The balls...
Alive & Kicking make cheap, tough, repairable footballs, netballs and volleyballs using African skills and African leather. Each carries a message about HIV/AIDS and malaria.
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Alive & Kicking is a charity. We need your help, please.
You can donate money or give a ball.
What we do
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Partner organisations
We coudn't provide the services required without the invaluable help of these organisations...
Alive & Kicking Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya was the birth place of Alive & Kicking's first leather balls. In the first year 22,500 balls were produced. By 2007, Alive & Kicking Kenya had produced over 65,000 balls. We currently employ 50 stitchers in 2 stitching centres in Nairobi's poorer urban areas.
Our Supporters
In 2006 UEFA, in conjunction with CAF (Confederation of African Football), placed an order for 81,000 Alive & Kicking footballs over two years for donation to schools in 53 African countries via their national football associations. Alive & Kicking has completed this order, and balls are now being distributed to schools and clubs in Africa.
Since Christmas 2005 Alive & Kicking has received more than £40,000 through the Good Gifts Catalogue to pay for Alive & Kicking Balls to be made and distributed throughout Africa. So far, donations through Good Gift have enabled Alive & Kicking Kenya to make 7,404 balls. These orders have provided a steady demand helping to provide valuable employment and a base from which Alive & Kicking has grown. Of the 7,404 balls made so far from Good Gifts Donations: 105 have been donated to Orphanages, 1,049 to Primary Schools, 160 to Refugee Camps, 4,653 to Secondary Schools, 10 to Slum Projects, 30 to Street Kids Programmes, and 160 to Youth Groups. 
Our supporters also include UNICEF, Christian Aid, Great Football Giveaway, WHO, UNDP, UK Sport, and DFID.
Our Health Programme
Kenya's fragile health system is under extreme pressure from a rising population and soaring rates of AIDS, TB, and malaria. 1.2 million people in Kenya are currently infectected with HIV.
Alive & Kicking is using a sport based approach to increase awareness and help alleviate the effects of these devastating diseases. All our balls are printed with preventive health messages relating to HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. More than 120,000 balls have been distributed by A&K Kenya, providing hundreds of thousands of vulnerable youngsters access to life-saving health information.
We have also developed a set of HIV/AIDS awareness posters featuring key Kenyan sporting personalities to supplement messaging on balls. These posters have been used in our roadshows, which use sporting events as a platform to convey essential health information to players and spectators. Alive & Kicking Kenya has also recently launched a new set of HIV/AIDS Awareness Posters, which will be distributed in all 4,000 secondary schools in Kenya, potentially reaching over 2 million children.
Kenya News
- Alive & Kicking is thrilled to announce that Vodafone, through the Safaricom Foundation, will be our sponsor for our next HIV Awareness Roadshow in Kenya. Alive & Kicking will be visiting 32 schools in the Machakos District in September, and using sport and drama as a platform, will promote HIV awareness to thousands of youths. As part of the roadshow we'll be hosting football and volleyball tournaments for 32 boys and 32 girls teams. MYSA are partnering with us to help conduct our drama and music workshops, and General Motors will provide the Roadshow bus. A huge thank you to all our sponsors and partners. Please watch this space for more news......
- Alive & Kicking balls are now on sale in Kenya's biggest supermarket chain Nakumatt. Harambee Stars Coach Francis Kimanzi and Sports For Social Change Coordinator Auma Obama were amongst those who attended the launch.
- West Ham Goalkeeper Robert Green came out to Nairobi in June to raise funds for AMREF. A&K made 50 balls for the visit. You can read about his experiences on: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/rob-green-21-days-that-changed-my-life-865856.html
- Alive & Kicking's HIV Awareness Posters are now on their way to all 4,000 public secondary schools in Kenya following a media launch hosted by Safaricom (Vodafone in Kenya). Red Cross and Safaricom contributed to the funding.
- A&K has received its first order for synthetic leather balls which are more appropriate for use in wet European conditions. UEFA's Development Division are purchasing 1,000.
Publications
Alive & Kicking Kenya Newsletter - April 2008
Alive & Kicking Kenya Newsletter - July 2008