BLUES TOGETHER

Tuesday 7 April 2015

MANCHESTER 10K FOR SIERRA LEONE


On Sunday 10th May I’m running the Manchester 10K in aid of Sierra Leone.  

You may well have seen me pounding the streets of Reddish along with the tracks and trails of Reddish Vale in preparation for this but, now that the wonderful £ky TV have decided to move our QPR game to the same day with a 1:30pm KO I’m going to have to up my game if I’m going to finish in time to see the match.

If you would like to sponsor me then you can do so via the donation link

Many thanks (in anticipation) for your tremendous support.
 
Cheers,
 
Howard.

Sunday 1 March 2015

UPDATES FROM FREETOWN


Things were going well for Man City Sierra Leone up until June 2014 when the team bus was involved in a crash on the streets of Freetown.

 



 

The damage, as can been seen, was extensive but more importantly the driver sustained a serious foot injury and spent a week in hospital, that was not only painful for him but expensive to fund. Although it was not our drivers fault there is no insurance scheme out there as we have over here. I am pleased to say that the driver has since made a full recovery.
C:\Users\TONY\Documents\Armani\Bus Crash\photo 2.JPG
The bus remained off the road for several weeks and the cost of the repair depleted our funds considerably. Of course being off the road for so long meant that the bus was not earning an income for the club and yet again we had to raise finds to keep them afloat.

Eventually the bus was back on the road and all seemed looked well, but this was short lived. Almost immediately after the bus was back the terrible tragedy of Ebola hit West Africa and Sierra Leone in particular. Quite soon into the disaster we received the sad news that Dr. Mohammed Korma had died from the disease. He was the Chair of the largest Sierra Leone supporters club outside of the capital Freetown and had contracted the disease through his work with the afflicted. We were able to send his family a little money to help them through the loss of their only breadwinner.

 

The next tragedy struck in October 2014 when the club medic Allie Turay died. As well as the Man City Sierra Leone Medic he was a nurse at the local hospital which is where he contracted the disease.

 


 
                                                                             Allie Turay

 

He left behind a wife and two young children. His death caught the interest of City Fans throughout the world and we are proud to say that City fans being City fans they came together to aid his family financially with the New York Branch holding a fund raising event for the family and raising $1000.

 

By January 2014 there were signs that the Ebola Crisis was beginning to wain having killed more than 2,500 people in Sierra Leone. However it was on 28th January that we were informed of the death of our 19 year old defender Dura Kanu



                                                                            Dura Kanu



Dura’s father died from Ebola the week before and as we write this article his remaining family are still isolated in their home under quarantine regulations. Dura was the player who scored the winning goal to get the club promotion into the first division. Again we have been able to help his family financially.

 

The outbreak of Ebola has seen the suspension of all football, schooling and people are not allowed to gather, so they cannot even go out to watch a City game on television. We all hope for end of this terrible plight on innocent people who have little in life anyway.

 

That the recent bad news. Let’s look at some good news:

 

In November, with the ongoing Ebola crisis in mind, City fans started collecting anti-bacterial hand gel to ship out. Whilst this was no cure for the disease it was thought to help. Before the serval hundred bottles collected were shipped the effort came to the attention of British Telecom, who are the employers of Howard Burr. Through Howard they donated several thousand anti-flu kits they had in stock. The kits consisted of face masks and ant-bacterial wipes. Not only did they donate the kits but they also paid for the shipment, which included our bottles of gel along with various items donated toward Armani’s new house which is in the process of being built

 
The items were delivered by Armani to various health establishments in Sierra Leone and were gratefully received, re-enforcing their already fond views and MCFC and its supporters. Simple donations like this actually save lives.

 
loading up for the Ebola crisis
 
 
 
Armani distributing hand gel - flue kits etc


 

 

Good news item 2:

 

During Arman’s visits to the UK people have donated to him personally in order that he could build a house for him and his family. Along with Paul Lake, Howards Burr, Phil Holme and Alex Channon I witnessed the conditions that Armani is currently living in. To say they are desperate is an understatement. A man who works so hard to promote Man City in his country deserves more and I am pleased to say that the photo below is how Arman’s new house stands now (February 2015)


It is not finished yet but is not far off. Anytime he can earn money he buys more materials but it is a slow, expensive project.

Armani's house as yet unfinished
 

 

We should be very clear that none of the money donated for Sierra Leone has been spent on Armani’s house. The money has come from individuals who have specifically donated towards the house itself.

 

We can continue to grow Man City Sierra Leone, hopefully into a Premier League club, but only with the help from City fans worldwide, that having been said we recently received a very generous donation from somebody who, as far as we know, is not a City fan.

 

Please visit the ‘How to Help’ page of this website and please tell as many people as you can to visit the website.

 

Monday 8 July 2013

update and e mail from Armani

from Armani yesterday

I will like to say thanks to all my friends and Manchester City Fans world wide that have stand by me in this difficult time in my life.

As when we spoke on the phone you know that I have some relief as I was nervous before I went to court.

I hope justice will prevail as let the truth come out so that the world will know the truth.

Once more I will like to say special thanks to you all from the bottom of my heart as you give me confidence, when I know the justice system out here I hope justice prevail.

Best regards to you all
Armani in Sierra Leone


Monies update - we have raised £1.365 to date of which we have spent £500 and Armanis lawyer and trial expenses - leaving £865 we are keeping this back in case we need a barrister for an appeal which would cost in the region of £2.000 so we would be short by £1.035 BUT we are hoping and praying of course we do not need a barrister - so would then be in a position to give extra monies to the MCFC community in SL

Friday 21 June 2013

Today

can you credit this one today MCFC SL played the Police in a warm up match for the forthcoming season and annihilated them nice one Armani
so far from all sources we are at £1,010

Thursday 20 June 2013

From Armani Today

Fellow blues,

I will like to thanks all my friends and Manchester City fans world wild that have stand behind me in this trying and most difficult time in my life,as i was put in the central prison here for more than 60 hours after i was denial bail on my first hearing as i am now on bail i will return to court back on July 4.

I was moved and touch and have the courage  for all what i go through as blues all around the world show their support for me and i hope justice prevails.

If try to help my fellow youth who has great talent in football in my country with the help of MCFC and the City supporters club world wild,that have provide the team with a mini bus that pay 55 football team players and most of this players used their salaries to fund and education for them self i will like to see this team make it to the top flight in Sierra Leone football and exist after my death,so i am more determine to carry on.
Once more i will like to thanks you all for your supporters toward me and hope justice prevail and let the truth come out.
Thanks you all.
Armani in Sierra Leone.

WE NEED TO RAISE MORE MONEY

Mainly for Armani's defence - plus later in the year some kit is being sent out and we need money for import tax, for those that do not know the story this is copied and pasted from Bluemoon

Over the last few weeks we are aware that people may have heard of the devastating events that have happened to Armani so, in order to bring everyone up to date I will give quick recap.

In 2011 Umbro donated a large amount to sports equipment to Man City Sierra Leone via MCFC. It was shipped out on a container and included hundreds of pairs of size 8 Umbro football boots. Upon receipt Armani kitted out his team, but because all the boots were size 8 some were taken to a local sports dealer and exchanged for sizes that fitted, the usual deal was 2 Umbro for a pair of the player’s choice. Armani had lots of equipment over and he distributed it free of charge to other football clubs, schools, churches, Mosques etc. That distribution was covered widely in the Sierra Leone Media.

When Paul Lake and I went out with Howard Burr, Phil Holme and Alex Channon to deliver the bus prior to the Umbro shipment we met a woman out there who runs her own football club called FC Johansen. This woman is a very influential and a wealthy. Through that contact it was decided that her football club should receive the remaining Umbro stuff that would not fit into Armani's container, and she also received some City kit. Sometime after that was received Armani was informed that FC Johansen had worn an official Man City kit at one of their matches (it actually transpired that they may have only worn the kit to warm up prior to kick off, but Armani was told that it was worn during the match.) In order to avoid confusion Armani expressed concern to me and I in turn passed that on to Paul Lake. Paul wrote a friendly email to the owner of FC Johansen reminding her that any City kit she had received was for her team as leisure wear and to avoid confusion with Man City Sierra Leone it should not be worn at official matches. The reply Paul received was, in my view, aggressive and critical of Armani for bringing it to the attention of City. Also within the reply to Paul was what I perceived at the time to be a veiled threat.

Early last week Armani was running a training session with his players when CID officers turned up and told him that the boots some of his players were wearing had been identified by FC Johansen as items they had stolen some weeks earlier. Armani was arrested and taken to the police station where he was able to contact me in a very distressed state. It was alleged to him that the police had been told by his accusers that there were in fact no football boots for him in the Umbro shipment and that only FC Johansen received the boots. This fact is not a problem as the City Website shows film of the boots being load for shipment out to Armani and we have the official shipping documents.

I was able to speak to the investigating officer on the phone and he did not seem interested in anything I wanted to say and told me that Armani would be held in custody until the investigation was complete. Armani later told me that someone informed him t they had witnessed the officer being "encouraged" by his accuser not to allow Armani bail. Through the great help of a friend of mine Miriam Mason-Sessay who runs the charity Educaid out there, a legal representative was arranged and managed to get him out on bail the following day. The bail was high and was collected by friends and family of Armani. I understand that money is not returned as it was to "buy" bail. He was then told that he had to return to the police station 2 days later which he did. At that point he was charged with Receiving Stolen Property and was ordered to appear in court on 12th June. This he did and by this time he had a good lawyer to represent him. Armani entered his plea of Not Guilty and to the shock and horror of everyone in the court he was remanded to prison to await trial.

That evening I got telephone call from Sierra Leone by people who were in court who told me that the Magistrate was not interested in any arguments for bail and I was also told that his accuser has a close relative who is very senior in the Judicial System out there. One of the calls I took was from the man who runs Sheffield United Sierra Leone and he told me that every football club in Sierra Leone was supporting Armani and they all knew that the charges against him were malicious. Another caller told me that senior people in the Sierra Leone FA were not happy with the situation and were supportive of Armani (I cannot confirm the accuracy of this). Armani remained in the prison until Friday 14th June when he returned this time his bail application was accepted and is now out on bail until a trial date on 4th July.

Everyone who knows Armani well in both this country and his country knows that these allegations are malicious and are born out of jealousy and vindictiveness but the allegations are made by an influential person. He is being accused of stealing Umbro boots when he has given away hundreds of pairs of Umbro boots. This case would not get to court in our country but I know from experience of working out there that people with influence tend to get their way.

If you want to show your support for Armani on here please do so as I know Armani is a Bluemooner. Armani is also on Facebook, if you’re not already his friend then search for Armani Kamara and post a message of support……justice will prevail.

We will keep everyone up to date with all developments.

Monday 28 February 2011

as promissed from the prof - she is the good looking one


and what about this for an e mail from the mad prof

Hi all and greetings from the Barmoi!

Drinks by the pool aren't the same without you.

I am writing to tell you how wonderful Armani and his driver have been all week - it has been a great experience. I hired the bus Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to transport conference participants from the Barmoi to the Special Court. On Wednesday we started by driving the bus up to meet the First Lady at the Presidential Lodge and then into town to go to the market. On Sunday, Armani is taking some of us to Beach #2. More than that, though, is that Armani has been very professional, generous and helpful. He has been working really hard to do whatever is asked of him - some things i did not know about until he showed up with perfume and sunglasses to sell to my colleagues from Uganda or Rwanda! He is very entrepreneurial while also fair. Well, you know all this already but I wanted to reinforce it. And when I am walking around with Armani he is greeted all the time, like a local hero. So cool. On Thursday after the opening day we had a reception here at the hotel so Armani also had a chance to show off some of his dance moves by the lower pool! I think I can say that he had a good time.

Armani gave me a copy of the MCSL cd and I may try and burn some copies. And he and I are going to send you photos of the women's rights activists in front of the MCSL bus. Talk about community outreach, Paul! (here is the conference link
http://tubman.apps01.yorku.ca/events/forced_marriage_in_conflict_situations_international_conference )

hugs from here,
annie

more great news

MCFC SL has been asked to play the first game of the season at the National Stadium this is an unheard of honour for a second div side - and is in recognition of the work done by Armani and his team - and also for letting the National Team use the bus - we are getting noticed guys - keep the money coming in BTW

Cheers Phil