KitKing welcomes Derrick Williams MBE, founder of KitAid.

KitKing welcomes Derrick Williams MBE, founder of KitAid, to talk about how unwanted kits save lives, create friendships and build communities.

For a number of years KitKing has given away end of life cycle kit to charities including KitAid which was founded 24 years ago by Derrick Williams. Derrick joined us at KitKing to tell us about KitAid’s mission, how it operates and how the kits we donate make a difference. 

Derrick told us about how on a trip to remote villages in Tanzania with Water Aid [who he worked for at the time] he was bewildered by the fact that when communities were asked what essentials they needed, alongside water, on the list was always the request for football kits! He came back from the trip and decided his mission was to  provide kit and equipment to the bare-footed children playing with footballs made of tied string and plastic bags that he’d met on his trip.

24 years, 830,000+ kits and 55 countries later Kit Aid’s supply of kit has made tangible differences to communities across the World. 

We learnt how kits had broken through community and religious divides, bridged gaps between generations, provided opportunities for individuals to become coaches and leaders and how pathways had been created where children had gone onto play for their national sides. The kits had brought teams together and had allowed those who received them a sense of being part of something much bigger than themselves, and the opportunity to do something positive with their lives where the alternative might have seen them turn to gangs and drugs to pass the time. 

It cannot be underestimated the important role KitAid plays in giving people hope even if it is just doubling a person’s wardrobe!

Here are some images from the day including images Derrick shared of the kits KitKing donated being used by teams in Africa.