The children of the Kokolo military camp

KINSHASA – The dry season is in full flow in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A fog of dust surrounds the capital, Kinshasa, dulling the sun’s heat and creating the perfect conditions for the 120 children involved in the city’s Inter Campus project. All of the youngsters come from the Kokolo military camp, in the district of Lingwala.

In the grounds of the local state school, Inter Campus coaches Alberto and Lorenzo have organised three days of training activities for the kids from this rundown part of Kinshasa. The Kokolo military camp is where army families live while the soldiers are posted in other parts of the country, leaving them with no financial support and huge social and educational problems.

It is a situation that sees many youngsters fall into the trap of petty street crime, yet Inter Campus has been working in collaboration with the Ujana Association for many years to give the local children the opportunity to do something more constructive with their free time. As part of these efforts, school attendance is incentivised.

Enthusiasm for the project is high because there is no other sports-based initiative like it for children of their age. Inter Campus ensures that these youngsters can have fun and get proper exercise, helping their personalities to develop in an otherwise tough environment.

The vastness of the Democratic Republic of the Congo means we can only visit one of our two centres in the country at a time. The other site, in Lubumbashi, the second-largest city in the country, is hundreds of kilometres away by plane, but we make sure to keep in constant contact with our men on the ground between one visit and the next.

In autumn, the new Inter kits will arrive and the children’s eyes will light up with excitement, as they did the first time we visited. “Bonjour Mundele,” was their greeting – hello, white man. We were firm friends by the time we left, the kids crowding round our car to shout “au revoir, Inter!“. Thanks to Inter Campus, we left a little part of the Nerazzurri family there with them.

11.07.2016