Due to a successful GoFundMe campaign in 2021, we were able to send 50 of our players to school in 2022.

As the families of our players are often living off less than $1 per day they barely have enough to feed their family, let alone keep their children in school. The cost to send a child to secondary school is considerably more than for primary school and because of this many of our players drop out after primary school and start working to support the family.

We are proud to support our players in their schooling and help break the cycle of poverty that currently exists.

The Players that we support in 2022.

We are now seeking funds to send 100 of our players to secondary school in 2023.

At Lengo Football Academy we play an active part in the health and wellbeing of our players that goes beyond daily football training.

Over the years we realised that it was not just our young players that required support, but their families as well. In 2016 we piloted the sponsorship of a family and, in particular, a Mama by giving her the capital to build a chicken coop and to purchase chickens and a rooster to start her own small business of selling eggs. At the time the chicken coop was built she was living on less than AU$2 a week and supporting 4 children including one that with severe disabilities.

After a very short time her chickens were able to produce many eggs per week, earning her enough to feed, clothe and school her children. Now, many of our player’s families are empowered by Lengo’s life changing initiative.

For AU$300 you can build a chicken coop like this one and help a family start a small business to support their children to stay in school and have enough to eat each week. We will share your sponsorship family’s story with you and even send you photos as the chicken coop is being built!

Unemployment in Tanzania is very high and it is extremely difficult for our senior players (aged 16 -24) to find full-time employment. The dangers of our senior players not being able to find work is that, over time, they start to lose hope in life and may turn to anti-social behaviours such as taking drugs and theft for survival.

We have established a 12-month employment program for our players once they have completed school, to help them transition into the workforce. The jobs we provide include coaching, refereeing, driving, administration and operations. We also provide them with money management skills during this time. This 12-month employment program gives young people the chance to start building a stable lifestyle and to save some capital to start their own small businesses such as buying and selling produce, starting small shops/local restaurants, farming and keeping livestock.

Part of this program is providing our players with interview skills and helping them to update their CVs.

As Arusha is the start of the Serengeti Trail, tourism is high. We partner with local tour operators to train and provide jobs for our players in work experiences such as portering for climbers up Mt Meru and Mt Kilimanjaro.

We partner with local companies to help our players secure employment in their field of expertise.

Through Lengo’s leadership, Arusha is home to an annual local football league incorporating local teams of different age groups.

Recognising an appetite for learning and participating in football within the community, Lengo has collaborated with the Tanzanian Football Federation to run an annual local league. Lengo engages Government schools to provide an opportunity for the students to play football.

This highly popular program greatly enhances the curriculum offered in Tanzanian schools and enables Lengo to broaden the reach of its network. The aim of these two programs are to give local teams/academies/schools a chance to participate in competitions that help to raise the football standard of our local individual players, as well as our local teams.