Making footballs that can save lives in Africa

Dear Readers, As we strive to creating more opportunities for young people in Africa, we would like to redirect your kind support to our new Global Giving page;

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/donate-balls-to-children-in-africa/

This will allow you to read more on our projects not just in Kenya but in Zambia and the UK.

Asanteni Sana(Thank you all)

Holiday greetings from the Alive & Kicking Kenya team!

Here we are again. An amazing year comes to an end and the New Year is knocking. Kindly find attached our last newsletter of the year and receive our heartfelt gratitude for your support throughout 2009.

We wish you a flourishing and successful 2010 – the year of football!

When Alive & Kicking Kenya sent out footballs donated on GlobalGiving to the Gideon Soldiers Orphanage in Nyanza Province, the last thing we expected is that they would share the joy of having a proper ball to play with, with a fellow home. Newton Atela, Director of the Gideon Soldiers Orphanage wrote the following upon receiving the donated soccer balls:

“I write to let you know that I received the balls for our children. Thank you so much. 1 ball we gave Peace Children (Otonglo). Thanks a lot and kindly note that before receiving those balls the Gideons (Name for the Orphans) were using balls made of polythene. Being that the orphanage is in the rural area, we have large fields and using the polythene-made balls was not enjoyable. Thanks again. Our orphans loved the balls and on the 1st day as they played, it attracted over 30 children. The whole scene was GOOD. Almost like an early Christmas. We love you & thank you again.”

Zacheus Ochieng, Director of Peace Children's Ministr...

Meeting Joel and talking to him gives you so much Joy.

As I walked into the godown where Alive & Kicking offices are along Mombasa, I was met with a strong smell of chemicals. But behind this, there is serious business going on in at this place, lives are changing through this small industry.

I am met by a tall young man sporting a big smile, he ushered me to the offices upstairs, welcomed me to feel at home. The walls of his office are ardoned by a picture of Kenyan sports celebrities and ready footballs. It is indeed a football center.

Joel took me through every step of the project information, and with a tear running down his cheek, he tells me the guy who started this vision passed on. His name is Jim Cogan, "but I am determined to carry it on by all means," he says.

This guy is passionate about this football making business, but he takes pride in making reference to an old man I met as I walked into the premises. This guy is called Martin Juma. He explains to me how...

Greetings from Alive & Kicking Kenya!

The past few months have been busy and exciting for us here at AKK, and we’ve tried our best to bring you up to speed on all the happenings in the attached newsletter.

We cannot thank you enough for your continuous support, and as always, we welcome your comments, questions and suggestions.

Over the last two weekends of July, we took the Penalty Kick Challenge out to Kayole and the Mukuru slum, where we gave out another 47 balls donated by you to soccer-loving children from under privileged families. Combined with coaching drills that offered the children the opportunity to improve their soccer skills as well as learn about HIV/AIDS, the kids were quick to imitate the moves of their football heroes, expected on the continent next year for the FIFA World Cup, upon receiving the balls.

In total, about 200 children directly took part in the recently concluded challenge, which resulted in 87 quality leather soccer balls landing in the hands of some of the poorest of children in Kenya. Below are comments from some of the participants and recipients of the soccer balls:

I would like to thank the coaches who actually spent their time to teach us more about HIV & AIDS, and also appreciate them for the balls and certificates they gave us.

Kevin O. Asava (Soweto, Kayole)....

The Penalty Kick Challenge Hits Kibera

With a population estimated at 1 million, Kibera is Kenya’s largest slum. Although famous for all the wrong reasons; pollution, poor sanitation, ethnic conflicts, insecurity, and poverty, the love of the beautiful game is not lacking in this area. Since launching the penalty kick challenge we’ve visited 2 villages in Kibera; Olympic and Undugu where we gave away 40 footballs donated by you to children who proved they could bend it like Beckham and score it like Landon Donovan when up against our goalie in the penalty box.

More than just walking away with quality footballs, the children underwent coaching drills designed by Tackle Africa (link attached) to inform them of HIV/AIDS as well as improve their football skills. Vincent Omuchei (12 years), one of the children who participated in the challenge had this to say, “We learnt about prevention measures and I felt very free to ask questions on HIV/AIDS”.

Kennedy Onyango, one of the loca...

Michael Acton and Christine Illanes are students who traveled throughout Africa and visited a number of GlobalGiving projects. On March 19th they visited "Making footballs that can save lives in Africa ." When asked what they would tell their friends about this project, Mike said: “Great: They are making a difference," while Christine said "Incredible: You need to see this!"

Michael writes:

We visited the factory where Alive & Kicking Kenya makes most of its footballs/soccer balls. Joel picked us up early from our hotel and drove us out towards the airports where they employ about 40 people to make footballs with personalized messages. Most of these messages tell people ways to stay healthy (e.g. avoid HIV/AIDS & Malaria). The footballs are designed and produced wholly in-house.

While the organization creates and sells footballs, it is a non-profit organization and donates a large number of balls during their workshops. The office was covered in posters of Kenyan football sta...

The month of June was full of activity for us here at Alive and Kicking Kenya. Apart from distributing over 150 balls to children’s homes and organizations such as Heshima Kenya, and Carolina for Kibera, we have availed balls to various charitable sports initiatives around the country, including the Kenya Homeless World Cup, and the Support Activities in Poverty Eradication & Health (SAIPEH)/Sporting Chance International football tournament in Mumias, Western Kenya.

We also had the pleasure of hosting Leah Ambwaya; the local GlobalGiving evaluator last month. Transparency is important to Alive and Kicking Kenya. As such, Leah’s visit was very much welcome for it will not only give you, our donors open feedback on our activities, but it will also provide us the opportunity to learn and improve as we strive to achieve our goals.

…..

World Cup 2010 – Celebration or Sham?

As exciting as the month of June was, July promises to be even more exciting as we embark on a ‘Penalty Kick...

Re: Appreciation for the volley balls donation

Heshima Kenya wishes to thank you for your support in providing us with four volley balls for use in the recently established sports component of our Children’s Empowerment Program.

With many thanks and warmest regards,

Talyn Good,

Co-Executive Director

Thanks to your kind donations, Alive and Kicking on 11th July, 2009, was able to present Heshima Kenya with volley balls to start off a sports project, which aims to promote health and restore the highest possible level of normalcy to the unaccompanied refugee girls it caters to. The girls, who have faced a cycle of violence and war, couldn’t wait to get their hands on the balls.

Heshima Kenya is a non-profit organization that specializes in identifying and protecting separated and orphaned refugee children and youth living in Nairobi, Kenya. They run a safe house and a children’s empowerment project that seeks to provide support to rebuild the lives of unaccompanied refugee ch...

Make no mistake we at Alive & Kicking are very thankful to all of you; our supporters, for believing in our initiative. Below are two of many messages of thanks that we have received for the balls we have been able to distribute through your generous donations this past quarter.

…………………….

I’m Modester Imbuluku; a player of Bravillian Queens Association. On behalf of my team members, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you very much for the balls you have offered unto us. This has really motivated us and we are working hard to achieve our goals. May God bless the work of your hands for the good work that you are doing.

…………………….

Dear friends,

A short letter of thank you in acknowledgement of receipt of footballs donated to the Baraka Village, South Coast, Kenya.

Baraka Village is populated by those unfortunates who have suffered the debilitating and disfiguring effects of leprosy disease together with their families….The children could not quite believe th...

I'm happy to announce that Alive & Kicking hve been awarded one of the inaugural SCORE4Africa football awards, presented by AFFORD - the African Foundation for Development, in recognition of the good work being done by Footballers or Footballing Organisations in Africa.

Our work was recognised as the most enterprising football initiative in Africa.

The ceremony was conducted at a gala dinner held in the House of Lords. Other recipients included Didier Drogba, George Weah and Arsene Wenger - so it seems our hard work is being recognised in high places!

For more info on AFFORD and the event, please visit www.score4africa.org

Have posted a photo of Didier Drogba with his award and one our balls in the gallery.

Read about some very special achievements; a change in leadership; our partnership with Nakumatt - Kenya's leading supermarket chain; our latest HIV Awareness Roadshow; our involvement in Environmental Awareness and Peace & Reconciliation initiatives, and so much more.

Alive & Kicking profiled in Beijing

UEFA's support continues

Paralympic Marathon Champion Henry Wanyoike's Hope for the Future Run

HIV/Awareness Posters Launch

Sport for Social Change Network EA Workshop & Per Omdal

Visit of West Ham Goalkeeper - Robert Green

School Sports

New Supporters

News Briefs

If you saw the recent photos of Prince Harry playing football in Lesotho, he was using a ball made by Alive & Kicking!

West Ham & England Goalkeeper Robert Green came out to Nairobi in June to raise funds for AMREF. Alive & Kicking made 50 balls for the visit. An interesting account of his experiences can be read on http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/rob-green-21-days-that-changed-my-life-865856.html - from which you'll see he's not your archetypal professional soccer player!

Per Omdal - Vice President of UEFA - has made a personal donation that will pay for 3,000 A&K balls to be distributed to kids in Africa. Selected recipient organisations include SCORE in South Africa, SOS Children's Homes in Kenya & Zambia, Moving the Goal Posts, AMREF, MYSA, World Scouts, Red Cross and the Sports for Social Change Network (SSCN) East Africa.

In October, Rob Kinder, Sam Trusty and Jamie Whitcroft will be heading out to Zambia for the month and will be driving...

Open the April Newsletter to find out more about the situation we find ourselves in after the post election violence. Other topics include our start up in South Africa; our HIV Awareness Posters being printed and distributed to all 4,000 government schools in Kenya; our starting a supporters club on Facebook.

I'd love you to open the attached file and read Ashoka Changemakers' announcement that the project you've been supporting was selected from 382 entrants in 69 countries by an eminent panel of judges as one of the finalists in their SPORT FOR A BETTER WORLD competition. We didn't get the on-line votes to make the top three - but think of the real winners. More people are going to visit this site, more kids are going to get balls, more HIV/AIDS awareness is going to be conducted and more jobs will be created. Now isn't that good news?

The violence that has erupted in Kenya following the disputed Presidential Election has resulted in tragic loss of life and a massive problem of internal displacement. More than 250,000 innocent Kenyans have had to flee their homes - simply because of their tribal origins. All the Alive & Kicking balls that you are currently purchasing are being sent to the camps that have been set up to provide shelter for the displaced. Kenya Red Cross, who are overseeing the camps, have been given 200 balls so far, and 70 balls have been sent independently - 20 to a camp alongside Kibera in Nairobi, and 50 and a larger camp in Kitale. According to our friends at the Red Cross, until the balls arrived, there was little else for the children to do to help pass the long hours in their temporary homes. So thank you all for making this possible.

Progress Update

Kenya Government want Alive & Kicking's sports based HIV/AIDS awareness posters displayed in every secondary school in Kenya.

Two rally crews entering the East African Safari Classic raise over US$ 60,000 for Alive & Kicking.

Posters launched at the National AIDS Control Council's observation of World AIDS Day.

Over US$ 3,000 raised at the Nairobi Christmas Craft Fair

New Supporters

News Briefs

The Kenya Goverment's National AIDS Control Council (NACC) inivted AKK to launch its HIV/AIDS awareness posters featuring Kenya's top sports personalities at their key event on World AIDS Day.

Alive & Kicking donate 1,000 balls to the Kenya Primary Schools Sports Association.

Alive & Kicking conduct a 5 week long HIV/AIDS awareness Roadshow using music, drama and sport in Suba District, Lake Victoria.

Alive & Kicking Zambia launched.

Safaricom Foundation appoint Alive & Kicking Kenya as implementation partners

Ball Donations

New Supporters

Featuring

The Henry Wanyoike Foundation & Balls for the visually impaired;

The Sport for Social Change Network;

KASS FM's Chairman's Cup;

The Mater Heart Run;

New Supporters;

The Alive & Kicking Ladies