Donate African made balls to children in Africa

Alive & Kicking had a dynamic start to 2013 and it is great to say that we’ve managed to sustain this positive progress. Thousands of balls continue to be stitched in Kenya, Ghana and Zambia, fuelled by an ever growing demand, and our health road show in Zambia resulted in a huge increase in HIV awareness. This momentous streak of success has also seen Alive and Kicking be nominated for the ‘2013 Best Business-Charity Partnership Award’.

A&K Zambia HIV Awareness Road Show of the Central Province

In May, Alive & Kicking completed its HIV awareness road show in the Central Province of Zambia; proving to be a resounding success. The scale of the event allowed us to bring HIV health awareness to some very remote places (where it is desperately needed), visiting areas such as Chibombo, Kapiri Mposhi, Liteta and Kabwe.

Working alongside Tackle Africa, A&K organized football and netball tournaments that were accompanied by voluntary HIV counselling and testing (VCT), allowing individuals to discover their HIV status.

The road show also taught local football coaches how to teach football drills that embodied information and lessons regarding the different aspects and threats of HIV. These teaching techniques stay with the coaches, giving them the skills to raise HIV awareness among others they coach in the future. This means the road show will have a lasting impact on the education of HIV within the region  

Business-Charity Partnership Award

Our partnership with John Lewis has been shortlisted by the Institute of Fundraising for the ‘2013 Best Business-Charity Partnership Award’

The ‘Balls For Africa’ initiative saw balls on the shelves of a major British retailer for the first time. The partnership has been highly prosperous for our social development goals creating a major order for A&K Kenya; sustaining employment for 50 stitchers for nearly 2 months, and resulted in thousands of balls being donated across Kenya.

‘Balls For Africa’ are currently on sale for £20, on a buy one and donate one basis, at John Lewis stores nationwide or online. The winner of the award will be announced on the 1^st of July.

2012 Annual Review Published

Our annual review, which was published this month, has shown the truly momentous progress Alive & Kicking has made in 2012. Our partnership with John Lewis saw our balls in a major British retailer for the first time, A&K Zambia completed a successful health road show; promoting HIV awareness in many regions and a third stitching centre was created in Accra, Ghana.

Thank You

We would like to say thank you to anyone who has supported or donated to Alive & Kicking. We also look forward to filling you in on the future progress we come to expect in our next Global Giving report in September. For more in depth and regular updates on Alive & Kicking’s activities please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or visit our website: http://www.aliveandkicking.org/. 

Alive & Kicking has enjoyed a great start to 2013. In Kenya and Zambia, thousands of balls continue to be stitched each month, while the first sellable quality balls are now being produced at A&K Ghana. In the UK, the ‘Balls For Africa’ partnership with John Lewis is still going strong, following impressive sales over the Christmas period.

A&K Ghana

Six months in to operations in Accra and Alive & Kicking Ghana is on time and under budget. We have hired our first 16 stitchers, 10 of whom are disabled, five are women and eight are under the age of 25, proving our commitment to employing those who would otherwise struggle to find work in Ghana. The team has impressed with its aptitude and commitment and are already making top quality balls and fulfilling their first sales orders.

It’s first six months have been a great success, but A&K Ghana’s future sustainability remains reliant on us reaching our three-year fundraising target of £402,00. We are currently £86,00 short of that total, half of which is needed for work this year.

John Lewis

Alive & Kicking’s ‘Balls For Africa’ project with John Lewis continues to impress, with the balls having now been on sale for over 6 months. They are being sold on a ‘buy one, donate one’ basis, with a Kenyan-made ball being donated in Kenya for every one sold in the UK, and are available for £20. The partnership was initially based around sales over the Christmas period and we are delighted that they are still rolling off the shelves, resulting in ever more balls being donated to Kenyan schools and children’s projects that otherwise could not afford them.

Support from sports stars

Alive & Kicking recently received the support of a number of well-known sporting personalities, who posed for pictures with our balls. Three of The Championship’s best performers this season, we are delighted that Wilfried Zaha, Nathaniel Chalobah and Yannick Bolasie took time out from their busy schedule to lend their support to Africa’s ball maker. Rugby league star Keith Mason was also kind enough to arrange for his teammates at Castleford Tigers to sign an Alive & Kicking rugby ball. All our celebrity supporters, as well as some great shots of our manufacturing and social outreach programmes, can be seen in our Photo Gallery.

Thank you

We would like to thank everyone who has supported Alive & Kicking recently and we look forward to giving our next GlobalGiving update in the summer. For more regular updates on our work, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.