Making footballs that can save lives in Africa

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 stars dispelling myths about HIV/AIDS and explaining how to stay healthy.

The floor manager showed us how the footballs were made from start to finish. Due to the compressed nature of our visit, the only beneficiaries we visited were those who were making the soccer balls.

After visiting the factory floor, we spoke with Joel and the floor manager about Alive & Kicking Kenya. Unfortunately, the global economic situation has affected the number of orders given to Alive & Kicking. They have had to make some cutbacks in the production process. They work with their partner organization in the UK for strategic planning. Nevertheless they work hard at providing quality footballs that will promote healthy living to African children.

Christine writes:

Joel Kinuthia met me at my hotel and drove me out to see the factory where Alive and Kicking Kenya soccer balls are made. Joel told me that prior to Alive and Kicking, no one made soccer balls in Africa and that the synthetic ones that were imported were meant for grass, not the more common dirt fields in Africa. Therefore, Alive and Kicking makes soccer balls using natural materials that are hand stitched by employees.

The employees at Alive and Kicking are some of the people that the organization is helping by providing them with training and income. The other major beneficiaries are the children, since the main goal of Alive and Kicking is to get as many soccer balls to kids as possible by providing them at cost to other NGOs.