DALLAS — In the African language of Swahili, "imani" means "faith."
And faith is at the center of 21-year-old FC Dallas player Bernard Kamungo's story.
“Having faith is something that can take you from one position to another,” the forward says.
Kamungo grew up in a refugee camp in Tanzania. Faith, he says, is what kept his family going.
“It was difficult for our parents to find food for us,” Kamungo says. “Every day, I would wake up thinking about how I would make myself happy.”
Sports has always put a smile on Kamungo's face.
“In Tanzania, I grew up playing soccer,” he says. “We used, like, gloves -- blew it [up] and make a soccer ball. Or coals! I never got to play with a real ball until I got here in America.”
With the help of the International Rescue Committee, Kamungo and his family came to Abilene, Texas, when he was 14 years old.
"I was so happy because at that time," he says. "I believed I’d be able to get almost everything that I ever wanted -- which was food or clothes."
His brother, whose name happens to be Imani, saw more. Fittingly, Imani saw faith.
In 2021, Imani paid $100 for Kamungo to tryout for North Texas SC, an MLS Next Pro professional team. Kamungo was a high school senior at the time.
The brothers kept the tryouts a secret from their parents.
"At the moment, I couldn’t even speak English, so I didn’t even know what tryout meant," Kamungo says.
But his soccer talents spoke for him. That moment sparked Kamungo's pro soccer career, which last year led to his earning an FC Dallas contract.
After spending parts of the 2022 season as a sub on the roster, Kamungo has exploded onto the scene in 2023. He finished the regular season as FC Dallas' second-leading scorer, and was an integral player in spurring the team to the playoffs.
“I feel good every time I score, and more motivated because I’m helping out the team,” Kamungo says.
Wearing the red and blue, Kamungo says, is everything he envisioned it would be.
"I used to watch FC Dallas’ every single game like, 'Oh my God. I wish I could play there,'" Kamungo says. "Sharing the field with these guys and playing against them is like a dream come true."
It was a dream first sought by his family, and it's now led by his own faith.
"Looking back to where I came from, I do not want to go back to that life -- trust me,” Kamungo says. "Before all of this, I had nothing to lose. Now I have something to lose. I’m sure God is preparing something good for me."
