As well as slogging through the winter pitches of Northern England, West Didsbury & Chorlton kits can now be seen in a very different climate – on the beaches of Zanzibar Island, East Africa!

West have supported local charity OK4AFRICA which stands for Old Kit for Africa and is a charity set up by Chorlton daughter and father duo Betty and Pat Callaghan.

The Callaghan family visited Tanzania 2 summers ago, and saw so many young boys playing football in jeans, old shirts, bare feet and using plastic bags tied together as a ball. Betty says – “The young people were football obsessed – especially with the premiership and championship. When we mentioned we were from Manchester, of course, their first reaction was ‘Manchester United’ and they proceeded to enlighten us with their immaculate knowledge of everything to do with British Football”. 

Before Christmas the pair started a collection via social media pages and the response received was overwhelming. When West heard about the initiative its was a no-brainer to send some of our used kits. The first delivery saw 7 containers of used but good condition kit sent to a rural village called Matemwe in Zanzibar, which is a semi-automous island, part of Tanzania. They loved it so much and even held their own OK4AfRICA football tournament where the whole village came out to watch.  The team in the West Didsbury & Chorlton kit are the older boys who were competing in the tournament. 

Betty says “OK4Africa is not yet an official charity as we’re so small scale, its more of a charitable project. We do have a just giving page where we are trying to collect donations in order to fund the costs of shipping. We have started collecting kit for our next shipping to another community like Matenwe. Any donation is welcome!” 

The motives of OK4Africa are best summed by Betty when she says “We are not trying to change the world here just make a few boys and girls a little happier this new year.” – Sounds like a great partnership for West!

To find out more just visit @OK4Africa on Facebook or Instagram.