Tag: strathendrick

Scottish Rugby & Club Donations

Some wonderful rugby donations!

Sarah’s blog 19/5/23

I’ve been amazed by how many wonderful, generous people support us to help the vulnerable children in rural northern Malawi.

We are facilitating Jack Mphande, Malawi Rugby Development officer to return to the rural north to work with teachers and children in primary schools as well as spending time with the children we help to support. Jack will be visiting for two weeks. His first visit was the first time rugby had been introduced and played in the north. Everyone loved it. They are looking forward to the end of September when he will visit again for two weeks.

Here, we have had people helping to provide kit, boots, balls and driving to pick donations up, box them up and drive them to Dundee to The Bananabox Trust to await the next container.

Some of the rugby clubs we have had support from include; Strathendrick Rugby Club (our local club who also raised money through a bake sale), Annan Rugby Club, Grangemouth Rugby Club, Hillfoots Rugby Club, Stirling County Rugby Club, Blaydon Rugby Club (Newcastle), Glasgow Warriors and Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh. We are very grateful for all the donations we have received and these will be able to be shared with different school teams in Malawi.

This week we also had a huge donation from the Scottish Rugby Union; 200 tops/jerseys/jackets + socks and shorts! Plus some new Scotland jerseys to auction. Many thanks to Scott at SRU for your help. Also to Michael and Gordon and everyone else who has helped to collect and donate kit. Bruce at Merchiston Castle School (and Happiness is Egg Shaped) has also been a huge help in sharing posts as well as donating kit, balls and boots.

What we also need is for people to share posts to raise awareness. We’d love rugby clubs to be able to raise £50-£100 each to pay for the cost of sending kit to Malawi and cover the cost of the two week rugby event in September. We will need to feed all the children who are taking part in the rugby training & tournament as no big charities are feeding children in schools that far north.

Can you ask 50 people at your club for £1 each? Could you have a bake sale for us? Or have a carwash or a sponsored event? If lots of clubs can help us a little bit then teamwork will make it happen. Please mail me for more info or to offer your financial support. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thanks for reading & supporting, Sarah x

All the rugby donations at Bananabox Trust, Dundee waiting for the next container
Brilliant! Thanks to the Scottish Rugby Union
some great kit donations
Jack Mphande, Rugby Development Officer
A great donation of rugby balls from Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh
Kit donated by Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh
the bake sale at training one Sunday morning at Strathendrick RFC

A few people to thank

Sarah’s blog 29/04/22

We are always very grateful for the kind and generous people who support us. Whether it’s donating pencils, or shoes, driving boxes to Dundee, sharing posts, helping with fundraisers or sponsoring children….we thank you as we couldn’t help the hundreds of vulnerable children in Northern Malawi without you.

I want to thank four lots of people today who have helped us recently;

  1. Aquamarine.media in Devon have been helping us with our website and using their expertise to help us reach more people. We are very grateful for their input. Thank you Alona and Geoff.
  2. Strathendrick FC 2003/2 sections had been running in Balfron for 12 years. Now that the players have all left school and are no longer playing, the leftover funds have been shared with some local charities and UNICEF. We were delighted to be one of these charities and the money donated will help us a great deal. Thank you very much.
  3. Another Strathendrick but this time Strathendrick RFC have supported us again with more rugby kit to send to the children who have just started playing. This time they have donated a big bag of rugby balls, a box of cones and some water bottles. Once again, your support is very much appreciated. Thank you.
  4. Dumbarton FC Walking Football Club have donated a big bag of training kit and waterproofs which will be very valuable to the children in Malawi. Thank you so much for donating this. It’s very kind of you.

The Rugby Six

Sarah’s blog 12/3/22

The Foundation has always taken an holistic approach to improving the lives of the hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children it supports.

Yes they need food. Yes they need clothes. Yes they need education. However, they need so much more. They need new skills, new opportunities. They need to be nurtured and have people believe in their capabilities. They also need to have fun with their friends. These children have suffered trauma and have had to grow up too quickly so spending time with their friends and playing sports is one of those ways to improve their overall health as well as their mental health and wellbeing.

Sports Leaders Africa are sponsoring Malawian rugby international player, Jack Mphande, to come to Chitepa to teach rugby to Sports Leaders. They, in turn, will go back to their schools and pass on their skills and knowledge to younger children. Six of the young people, supported by the Foundation, have been chosen to attend this four day rugby course. Then Jack will spend a day at The Foundation helping these young people to put their new skills to the test and teaching the younger children how to play rugby. All the children have just started two weeks school holidays today so it’s perfect timing.

The cost of the course, food, accommodation and travel expenses is £40 per child. So far we have had donations to cover three young people to attend. So we still need £120 and are appealing for rugby fans, to donate towards these remaining three attending the course. Rugby is heading to Chitipa District which is very exciting. We think the children will love rugby as much as rugby fans and players here do. Thank you to Strathendrick RFC for supplying us with rugby balls for The Foundation. Also four of these young people are also looking to be matched with sponsors to support them through their education.

So if you can donate something towards this initiative, we would be very grateful. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com for bank details. Thank you for reading and hope you enjoy the Six Nations Rugby this weekend. Sarah x

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