A youth team in Mozambique is aiming high in the local league thanks to a donation of Imps kit.
The Oasis FFL (Football for Life) team in Beira received the kit because of an amazing chain of community based charities stretching right back to Sincil Bank.
The kit was originally provided by Lincoln City Football Club for Lincoln Disability FC (LDFC), a Lincoln-based team that promotes inclusion and sportsmanship.
When the kit was no longer needed at LDFC, volunteer Sophie Bartup contacted the UK charity KitAid, a charity which Lincoln City legend Graham Taylor used to be a Patron of, to see if it would be of use anywhere else.
Regional Co-ordinator and KitAid Trustee, Thomas Enright collected the kit during an LDFC training session and took it down to KitAid's storage in Hatfield.
From here it was passed on to Dave Caswell the Global Co-ordinator at Oasis Football for Life. A charity that works with marginalised young people to build their self-esteem and help them make wise and healthy life choices.
Dave Caswell, said: "We’re grateful to KitAid for the support of kits and balls for our projects, which provides a great encouragement and motivation for our teams, and helps to develop that sense of identity and belonging that is so important to the vision of FFL.”
Dave personally took several sets of kit from KitAid to projects across South Africa, Mozambique and Uganda. The Imps kit being handed to the Oasis FFL youth team in Beira, an area of Mozambique that had been heavily impacted by Cyclone Idai in March. Dave also provided football coaching sessions for the team.
Thomas Enright, said: "At KitAid we have a saying that 'It's more than just a shirt'. Football is loved across the world and the donation of your no-longer needed kits makes a massive impact in helping social inclusion and sports development in communities with almost next to nothing."