Fatuma Zarika is a household name in the country’s boxing scene. The hard-hitting boxer will take to the ring Puerto Rican Yamileth Mercado this coming month in Nairobi.
Her journey to the top has not been an easy ride. Born on 13th of March 1985 in Satellite, Nairobi, she never got the love of both her parents.
They separated when she was still young, and lived with her mother. She has since gone through a lot to make it to the world ranking in the boxing arena, and remains one of the best boxers in the region and by extension the continent.
She started her schooling at Kabiria Primary School but could not continue with her studies after the primary level owing to the state of poverty in her family.
She was forced to fend for herself and the family as well at a tender age, exposing her to the hard life in the capital, and that is how her hustling life started.
“I felt really bad that I couldn’t go on to the next level of my education after completing primary school. I understood that my mother was trying her best to provide for my brother and I. I had to do what I could to help out and maybe make enough money to put myself through school,” Zarika said when she spoke to Radio Jambo.
She decided to find any job that could give her any income, landing her first job as a housemaid, and worked for a year in the neighborhood.
She then conceived and gave birth while still a teenager, and this, according to her, changed a lot in her life as it meant she had to be there for her young one and provide for her.
“I was really desperate for change in my life and it took all of me not to give up because I had people counting on me. Seeing as I had no education and no steady source of income, I deliberated getting married and with that I left home without saying a word to my mother,” Zarika explains.
She later moved to South B, while still at 19, where she stayed with her cousin and tried to look for alternative means of income.
“Sophia was a bundle of joy and she was one of the very few things that would put a smile on my face after every long day. Though she fell sick quite often and as a mother being unable to help by simply catering for medical expenses, is a feeling that is almost impossible for one to get over,” she stated.
It is here in South B where she decided to venture into active sports, where she started with soccer. It did not go through as expected, and was forced to try another sport.
At some point, she met Conjestina Achieng’, who introduced her into boxing. That’s how she got into boxing and has since gone on to build a name for herself.