The Story So Far

In 2011, Bhubesi Pride Foundation’s founder, Richard Bennett, took a rugby ball – and a camera and camcorder – to Africa. A former teacher, Richard spent a year preparing for this reconnaissance mission, where he’d meet children, teachers, head teachers, sports federation representatives and government officials in 10 countries over 7 weeks… and then documented what he learnt.

The following year Richard led a small team of volunteers on a 6-month, 30,000km overland expedition from London to Cape Town, coaching 3,687 children and training 33 local teachers in 22 schools.

Bhubesi Pride Foundation (BPF) coordinated a further seven annual expeditions, better and more dynamic every year. The organisation – registered as a UK charity in 2013 – built on its established relationships and early success by seeking to deepen its operational focus and support the development of selected community projects, with the help of dedicated volunteers, donors and partners. We implemented 12 community projects in 8 African countries, including two sports courts, IT and desk classroom installations, pedestrian crossings, tree planting initiatives and the refurbishment of a centre for children with disabilities… But as we progressed, it became increasingly important for us to develop projects and programs focused on our youth sports & education vision…

In 2017, we registered BPF’s first African NGO, in Malawi, supporting the delivery of a youth rugby program in Mtema, rural Lilongwe; we introduced netball in 2019. In 2018, we purchased a 7-acre plot and began the construction of a transformational sports & education community centre – it took nearly five years. With the community centre coming to life, in early 2022 BPF Malawi formed a game-changing technical partnership with ChildFund Sport for Development.

With two registered organisations – BPF’s UK charity and BPF’s Malawi NGO – we continue to learn from our experiences in a nuanced and fast-changing local and global environment, maximising our collective resource and expertise, and drawing on the help of our partners, donors and volunteers to achieve our vision and goals.