Children living in Govandi´s slum experience one of the poorest environments in the country. They lack practically all the resources and basic means and count on just minimum goods and services, which are not even granted. Thus, some years ago we started a project in collaboration with Bergner Group to address the children of the area and provide them with educational and social aid, starting a program of leadership in which they will acquire knowledge, learns, values, and skills to face the challenges of the future.
Thus, we set a place where the classes are given within the slum and next to an abandoned field that we use as a football pitch to train and hold matches played by the children. We thought that using football as a channel of teaching and spreading solidarity and virtues such as respect, tolerance, equality, and diversity, was an opportunity to engage the youth and assure their participation.
Now we can say that it has worked and the community has witnessed how many children have become adults that are a great example for the youngest. Furthermore, most of the guys who participated when they were children have kept staying close to the project, showing interest in helping and always willing to share their experiences in order to encourage others to believe in the program and be focused on it.
Every summer a group of volunteers from Spain come to spend their free time to get involved in this initiative and contribute with their experience and backgrounds to the development and growth of the young beneficiaries. They teach them basic school subjects and organize football training. Their implication is so remarkable, as they even stay on the football pitch for hours and hours, giving their best to try to make participants happy. They don’t care about the conditions, they enjoy playing around and seeing how useful and rich are their actions.
