Inter Campus: football becomes magic in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH – These are days given over to celebration in the village of Roong, which is in the Bati District, about 50 km from the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. One hundred and fifty children aged between 8 and 14 are celebrating the start of the new Inter Campus programme. They attend the school with a catchment of 400 children in the Province of Takeo which was built by the Missione Possibile non-profit organisation – partners of Inter Campus in Cambodia.

On this occasion, the new pitches, which were created thanks to contributions made by Inter Campus and with the invaluable support of Gattinoni Travel Network, Castello di Cigognola and Valextra, were inaugurated.

These are now extremely important meeting places for the community, as previously there were only two football pitches in this province which has a population of 250,000.

Together with the delegation from Inter Campus and Missione Possibile, representatives of the Ministry of Education and officials from the District and Province attended the opening ceremony.
It was a very emotional moment for all concerned when the children were presented with their Nerazzurri shirts and then seeing their commitment during the training sessions which began immediately after the ceremony under the guidance of the Inter Campus technical staff and local educators.

As had already been noted in the countryside in China where Inter Campus is also active, the Cambodian children in the village were not familiar with the rules of football, but the ball, as ever, acts like a magnet for everyone’s enthusiasm. This is an extra stimulus for Inter Campus to work with dedication and perseverance in the country until the magic of football and those blue and black colours can become a means of educating, integrating and communicating joy, which are the fundamental and unique objectives of this new project.

22.09.2011