FROM A CHILD TO AN INTER CAMPUS COACH

The story of Zefariah, who, after many years with the project in Uganda, continues to be part of the Nerazzurri family

NAGALLAMA – ‘Zefariah, it’s you!’ When I saw one of the new Inter Campus educators in St. Joseph primary school in Nagallama, I was happily surprised: he was one of the children (although he is now grown up) that we took with three of their teachers to the big Inter Campus tournament festival in Figline Valdarno in 2009, with this having been organised with the Region of Tuscany. After days of great fun and sharing experiences with children from 18 other countries included in the Inter Campus project, he returned home, like everyone else, with an abundance of memories…. and with a bicycle.

The bicycle still exists, but his little brother uses it (here things are not thrown away, they are fixed and used until they fall apart). And now there he was, educator of the youngest children at the school in Nagallama.

This is one of the many positive results of the project: it is true that the main beneficiaries are the children who are between 6 and 13 years old, but you cannot overlook the training that we give to the instructors, who receive a qualification that allows them to work with children in a way that is beneficial and selfless.

The project has been going on for 20 years, and cases like Zefariah’s are increasingly occurring. One observation is always particularly pleasant to note: all the work that our coaches (the wonderful Juri and Lorenzo on this occasion) do to develop the personality of minors actually produces informed adults who are, in turn, able to come back and help. This June visit, which lasted eight days and included two separate courses (for senior and junior educators), ended with the adults being provided with certificates of participation and 80 balls intended for the children being handed out.

All this was possible thanks to the invaluable help of MP Filtri and its President, Giovanni Pasotto. The activity finished with a ceremony, and the children sang ‘Mwebale Nyo Passotto’, ‘Thank you very much Passotto’. Even if they changed his name slightly, we know that he will be very happy to hear this.

09.07.2018