Ode Fulutudilu

Adapted from a conversation with Ode Fulutudilu, former South African national team player, on the Follow Forward podcast.*

Some lives are shaped not by a single opportunity, but by a series of relationships, often appearing at just the right moment.

Ode Fulutudilu’s journey is one such story.** From early childhood instability across multiple countries, to becoming a professional footballer and a woman of deep faith, her life reveals a profound truth: relationships are often the bridge God uses to carry us from survival to purpose.

When Stability Comes Through People

Ode’s early years were marked by displacement, poverty, and trauma. Moving from Congo to Angola and then to South Africa, her childhood lacked the consistency most children take for granted. Education was disrupted. Home was uncertain. Safety was fragile.

“I just remember being so confused,” Ode reflects, recalling being left behind by her stepmother as a child. “She was the only woman that I knew for most of my life up until that point.”

That confusion could easily have hardened into bitterness. Instead, it became the soil in which faith and resilience quietly took root.

A Relationship Answered in Prayer

One of the most striking aspects of Ode’s story is how intentionally she prayed for meaningful relationships. Beyond material possessions and opportunities, she craved a connection to someone.

“For a year, I would go on my knees every single day,” she shares. “I would ask God, ‘Lord, I pray that you send me someone, someone that I can go to.’”

That prayer was answered through Joelle, a woman who didn’t just offer encouragement but opened her home, her network, and her life.

“With Joelle,” Ode says, “God gave me so much more than what I was asking for… God is able to do immeasurably more than what we can ever ask or think.”

This relationship became a turning point. Joelle didn’t simply believe in Ode’s potential; she advocated for it. She fought bureaucratic battles. She created pathways. She stood in the gap when Ode could not.

Relationships Before Resources

Ode’s story illustrates a vital leadership lesson which I have seen time and again. Many people believe that resources solve the challenges they face in life, be it poverty, trauma or any form of social disadvantage. However, I believe God works primarily through relationships. And it is through relationships that resources can flow and be utilised in empowering ways.

This is what Ode experienced. Without citizenship, finances, or formal education, Ode’s future looked impossibly narrow. But through relationships, a world of opportunity opened up to her.

“God showed me like, ‘Hey, I have so much more for you than what your little brain was thinking,’” Ode explains.

Through trusted relationships, she discovered that education and sport could intersect. Dreams that once felt unreachable became imaginable, and then achievable.

The Difference Maker

Reflecting on her time in children’s homes, Ode makes a sobering observation:

“Having looked back at the children’s home, a lot of the children that didn’t have anyone to work with them, to invest in them, literally… more than half of them ended up back on the streets.”

The difference wasn’t talent or intelligence. It was relationships. Where no one walked alongside them, progress stalled. Where someone invested deeply, futures changed.

Before Ode ever stepped onto a pitch as a professional footballer, relationships shaped who she was becoming. She learned to pause, pray, and seek God’s direction at every stage. Communion with God enabled her to decide which opportunities to pursue.

“I always went back and asked God, ‘Is this what you want me to pursue?’ And when He said yes, then I moved forward.”

Her career advanced, but her identity stayed rooted in her relationship with God and with people who have supported and loved her over many years.

Giving Back

Today, Ode continues this pattern in her own life. As a wife, mother, mentor, and leader, she invests relationally in others, particularly young African women navigating sport, faith, and identity.

“I run a Bible study with some professional players that I’ve played with,” she shares.
“My heart is for African female players to get into universities first… so they have a foundation.”

The same relational bridge that carried her forward is now being extended to others. This is what it means to Follow Forward.

The Invitation

Ode’s life reminds us that following Christ often looks like walking intentionally with people, not rushing ahead alone. Relationships do not eliminate hardship. But they make perseverance possible. They turn prayers into pathways. They help people believe that their beginnings do not define their future.

In considering Ode’s story, who has God used in your life to open up doors that otherwise seemed shut to you?

Is there someone God is calling you to invest in, recognising that your time and availability may be the gift they need right now?

Because sometimes, the most transformational thing you can offer someone is not a solution, but your presence.

*To find out more about the Follow Forward podcast, please click here.

**Click here to find out about Ode’s autobiography.