Traveller's Tales: How did a Cambridge boy end up playing football on the banks of the Zambezi in Zambia

At Far and Wild, we believe travel has the power to change lives—not only for those who venture abroad but also for the communities they visit. That’s why we’re proud to support Play it Forward, an inspiring charity transforming lives in Southern Zambia through the unifying power of football.

Founded by Oliver Brendon, a trailblazer in the travel industry (and a university friend of Far & Wild CEO, Ben Morison) Play it Forward uses sports as a catalyst for education, gender equality, and community development. By combining football training with initiatives in nutrition, digital literacy, and sexual health education, they’re equipping young people to become leaders and changemakers.

Who is Oliver Brendon?

Oliver Brendon grew up in Cambridge, UK, and by his own admission had something of a “wayward youth,” spending time in pool halls instead of school. Despite this, he managed to eventually end up at Northumbria University studying Travel Management. From there he took work as a travel rep, before seeing a niche in the growing market of the World Wide Web and founding the now massive attraction ticket broker Attraction Tickets (formerly known as ATD Travel Services) in 2002.

Getting to know the real Zambia

In 2009, after many years of continuous business growth, Olly took a trip to Zambia to see Vic Falls. He describes being frustrated by what he perceived to be a tourist façade of Zambian life and wanted to know what the real Zambia looked like. In a fit of inspiration, whilst travelling around Livingstone, he asked a taxi driver to show him where he lived. The taxi driver took him to a remote village called Mukuni:

“I said can you take me to where you live? He was very accommodating. He took me over to Mukuni village. He showed me which school he went to, and took me round the village where he lived. I was just struck by the level of poverty. I’d never really seen [anything like it] before; the amount of orphans from aids was just extraordinary.”

On returning to the UK, Olly couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d seen and wanted to become involved in raising money for these children. So, he approached the existing charity, Just A Drop, who specialise in providing water and sanitation facilities across Africa.

“I kept going back to Mukuni and I funded some boreholes, and I funded classroom blocks. I went further afield, and I was giving money to some charities to do the work for me.”

ATD Foundation

Olly and ATD continued to fund various projects across Zambia for almost eight years before he eventually created his own grant provider, the ATD Foundation.

“We started the ATD foundation, Jake [current CEO of Play it Forward] joined us and we were a grant provider. We provided money to other organisations to build more boreholes and rural schools and to build more classroom blocks and so on.”

Over this time, Olly and his team visited Southern Zambia frequently and there was something that stood out to him above all else:

“I used to come back with friends and then sometimes with colleagues to see the work, and every time I went back to those schools, I always played football. I was a bit younger then and a bit better. I used to play football with the kids. And it just struck me every time that the power of football is extraordinary. If you could start a charity that somehow connected football and development - that would be an amazing thing.”

Play it Forward is born

One of the biggest grant receivers of the ATD foundation was a football club called the Livingstone Youth Football Association. Olly and Jake eventually realised that they needed to take a more decisive approach to football as development, so the ATD foundation merged with the Livingstone Youth Football Association in 2020 to form what is now known as Play it Forward:

“We unified the organisations [and now] we use football as a tool to do the development of nutrition, education, health, and employment opportunities. We provide pathways to further education, we provide the ability for people to become the community leaders of tomorrow – to be mentors – and even to play professional football.”

Football Success

Indeed, Olly and Play it Forward have had some incredible successes in the past four years. Just recently the Play it Forward FC Women’s Team has had win after win and has been promoted twice in two years. This means that the team (comprised of both girls under 18 and women), who are all from disadvantaged backgrounds, are now performing at the top level of Zambian football. Two of these women have even been selected for the National Zambian team. Olly and all the Play it Forward staff are so proud and excited about everything the women’s team has achieved and what their futures hold:

“Two of the most expensive women’s footballers in the world are Zambian – there’s one who plays in China and one who plays in America. That is a phenomenal thing, and I don’t rule out some of our professional footballers going on to have careers like that.”

Gender Equality

One of the principles behind Play it Forward is to bridge the gender gap in sports, education and employment access for young girls. These girls face exploitation and economic hardship due to high unemployment and poverty. They are particularly vulnerable to a range of detrimental consequences including underage marriage, substance abuse, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, and involvement in criminal enterprises.

Play it Forward addresses these issues holistically, using football as the primary tool to communicate with young men and women about changing their communities. They provide nutrition and education to ensure girls can stay in school instead of getting married young and having children before they turn eighteen. They use football as a metaphor in sexual health clinics to educate on issues such as sexually transmitted infections, family planning, voluntary counselling and testing, voluntary medical male circumcision, safeguarding, sexual consent, and healthy relationship dynamics.

They provide digital literacy classes so that girls who would have otherwise never had access to a computer have a chance to finish their studies and go on to university.

“We have two girls now training with Zambia national team, we have two boys at the best university in Zambia, and that just would not have happened without the organisation that we have.”

As Olly mentions, there is an intention behind these actions to encourage these successful men and women to return to their communities as leaders and mentors, and to continue the improvement of social and gender issues across Southern Zambia. And Olly puts his money where his mouth is – by choosing to use his foundation to address the gender wage gap:

“I would say as well we are the only club in the world to have true gender equality. True gender equality where the women [players] are paid the same as the men. The female coaches are paid the same as the male coaches. And that’s a really cool thing.”

Challenges of running an international NGO

Of course, despite the successes of Play it Forward, there are inevitably hardships. Olly describes the difficulty of convincing people in the UK to donate their time and money to children on another continent.

“The main challenge isn’t in Zambia, it’s in England. People say often well charity starts at home and I think that is a valid point of view up to a point.
But it’s an absolute accident of birth.

I just know that the limited skills I have would’ve been absolutely hopeless in a rural Zambian village. I’d be hopeless. I’m not practical, I would be frightened at night. I’d just be awful. It is a complete accident of birth - where you’re born and the time you’re born.

It is challenging to keep it going, it really is. But we do it because we hope – we really hope – that we’re having an impact and that the work is meaningful and impactful."

Building community

It certainly seems that Play it Forward is having an incredible impact on the lives of the children they support, the communities they uplift and even their own staff. The foundation employees 22 local Zambians on the ground in Livingstone to ensure everything they do is locally focused and the money is going where it needs to go. These men and women love their jobs and are passionate about improving the lives of their own communities through Play it Forward.

Play it Forward’s Communications Coordinator Precious shares her story at Olly’s behest:

“I was like - how could I change someone’s life? I’m not rich but I could use other means to make an impact on someone’s life and then I saw an opportunity and I applied for it… I really put my whole into my work because I want to stay true to why I applied to Play it Forward and why I’m here and seeing those smiles on the young people’s faces really drives me to do my best – to make someone smile using someone else’s resource (laughs).”

Bookkeeper Mwenya also shares his own:

“Zambia has a lot of problems, there’s hunger and starvation in Zambia, most of these kids don’t even have a meal at home. So, when they come… to training, they are guaranteed just a meal, even just one. They are guaranteed a meal and that’s the impact of Play it Forward and I think that’s great.”

Where to next for Play it Forward?

The next step is to construct permanent, functional grounds for the Play it Forward FC in Livingstone, ideally with proper changerooms for the men and women.

“Our objective is to get some land, to have a home. So that we can build classroom blocks, to build 4G pitches, we can build a library… and the other objective is to get a new bus pretty sharpish I think because [the one we have] isn’t going to last [until] next season…

It would be great if we could train our players up to international level as a club, and then use the proceeds from their success to continue the cycle of improving these communities.”

How can people get involved?

The best way is to visit Zambia, visit Livingstone, and visit the projects in the area. Spend time helping out: help the staff hand out the 100+ meals during football training, help the teachers with literacy classes, and take donations on your trip of football gear, shoes, books, and hygiene products. Spending time with the boys and girls supported by Play it Forward and listening to their stories is an invaluable tool for them – it provides moral support that someone is listening, someone is hearing them, and it might just change your life.

If you are interested in running, raising money for good causes, waterfalls, and adventure - have a look at our Victoria Falls Marathon set departure tour and talk to one of our experts about organising your trip to Livingstone to see Play it Forward.

Visiting Livingstone

If you need a reason beyond this to visit, visiting Livingstone means access to Vic Falls, the Zambezi river, and nearby safari parks. There is an abundance of activities to do and reasons to visit, but should you come, you should definitely spend time with the Play it Forward kids and staff.

When asking Olly about his favourite things to do in Zambia besides helping children in need he recommended the white water rafting around Vic Falls, and a visit the Elephant Café .

The Elephant Café is an operation along the banks of the Zambezi (accessible by road or jetboat ride) that offers a unique experience to interact with elephants by replacing the unethical elephant-back riding with ethical interaction. Guests observe and learn about the rescued elephants, sometimes with the opportunity to handfeed them, fostering respect and understanding for their plight.

The herd originated from orphaned elephants saved from drought and culling. Raised with positive reinforcement, they have a strong bond with their handlers and are friendly to all visitors. Veterinarians ensure their emotional and physical well-being.

Get in touch with us at Far & Wild and we can help you organise your trip to Zambia to meet the amazing staff at Play it Forward, the recipients of our donations, and even some friendly elephants if you like!

Donate to Play it Forward here