sports Archives

Football Tournament and Feeding

Thank you to all the clubs and donors for the fantastic preloved football kits. These vulnerable children have a real confidence boost when they wear their new kit.

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Sarah’s blog 26/11/25

Thanks to our supporters, we had funds to get a few schools together for a day of football. Football is one of Malawi’s national sports. Of course, everyone likes a football tournament, whether they are taking part or watching.

As I have mentioned previously, because the children we help to support aren’t eating properly each day, we will not hold a sports event without giving children something to eat and drink. The food shortage in Malawi is getting worse. Feeding children at an event like this makes it even more of a special, exciting day. The young people know they will have enough energy to play competitive sports with their friends. They will also probably sleep better that night with food in their tummies.

Thank you to everyone who donated money to help us feed everyone who took part. Also, a big thank you to those who donate preloved sports kit. This means a great deal to the young people. Previously they either didn’t have matching kit or it was full of holes because it was so old. Preloved sports kit is shared out to various primary schools and grassroots sports teams, as well as being kept for use by the orphans and other vulnerable children who play sport at the weekends.

Some of the people we need to thank for football kit are; Julian Chenery from the charity ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’. Julian spends almost every weekend collecting preloved football kit from different clubs and we are very grateful for his tireless work. He has sent a huge amount of preloved football kit to the children we help to support in Malawi. Paul Goodwin, another football enthusiast and collector of football kit who lives locally to me, gave us a few preloved football kits, some of which have been used in this tournament. And, of course, thank you to the clubs and supporters who have donated their preloved kit; Kilsyth Athletic FC, Collingham FC, Little Common FC, Seaton Town FC, Borden Village FC, Seafar Villa FC. I apologise if I have missed anyone…let me know and I will amend my post.

Here is one of the appeals we have to help us keep feeding hungry and malnourished children. https://donorsee.com/project/28717?share=1 Or you can give via the website or email me for bank details contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thanks again for all your support, Sarah x

Thank you Kitz4Kids!

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Sarah’s blog 10/2/24

Almost a year ago Julian Chenery from Wear A Sports Shirt Day (left) met with Mark Meekings of Kits4Kids. Julian has been collecting and donating football kit to us (and many other organisations) for several years. This was the first time Mark, whose charity Kitz4Kids also supports lots of organisations, has donated to us via Wear A Sports Shirt Day charity. We are delighted to have a new partnership supporting the vulnerable young people in rural northern Malawi.

Unfortunately, this kit just missed going on a container by a couple of days….so it had to wait until the next one….however it’s been well worth the wait! Many thanks to Mark, Julian and all the other people who work tirelessly ensuring that preloved sports kit can be reused and reaches those who need it most. Some of the donations of sports kit are kept at the Foundation we support as they help hundreds of children and young people. However, other kits are distributed to school teams and grassroots sports clubs.

When we hosted the two week Rugby Festival in October, every school team taking part was gifted a new kit to play in and then take back to their school. Gifts, like sports kits, mean so much to children and young people who have nothing. They are able to identify as part of a team that is proud of their uniform. Their self-esteem improves because they look the part. They also know that people who have never met them care enough about them to gift these sports kits. On behalf of all those who will benefit from these generous donations -THANK YOU. To Ambleside Junior Football Club, Collingham Football Club, and Market Rasen Town Football Club – Thank you for making a difference. Enjoy the photos, Sarah x

Julian Chenery (left) from Wear A Sports Shirt Day charity with Mark Meekings from Kitz4kids.

Strathendrick Rugby Club Donation

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Sarah’s blog 09/02/24

A lovely surprise was delivered to my front door this week…. a big bag of junior rugby kit courtesy of our brilliant local team – Strathendrick Rugby Club. Thank you very much as this kit will be gratefully received and well used by some of the vulnerable young people we help to support in rural northern Malawi.

Strathendrick have supported us before having raised money through a bake sale and raffling Scotland rugby shirts for us. It’s great to have local support. Thank you so much, Sarah x

Here is the link to the Scotland Rugby Team kit that was donated and modelled by some of the young people last week. Some of these kit donations are kept for use at the foundation, others are shared with local primary schools and grassroots teams. https://changinglivesmalawi.com/2024/02/05/scotland-rugby-kit/

Advent Calendar – highlighting projects & children – day 6

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Sarah’s blog 6/12/23

For day 6 of the advent calendar we are highlighting good health and wellbeing. This is my favourite photo from a few years ago. An holistic approach is taken to supporting the children. There will be photos similar to this from all over the world. Children are relaxing, chatting, playing and having fun with their friends. You can see the enjoyment the girls are having from skipping with a piece of rope. This is what childhood should be like all the time. Things are improving for these vulnerable children but there is still so much that we need your support with. Together, as a team we can continue making a difference.

Hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children know that the Foundation is a safe place for them. They have all experienced trauma and very difficult childhoods. Until recently, they felt like they had been forgotten. All are malnourished. All do not have enough to eat. All are living in extreme poverty. Very basic mud or brick one room housing which let in water during the rainy season. All sleeping on the bare floor. If they are lucky they have a sheet or a reed mat to sleep on. None of the families have spare money for clothes or blankets so the children sleep in their clothes which are rags. Many are orphans, living with a grandparent or extended family if parents have died. Most have missed periods of school whilst they try to earn a pittance to buy some food for themselves and their families.

The Foundation is a place where they can just be children for a little while. Where their worries go away whilst they play with their friends. The Foundation is a place where adults will listen if they need to talk. It’s a place where they can have a shower to get clean. They receive new clothes from time to time. We send small blankets to be given to as many as possible. Some of our supporters have knitted hats for the children which helps to keep them warm at night.

They learn skills for life like planting & looking after vegetables, making mats, knitting & sewing and looking after the chickens and goats. The library is open to the children and young people and quite often teenagers will be seen reading fairy stories and other books for younger children….they have missed out on all of that. Team sports are an important part of life at the Foundation and most enjoy playing football, rugby and netball.

And of course, 500 children are fed a nutritious meal once a week. That number is expected to rise to 700 as food is scarce and costs keep rising. This is why we need your help please to keep this vital feeding programme going. We need your help to plant more fruit tree saplings to give future food security and an income when selling surplus fruit. This project will, of course, help the planet too. We need your help to get the pig project up and running so that piglets can be sold to bring in an income. And we need your help to feed the orphans. Please, if you can, will you help us? https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Chisenga PS & Malawa PS rugby coaching

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Sarah’s blog 3/10/23

This morning, Jack Mphande, the Rugby Development Officer, visited firstly Chisenga Primary School then Malawa Primary School. Teachers from those schools had attended Jack’s coaching session yesterday.

Jack was able to work with the teachers today, and students from both these schools.

When Jack sent me these photos I asked him what the students thought of their first introduction to rugby.

He said ‘They are very happy to know the game. They say it’s simple to play and since a lot of students scramble for selection in football, rugby is an option now.’

Jack took a photo of a sports tops that one of the teachers showed him – so old it’s ripped and threadbare. None of the young people know yet, but they will all be getting new sports kit on the day they play their tournaments.

After school today, Jack was able to coach some of the students from Bright Futures Secondary School. I will post photos of the Bright Futures teenagers in tomorrow’s post.

Thank you for reading, Sarah x

Netball Posts

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Sarah’s blog 29/09/22

One of the great team sports that the children and young people enjoy is netball. It is really popular in Malawi. We are fortunate to have other charities partnering with us and The Foundation. Community Sports Leaders Africa is one such small charity. They have paid to have netball posts made for The Foundation and Levison was able to collect them today.

Thank you so much to Andy Bottomer of Community Sports Leaders Africa for his continued support. We really appreciate your help, and the young people will be delighted to have these posts.

Farming & Netball

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Sarah’s blog 21/4/22

You would be forgiven for wondering why I’ve put those two words together in the heading of today’s blog. Not subjects that usually go together! And they don’t…the only thing they have in common is that Netball Club and Farming Club both took place this afternoon.

The children who have chosen to participate in these groups meet twice a week after school to learn new skills. The Farming Club look to be having great success with their carrots. They are allowed to take these ones home with them. Hope you enjoy looking at the photos from this afternoon. Thanks for reading, Sarah x

With a little help from our friends

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Sarah’s blog 17/3/22

It’s been an extremely busy time at The Foundation. As so many boxes were sent, they have been opened gradually and there are still more to open.

Today Levison sent me photos of donations from Julian Chenery whose charity is ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’. Julian is always very generous to The Foundation (he had supplied the Christmas hats and jumpers as well as previous donations of sports kit). These are some of the lovely sports kit that was in one box Levison opened today. Thank you Julian and to all the people who donate to you. We are very grateful for the difference you are making.

Julian spends almost every weekend going to football matches and other sporting events and collecting used kit to send on to lots of different organisations. Some donations he gives to groups like refugees or other people in need in England, and other donations go to lots of organisations like The Foundation working with vulnerable communities in other countries.

I love that there are so many helping each other to help the children and Julian is one of those people who does a great job. Thank you Julian at Wear a Sports Shirt Day! Thanks for reading, Sarah x

Some of the donations of sports kit that Julian sent to The Foundation

Boxes and boxes

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Sarah’s blog 14/1/22

It’s been a busy 10 days packing boxes since the schools went back last week. Stuart and I took 20 boxes to Dundee last weekend to The Bananabox Trust Warehouse. The boxes are processed and wait there until there are enough donations from lots of charities and individuals, going to several recipients in Malawi. Once the warehouse is full, a container is ordered and packed by volunteers and then spends approximately 3 months (or slightly less) on it’s journey until arriving at Ekwendeni near Mzuzu. That’s still a long drive from the Foundation for Levison to collect the boxes but so much easier now he’s got the truck.

So today we took another 15 boxes and met Lilian and Stewart, volunteers who were processing the boxes today. Tomorrow, one of our supporters is taking another 10 boxes for us. Each box costs £15 to cover the costs of the container so we have to carefully balance the cost of sending boxes with the need of Levison, his team and the 800 children and young people they support and also the most elderly in the community. 800 is a huge number of orphans and vulnerable children and they have been very grateful for the preloved school uniform, other clothes, shoes, books, and sports kit that has been sent….along with lots of other items. If you’d like to pay for and sponsor a box or boxes to go then we can write your name or a loved one’s name on the box. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

So here are a few photos of our boxes. Today we had an hour to spare and, as it was a beautiful, sunny day, we had a sandwich and an ice cream in St Andrews and a little walk on the beach with the dog. Thanks for reading, Sarah x

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