Africa United Diaspora has announced three global charities that it will work with for the 2024/25 Africa Year, starting with the Africa Day celebrations scheduled for 24 August in Basingstoke UK.
They all have very clear football undertones which expectedly reflects the desires and professional leaning of the AUD Leader, Dr Tunde Adelakun.
FOOTBALL HEARTS – Lifetime and health monitoring charity Football Hearts – the Foundation – is the first. According to Dr ‘Tunde, ‘over the years we have seen so many losses of football players, a good few who have just slumped on the pitch while playing and just died. And sometimes we see many ex players, especially in Africa, where, sometimes through lifestyle choices, they go southwards and their health suffers. Football Hearts wants to prevent sudden heart attacks in past and current players as well as looking out for former players and coaches who need more constant monitoring to reduce the risks of high blood pressure and sudden death by cardiac arrest. At AUD, we will join Football Hearts to raise awareness on the need for constant and regular checks.
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS FOOTBALL FOUNDATION
Again with a clear undertone of football, ISFF’s commitment to using sport to get the best out of school students, not ignoring the power of education and making sure that our youngsters don’t choose to do full time sport at the expense of their academics. Yet ISFF wants to provide all manner of support to schools in keeping their best sporting talent and getting them to commit to looking out for their best football talent without having their education suffer.
AUD will gladly fly the flag of ISFF and its associated academy (All-In Football Academy) as ‘it is one that we hold really dear,’.
Part of the AUD/ISFF partnership will be to establish a first of its kind football academy to provide an opportunity for talent of African origin to get their foot on the ladder en route to a career in football.
HOPEFUL SOLES, HOPEFUL STUDS
Inspired by Dr Naomi Kendagor, Hopeful Soles is aimed at making sure that every young child has the ability and resources to have shoes that they can wear to school. Dr Naomi’s endured a shoeless start to life in her native Kenya which signalled her desire to ensure that no child ever goes through what she did.
Hopeful Soles gives hope to young children in Africa and Asia. And the aim is to receive old but still wearable shoes donated by kind members of the community and to send to various places where there is a need for such, to give back to the communities.
As for Hopeful Studs, the principle is the same; only that it provides hope to young players underprivileged in the area of being unable to afford football shoes yet have the talent and the desire to make it big in football.
Join us on Saturday 24 August at 1:00 pm to know more about our work in these charities so far.