Who are the Turkana Desert Roses?

To get a sense of the people, places, and energy behind the book, watch this short video:

Roses Will Rise.

A book about football, courage, and change. In the vast, sun-baked plains of Turkana, in northern Kenya, life is shaped by livestock, kinship, and long-held traditions. It is a place of striking contrasts: harsh and beautiful, proud and deeply rooted. From this landscape comes Rael Lomoti, a young woman who loves her culture, yet dares to question the boundaries it places on girls.

Roses Will Rise brings Rael’s journey and the voices of the Desert Roses to life through photography and storytelling. The book offers an intimate look at daily life, resilience, and the quiet courage of girls who choose to play, learn, and lead.The book also supports wider access to education by helping place copies in local schools, ensuring that the story returns to the community where it began.

While studying Social Work in Nairobi, Rael played football at a competitive level and was even offered the opportunity to pursue a professional career abroad. Instead, she chose to return home to Turkana, determined to create space for other girls to dream, learn, and lead.

To get a copy of the book 🛒 click here to enter shop

This is the international edition. A locally priced Kenya edition will launch separately in a month.

The story.

In 2018, Rael founded Desert Roses, Turkana’s first girls’ football team. In a region where many girls are married off at a young age, often in exchange for cattle, the team became a powerful statement. What began as a single group of players has grown into a movement reaching hundreds of girls across schools and villages. Through football, girls gain confidence, teamwork skills, and leadership. Off the pitch, they access education, life skills, health awareness, and the belief that they can shape their own futures.

For Rael, football is a way to honor her community while opening new paths within it, showing that tradition and change can exist side by side. By ordering Roses Will Rise, you support grassroots, community-led change in Turkana and help amplify a story of girls redefining what is possible.