Donate African made balls to children in Africa

2012 has been a very successful year so far for Alive & Kicking. A&K Kenya and A&K Zambia continue to produce thousands of quality sports balls and conduct social outreach programmes. Progress continues towards the opening of a third stitching centre in Accra, Ghana later this year.

Inaugural A&K Zambia HIV/AIDS Roadshow

Alive & Kicking Zambia has recently completed its first ever HIV/AIDS Health Awareness Roadshow, which was a resounding success. In partnership with Tackle Africa, the Roadshow toured the Copperbelt region, visiting the towns of Chililabombwe, Kitwe, Mufulira and Ndola.

The Roadshow team ran a number of initiatives aimed at engaging and empowering young people across the province. By using sport as an educational tool, the programme aimed to raise awareness of and combat the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. Engaging existing networks and organisations was most the most sustainable way of achieving these goals, and 85 coaches were trained in HIV/AIDS education football drills. By training local staff, over 5,000 local children will now have long term access to a trained HIV/AIDS educator.

The Roadshow also provided opportunities for local young people to get involved with organised sporting events. Football and netball tournaments were organised in each town, with over 1,000 boys and girls taking part. The tournaments became huge local events, with thousands of spectators coming along and unprecedented numbers taking advantage of the mobile HIV Voluntary Counselling & Testing (VCT) centres to discover their HIV status.

Tusky’s supermarket stocks A&K balls

Alive & Kicking’s retail success across Africa has continued with the news that Tusky’s supermarkets are now stocking balls at 4 outlets in Kenya. This follows on from the sales success of A&K balls in Nakumatt outlets across East Africa. In Zambia, major retailers Spar, Shoprite and Pick N’ Pay are currently selling A&K balls. Sustained sales are crucial to the success of the social enterprise and enable further job creation and social outreach.

New animal prints developed

Due to the popular demand of the lion, cheetah, crocodile and tortoise print footballs, new animal designs have been developed. These include a zebra from Kenya and a white cheetah (or snow leopard!) from Zambia. The balls will be on sale over the coming months. 

Thank you

We would like to thank everyone who has donated to Alive & Kicking recently and look forward to giving our next update in 3 months’ time. To keep up to date with our latest news, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.