Football-inspired charity ‘Afrikit’ was founded by a group of five students from the University of Sheffield in 2009, after one of their friends visited a rural village in Kenya and noticed the large number of football fans.
The charity’s objectives include providing fun and galvanising communities through the distribution of unwanted football shirts and equipment, in order to break down social barriers.
Afrikit also uses the exchange of shirts and a collective love for football to entice people to co-operate with other charities who aim to educate and provide awareness about HIV and AIDS.
However, Afrikit’s founding students are soon to be leaving university, and they say it is vital that the charity not only continues its work but also expands.
The charity has been inundated with media coverage, but they argue that it is essential that the charity continues to be promoted within a number of universities. Nathan Green, a second year student at the University of Sussex, is currently in the process of expanding Afrikit’s university network, which will help with necessities such as kit collections and fund raising.
As the charity is managed by a handful of students, they are finding it difficult to register to become an official charity, as this entails validation of an annual income of £5,000.
This is why the team at the University of Sussex are looking for creative and passionate individuals who wish to drive the fundraising, manage collections and come up with new and inspiring initiatives to further spread the message.
