Inter Campus Paraguay: life amidst the rubbish

Inter Campus Paraguay: a visit to the Cateura landfill site and shantytown, and SOS Children’s Village International orphanage.

Destination Asunciòn. Or, to be more precise, the Cateura area in the Zeballos Cue neighbourhood. The Cateura landfill site is home to thousands of people: gancheros, who earn a measly living sorting through waste in the hope of finding things they can then sell to the recycling industry. The gancheros live with their families in the shacks near the landfill site, in an unhealthy atmosphere where the risk of disease and infection is high. But this is where Inter wanted to set up an Inter Campus centre, which head of coaching Aldo Montinaro and fellow trainers Lorenzo Forneris and Juri Monzani recently visited.

The 150 children at the Cateura centre train on a patch of ground completely covered in sand and rubbish, an area where it’s almost impossible to play football. But thanks to the tireless work of co-ordinator Julio Gonzalez and the passion and dedication of the local instructors, the youngsters are given the chance to play football and enjoy themselves, their smiles bringing a ray of sunshine to the place.

The second Inter Campus Paraguay centre hosts 150 children, all either orphans or children who have been abandoned, and is located in Zeballos Cue, where there is also a school and orphanage set up by SOS Children’s Village International. Here too, the Inter Campus staff were welcomed with enthusiasm by the children, all of whom wanted to play football with them. To mark the visit, the children even painted the doors black and blue.

31.07.2012