Supporter takes full strip to children in Senegal
OLD Shrewsbury Town kit has been put to good use in an underprivileged community in Senegal this summer.The Club donated an old, full team strip to Town supporter William Johl as part of his voluntary work with Talibé street children in Saint-Louis, Senegal.
William, a former season ticket holder, then gave the kit to the football team of the older Talibé kids from the Taliberté centre.
He has just started his third year at the University of Hull where he studies a Modern Languages degree.
In July, William started an eight-week voluntary work placement in Saint-Louis, Senegal, working with Talibé street children.
"I spent two months in Saint-Louis, Senegal, and they were some of the best weeks of my life," said William.
"I worked in a centre called Taliberté, which cares for Talibe children in the city.
"A Talibé is a child who comes to the city from the villages to a Daara where they learn the Koran.
"My role was mainly to help with cleaning their wounds and playing with them when they weren’t at the Daaras.
"I was fortunate enough to be donated a full team kit from Shrewsbury Town which I gave to the football team of the older Talibé kids from the centre, who set up a team.
"Right from the start it was clear how massive football is there, every young child is kicking some sort of football or anything they find around.
"In one if the matches I watched the majority of players for the other team did not even have football boots and were playing bare foot, which shocked me how they could play, and they played well!"
You can keep up-to-date with Town's Community Sports Trust via the official website (stct.co.uk), Twitter account (@STFC_CT) and Facebook page (facebook.com/shrewsburytowncommunitytrust).