Friends Of Pakati

Welcome back to Friends of Pakati’s blog.

We have great news for our campaign to help Pakati schools get full electrification of all buuldings. Our target of £1600 was met this week!

A large part of our funds have come from the amazing fans at Scunthorpe United FC, not least after our bucket collection at the game on 24th October as the Iron played Woking FC. We want to thank all those fans who donated whatever they could.

We also want to thank those who helped us on the day – Alison, Amber, Jerry, Julie, Karen, Mally, Max, and the Unity Group – much appreciated!

We aimed to raise £1600 (US$2000) to help with the cost of electrification. In the podcast below regular host Bradley Mell & founder Chris Walker discuss the campaign in some detail, what it means, and news of two forthcoming items of interest:

We are now organising to send the funds out to the schools so that when the ZESA connection is due, they have the money in place to go ahead.

We would like further to give our thanks to all at Scunthorpe United FC for their continued support for Friends of Pakati. THANK YOU!

Greetings everyone!

Friends of Pakati are delighted to welcome on board a new partner – Burton United FC – who are a club of 7 junior teams for children between the ages of 5 & 14, both boys and girls.

I got an email last week from someone I did not know. Below is that email, which it seems is the start of something exciting for Friends of Pakati:

Good afternoon Chris

I have just been listening to the Iron Hour Podcast and heard you speaking about the Pakati schools.
I am the chairman of Burton United football club a junior football club based in Burton upon Stather.

Thanks to a number of new sponsors we have recently updated our football kits across the club and as such we have a number of last seasons kits. I am loathed to leave perfectly good kits in our container or see them go to landfill,  so I have been trying to find a way of partnering with a school or community group with a view to reusing them. Would the Pakati schools be interested in football club kit donations at all?

Rick Allison

Burton United FC

Here is the clip from the Iron Hour Podcast which Rick referred to in his email to me: https://friendsofpakati.com/2026/10/11/interview-on-the-iron-hour-podcast/

Not surprisingly I gladly responded the the email with a ‘Yes Please’! So now we are arranging a meeting with some of the board members to discuss their incredibly generous offer, plus other ways we can work together for the benefit of the Club and ourselves.

At the meeting we will have photos taken & maybe some short videos which we will publish, along with more details about the meeting and the donation.

So a huge thank you to Rick, & Friends of Pakati are very much looking forward to developing this new partnership!

Hi Everyone!

Here is a chance for people to win the shirt seen below – Matt Godden’s match worn, framed & signed shirt no. 17 from 2012/13 season!

Matt Godden started his career as a youth player at Scunthorpe United in 2007, then became a senior player with the Iron between 2009 & 2014. He also went out on loan to a number of clubs during his time at Scunthorpe.

Since then he has played in the EFL with Stevenage, Peterborough United, Coventry City, and his current club, Charlton Athletic.

Here is how you can win it

Entry prices as follows

£5 = 2 entries

£10 = 5 entries

£20 = 11 entries

To enter, please pay your entry fee to https://gofund.me/830c22d52

We will keep a record of all entries & confirm receipt of payments.

We will hold the draw next Sunday 18th, & an online auto draw will be held & filmed, then the winner will be announced on social media.

All funds recieved will be going towards our current campaign https://friendsofpakati.com/2026/09/07/appeal-for-1600-by-friends-of-pakati/

Welcome back to Friends of Pakati!

I was recently invited back onto the Iron Hour Podcast, where I was once again interviewed by Barra – Andy Barraclough – one of the team of presenters of the show. Below is the interview in full.

If you want to hear the full podcast where they discuss all things Scunthorpe United FC then here is the link http://youtu.be/He2PFzBo9F0

Unfortunately, the Iron lost the game at Fylde, but we always continue to support the Iron.

●  Coming very soon

A chance to win this….

….as donated to Friends of Pakati by Iron fan Ryan Middleton as seen here https://friendsofpakati.com/2026/10/03/sports-journalist-football-podcaster-talks-to-friends-of-pakati/

Full details to be released in the very near future!

Hi everyone!

On Saturday 24th October, Friends of Pakati has been granted permission to hold a bucket collection at the game between Scunthorpe United FC and Woking FC at Glanford Park/Attis Arena in Scunthorpe.

We are therefore in need of support from willing volunteers to carry out the collection, particularly before the game, outside & inside the ground.

Friends of Pakati will provide the buckets, a hi viz vest & a pin badge to show security so they can allow you to access the areas needed.

If you can help, please contact us in any of the following ways:

Instant/Direct messages to https://www.facebook.com/share/1HnianA8yc/  https://www.X.com/friendsofpakati https://www.facebook.com/share/1DXnLv4ndR/ or https://www.facebook.com/share/1DXnLv4ndR/

Also you could email us at friendsofpakati@gmail.com

This will be part of our campaign to raise enough funds for full electrification of both Pakati schools. If you can, please donate to https://gofund.me/830c22d52

Hi everyone! This weekend I had a visitor – someone who studied at Pakati Primary school during 2003 & 2004.

Keith is living & working in the UK, & came up to visit from his home on the south coast of England. As a keen football fan, I invited him along to watch Scunthorpe United FC in their home game v Hartlepool United in the National League – tier 5 of the English football pyramid.

After a shaky start to the season, it seems Keith brought us a bit of luck, as the Iron came away with what was a comfortable 4-1 win in the end.

We discussed the ongoing links between the club and Friends of Pakati, and he said he was impressed by seeing all the shirts carrying our logo on the sleeve, as well as the banner in the stadium.

Keith went on to say how friendly Iron fans are, and was delighted with how generous they have been over the last 8 years of Friends of Pakati’s existence.

“As a former Pakati student, I can say thank you to everyone for supporting the two Pakati schools, and getting the computers out to rural Zimbabwe where they are very much appreciated.

Helping Pakati to get fully electrified will transform the learning experience of the students there, & will help them get the most out of the donated IT”

Keith went on to say that the gift of the various football shirts from the Iron meant a lot to the students, and that there is definitely a growing number of new Iron fans in the atea!

To help us get the two Pakati schools fully electrified, please donate to us via https://gofund.me/830c22d52

Thank you so much!

Welcome to this weeks blog ftom Friends of Pakati!

Recently we launched an appeal for at least £1600, so we can help both Pakati schools to have electricity connected to every single classroom. See the link below for full details:

https://friendsofpakati.com/2026/09/07/appeal-for-1600-by-friends-of-pakati/

In support of this appeal, I spoke with Roj Rahman at my home, Roj being a friend since we first met in 2014. He is now the Vice chair & a co-owner of Scunthorpe United FC. Below is a link to the particular blog:

https://friendsofpakati.com/2026/09/13/in-conversation-with-roj-rahman/

The current total of our appeal – https://gofund.me/830c22d52 – now stands at £840 out of £1600, so already over 50% thanks to a number of individual donations! We are extremely grateful to all who generously gave to the appeal – so THANK YOU!

We continue to ask for more support as we know what it will mean to both Pakati schools and the wider community, something jointly expressed by the Heads of both schools recently:

“Electrifiaction of the entire schools buildings will help students with better learning environments, staff to better prepare digital learning, and the community to benefit with things like literacy, numeracy & IT lessons themselves. They can also learn better farming techniques, and hold weddings and cultural events to add income to the schools. Most importantly, it allows our students get a similar standard of education to those in urban schools.”

So, please do donate whatever amount you can to our page https://gofund.me/830c22d52 so we can improve the lives of both Pakati schools and its people. THANK YOU SO MUCH 👏👏👏

Today we are delighted to publish a discussion I had with my good friend Roj Rahman, current co-owner and Vice Chair of Scunthorpe United FC

As you will hear in the recording, I have known him since 2014 after meeting at the last SUFC game of the 2013/14 season, which I attended with my son Daniel. It was our first visit to Glanford Park.

Here is our conversation, so please have a listen & I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

Roj has been a keen and generous supporter of Friends of Pakati since I started it in 2019, for which I am always grateful. It continues to this day, as he showed recently at the United by Steel Gala in August this year.

When we did fundraising campaigns he helped us promote them…

…and introduced me to another interested person who has joined our team

But behind it all is a friendship which can be said to be forged in (the) Iron.

Important update

Our current fundraising efforts are going well,  but we still need help…if you can, please donate via https://gofund.rme/830c22d52 so we can electrify both Pakati schools.

Thank you all for listening, watching & supporting Friends of Pakati!