Philip Parker, PE teacher at Catcote School in Hartlepool

My name is Philip Parker and I am a PE teacher at Catcote School in Hartlepool. In the summer of 2009 I volunteered to work in Naivaisha in Kenya. I worked for 5 weeks, I visited various slums in the area and along with my colleague, Andrew Mullane, delivered football coaching sessions for children of all ages from 8 to 18.

In my time in Kenya, I made strong links with the coaches over there that do a tremendous job with little or no support from the local community. The children who we coached were all extremely enthusiastic and the love they have for football really came shining through.  On speaking with the coaches it was clear that they see football as a fantastic tool to help the children develop socially and physically. Obviously the country is going through hard times and does not have resources to accommodate the high volume of children interested in playing football.

Once I arrived back at school, I was discussing the issue with my pupils who decided they would like to help. As a class we decided on ‘Kick it Back to Kenya’. We hope to receive donations from the public.  We are hoping to receive old boots, shirts, balls, cones anything that will help the children participate in the sport. Obviously the poverty in Kenya is unbelievable so what you might consider to be worthless could be priceless to a child. We have put posters around local sports centres and are contacting the local media to raise the publicity.

On March 21st the school will be participating in the Sports Relief Mile in Hartlepool. This event is going o be used for a chance for the young people involved in this initiative to raise money so that the first collection of can be sent over to the coaches. 

I hope you agree that this is a valuable project and anything that can be donated would be extremely appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

Philip Parker and Andrew Mullane.

"My name is Jordan Appleby and I am 13 years old. I go to Catcote School and I am a student.