FOOTBALL coaches from Burton say they are having unprecedented success in their efforts to train orphaned children in Africa.
Winshill FC secretary Gary Dunne gave the good news to the Mail in a telephone call from Burundi.
He said: “Me and my fellow coaches cannot believe the scenes that we have witnessed.
“We are helping kids, known as the street children of Bujumbura, who turn up to the training sessions with no boots or trainers on their feet and hardly any clothes on their backs.
“This is why it was so important that we collected and brought with us more than 120 footballs, four sets of blow up goals and mounds and mounds of football kits.
“We were expecting to train just under 100 children but more than 240 have shown up and you cannot turn any of them away.
“It also seems that we have caused a bit of a fuss locally as we have been interviewed for the television news and also been visited by the local youth sports minister.
“We also wanted to pass on our thanks to the many people in Burton who have helped us get here and bring all these fantastic things for the locals, you really have helped make the project an unprecedented success.” Winshill FC has sent out five FA trained coaches, as well as two church workers, to take part in the Restoration of Hope project.
The seven flew out to Burundi on April 3, for 10 days, to provide football kits, train children to learn the sport so they can follow it on when the coaches leave and to take part in a DIY project to help improve local homes.
The Restoration of Hope project was set up by an English couple, Honda and Libby, who live in Bujumbura, after they were followed home by three street boys looking for food.
The couple now run three orphan homes in the area providing food, education and essential medicines.
A sportsmen’s dinner, a Winshill FC v Derby Ex- Rams match and a football fun day were all held in the run-up to the trip to help raise awareness of the project.
