Northumbria University Sport staff and students are on a mission to ensure African kids are dressed for success after sending a lorry load of clothing and equipment to Zambia.
Ten resistance machines from the Sport Central gym and a huge collection of surplus sports kit was loaded onto a 40ft container bound for Lusaka.
And Northumbria staff are already collecting more clothing with a second container due to leave Loughborough University for Zambia later this summer.
“Once again we are sending two groups of students to Lusaka this summer as part of The Wallace Group Volunteer Zambia Programme,” said Sport Services Assistant (Community And Foundation) Brogan O’Connor.
“As part of our commitment to the programme we collected up as much of the old Northumbria kit as we could find and bundled it into bags.
“Those bags were piled into a massive container - along with the resistance machines - and we just about filled it.
“The equipment and kit will be of huge benefit to the groups of under-privileged kids who we work with in Zambia. They have very little.”
The container started its long journey south in May and is expected to arrive in Lusaka in the next few days depending on the time it takes to clear customs.
Volunteer Zambia students Jack Preston, Ellen Duke, Jas McNaught, Claire Harper, Molly Carter and Corey Hastings joined staff members O’Connor and Alex Delves in loading the equipment and kit.
And Director Of Sport Colin Stromsoy said: “They did a fantastic job for a great cause.
“I’ve been to Zambia and seen at first hand just how much this container is needed. The kids over there have no kit and very little chance of getting any.
“In terms of personal and professional development our students already get so much out of the Volunteer Zambia programme but to know they have made a key contribution even before they arrive in Lusaka is fantastic.
“I can only imagine how excited the kids will be when they open those container doors and discover what’s inside!”
O’Connor will head to fellow Wallace Group university Loughborough at the end of the month with the latest collection of kit and Northumbria staff are still receiving donations at Sport Central.
“We are hoping that the resistance machines will go to the OYDC (Olympic Youth Development Centre),” she added.
“We’re expecting the clothing to be distributed to the children at the various projects we’re involved with.
“But they always need more and anyone with any spare kit can drop it off at Sport Central before the end of June."
Volunteer Zambia sees students from Wallace Group universities travel to Lusaka each summer with the intention of promoting healthy lifestyles and AIDS awareness through sport.
Northumbria have been involved in the programme for more than a decade with the invaluable work of staff and students benefitting thousands of disadvantaged children.
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