The planned shipment of equipment in April 2020 and the annual training visit in September 2020 were both postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to all the uncertainty it was decided that there would not be a training visit during this phase of the project but the equipment would leave for Chitipa by December 2020 on the next available container. Wachisa Munkhondijah, the Chitipa Community Football Coach would organise and deliver the Young Coaches Training and Rowland Harawa, the Chitipa District Sports Officer would organise and find local coaches to deliver the training to the primary school teachers. Planning meetings and the courses were to be held before November 2020 as a prerequisite for the equipment to be sent. Participation of the clubs and schools in the courses would qualify them for sports equipment which Wachisa and Rowland would distribute. By mid September schools in Malawi were reopening and the ban on sports events and gatherings was lifted. I just hoped Wachisa and Rowland would be able to mobilise the football clubs and schools to buy into this phase of the project.

As we waited for news from Chitipa, more sports kit was being collected and packed in Northumberland ready for the shipment in December. Finally my garage was emptied with the help of Adam Ferry who took the boxes down to William Hackett Ltd, and then by Roddy Bell who arranged for the boxes to be delivered to the Cycle of Good depot in Stoke. On the 16th December the freight left for Malawi.  

The project received a generous donation of £500 from friend Stephen Fuller and we agreed it would be well spent of building some football goals in Chitipa. Tony the welder from Charles Metal Workshop in Chitipa was the obvious man for the job. I asked him to make a football goal 2.3 metres x 1.8 metres as an example to show us.  The goal was great so we ordered 4 sets.  I was looking for people to sponsor a goal for £50 and I managed to get five sponsors. By the first week of January 2021 pictures came of the newly painted goals. 

In early October 2020 Wachisa held a meeting with the senior coaches of the 11 clubs. The information was disseminated and the participants were happy to sign up to the training courses. Wachisa was keen to organise his course on time but had to postpone twice due to heavy rains and a fertilizer workshop that many of the coaches had to attend. I was forgetting it was the start of the rainy season and a lot of people are very busy planting and preparing their farms. Wachisa being one of them.  Wachisa planned and delivered his course in early January. Nine clubs got involved and there were 12 participants.   

On April 8th 2021, four months after leaving the UK, the Cycle of Good container was being unloaded in Blantyre.  Rowland had processed his duty waiver and our goods entered Malawi for free. They would soon start their 609 mile journey north to Chitipa. 

The arrival of the equipment in Chitipa created a real buzz around town. It was well managed by Rowland and Wachisa. It was Chitipa Utd FC who received their kit first. It had been 15 months earlier that I had collected the old kit from Red Row Welfare FC, redesigned the logos and packed it ready to leave. It had finally arrived and gave Chitipa Utd a real boost. The 2020-21 Super League of Malawi season hadn't started well for Chitipa. Only 1 point after 10 games played, sitting bottom of the league. Since the kit has arrived they have had 3 wins and now sit with 10 points after 14 games. The story even made the Malawi national sports pages.  

Rowland organised two days of sports teacher training. Wachisa delivered the football and 14 schools attended. Primary schools are returning this week after their lockdown so this is a timely boost to school sports. Each school will receive 2 footballs, a netball, volleyball, a football kit, pump and set of softball cricket kit.  

It was Namuyemba FC U12's who were first to wear their new kit in a training session. They had received a kit from Edinburgh South Community FC. The UK clubs were enjoying seeing their donated kits being used. 

Over the coming weeks the kits and equipment were distributed. The photographs started arriving and the donors loved seeing their old kits being well used.  

The donated kit and equipment was having a positive impact on activities. Coach Wachisa Munkhondijah delivered a 2nd Young Football Coaches Leadership Course. Nine football clubs that hadn't attended the 1st course sent a total of 18 new young coaches. The young coaches worked hard for 3 days of training.      

Since September 2019, we have now trained 45 Young Football Coaches,  

Since 2018 we have constructed 10 Mini football goals, 6 Junior netball posts and a cricket cage and net. They have been placed throughout Kawale zone so all primary schools have access. 

Community Sports Leaders Africa has been supporting the 14 primary schools in Kawale Zone since 2017.  Here they are proudly wearing their new football kits, donated by Red House Farm FC, Edinburgh South Community FC, Amble East End Juniors and Longhoughton Rangers FC. In order to receive a football kit and  footballs, their sports teachers had to attend a 2 day football coaching course. Chitipa Utd FC hopes there are some future players here! 

A massive thanks to all the UK clubs who recycled their old kits through Community Sports Leaders Africa in 2020-21. These kits have really inspired the teams and made the atmosphere even more colourful.  

In August 2021 Wachisa Munkhondijah and two Young Coaches from Community Sports Leaders Africa travelled to Ibuluma near Chisenga and together with Levison Mlambya from The William Stewart Foundation organised a 2 day football training course which  over 30 senior and young coaches attended from 4 local clubs. Hopefully the first of many joint events.  

The Chitipa U17 league got started in July with a league of 10 teams, all of which had taken part in the Community Sports Leaders Africa 'Young Coaches Training Programme'. The teams had been given new kits, balls and training equipment. They were now on the field. The U14 league was also about to start. The much awaited U12 festival would be organised soon with the mini goals and nets. The system that Wachisa had been using for the past few years was working. The first group of U12 players that had been coached by the Young Coaches after the 2019 course were now playing U14. I knew Wachisa was very proud of his efforts. It made me feel good to be able to help. 

The 12 football clubs that we were supporting were busy competing in the Chitipa U17 and U14 leagues. When these finished in late November, the next big community event would be the U12 8 a side festival. It would be held at the Jomba Jomba ground. The new mini goals and nets were to be used. Nine teams were represented. Wachisa told me that it had been a huge success and two more festivals were planned in December.  

Despite Covid-19, it has been a great two years in Chitipa, Northern Malawi. Life and football goes on and we have achieved so much together.