RAF Charitable Appeal makes huge Kenya delivery
A team representing a Charitable Appeal based at RAF Shawbury in North Shropshire have completed 12 days of deliveries of football kit in the slum areas of Kenya in East Africa.Shrewsbury Town work closely with RAF Shawbury, providing community soccer schools on the base, whilst also working to promote the work they do across Shropshire.
The Taking Football to Africa and Beyond Charitable Appeal is run by Wing Commander Neil Hope MBE, who is based at RAF Shawbury.
The Appeal, which operates through the RAF Football Association, delivers ‘Aid through Football’ to the needy across the world.
The Appeal, which started in 2006, has delivered over 153000 items to 52 countries worldwide to date.
The Kenya visit is to allow a diverse group of people to deliver items from the Appeal to the needy in and around Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya in East Africa.
A group of 12 Military and Civilians travelled to Kenya on 8th October and made 53 deliveries over 12 days of 15354 items including 4683 football shirts.
The items delivered were donated by football clubs and people from across the United Kingdom and included many items donated by Premier League clubs such as Manchester United and Leicester City, through the Leagues to Grassroots football clubs and County Football Associations.
Many deliveries were made of items donated by Sheffield and Hallamshire CFA, Worcestershire FA, Durham FA, Dorset FA, Hampshire FA, Derbyshire FA amongst others and including their member clubs.
Nearer to home at Shawbury items donated by Shropshire FA, Shrewsbury Town, AFC Telford Utd, Shawbury Utd and many other teams were also delivered.
The deliveries included many of the huge slum areas in Nairobi including Kibera, which is the largest slum town in Africa with over one million people living in an area of less than 3 square kilometres with no mains electricity, no sewerage system and little running water.
The schools are mostly very small corrugated iron buildings which are incredibly hot and have up to 60 children per class. The obvious desire of the children to learn, however, is incredible.
Neil Hope said, “I am incredibly proud to have taken this diverse team of 12 on this delivery visit and I am very pleased to have been able to deliver the masses of kit donated by so many clubs and people.
“The appreciation of the children and adults who receive the kit leaves a lasting impression on everyone who volunteers for these visits.”