I signed: âThis is what I have and I would love for you guys to give back to the communityâ. These girls donât just see me on TV or see me on social media but they know the team that I play for is able to send help to them.â
The club agreed and alongside Nike, sent new kit over to the foundation.
Now in Mexico with Tigres, Thembi continues to grow her network to provide resources to the communities that need them most.
âThey partnered with my foundation to send back some clothes in South Africa to give away to the teams and to the girls. It was really something huge for me and I always appreciate that because not only do I play for the team but I also know that Iâm playing for the people that are looking and supporting the team.â
The future is clear. Itâs about continuing to provide opportunities for those who need it most.
âItâs not just about me being a current player,â she explained. âIâm doing this work because Iâm a current player, but itâs about creating a legacy, creating opportunities for these young girls and for them to know that actually itâs possible to be in the spaces that they think and dream about.â
She admits the world is changing and it is âeasierâ now with more womenâs football being televised, but there is still work to be done.
Because ultimately, the goal is bigger than football.
Itâs about building a future where no girl misses school because of her period. A future where no child skips training because she lacks the equipment. A future where opportunity is not defined by circumstance.
âMy success is our success.â
Itâs the mantra that runs deep through the Thembi Kgatlana Foundation â turning her individual success into a shared opportunity.
For the next generation watching from the sidelines, what they see on TV no longer has to feel unattainable, it too can become their reality through the foundationâs work.