CLUJ – The arrival in Romania was yesterday, and this evening at the Stadionul Dr.
Constantin Radulescu the Nerazzurri will face Cluj in
the 2nd leg of the UEFA Europa League round of 32. But for Inter, Romania
does not just mean a one-off trip. It is also a friendly and familiar land that
for over ten years has hosted the Inter Campus staff and children who are part
of it. The Nerazzurri have been active with their social programme
here since 2000.
Here one of the biggest problems facing children is abandonment. When it all
started, 200 balls and 200 shirts were donated to 100 children in orphanages.
These children, normally invisible and excluded from society, then gave a ball
and shirt to other children in their community, thus immediately learning the
importance of giving. And as we all know, kids with a ball are never going to
have problems making friends.
From that moment on, the children have always trained together. At first, the
differences between them were clearly visible. The children who lived in an
orphanage were raised in complete abandonment with neither affection nor
discipline and had problems with attention, coordination and managing their
surrounding spaces. These differences gradually diminished, to such an extent
that they became almost unnoticeable, save for a few scars or shaved heads.
Since then the project has grown and now involves 700 children per year. Two
new projects have joined forces with the historic partner, the Inima Pentru
Inima Foundation, with whom the work and integration proceed by way of games in
orphanages and foster homes in the cities of Ramnicu Valcea, Brasov and Tulcea.
The projects are the one in Slatina, enthusiastically carried out with Comunità
Nuova and known for their projects with Roma
children and social assistance, and the new project in Bucharest, developed
with the Parada Foundation, working to combat the marginalisation of street
children who unfortunately live in difficult situations. They are exposed to
crime, abuse and drugs, and in the winter many of them take refuge in the
underground canals of the city, where heating pipes run, to escape the cold. The aim of the project is to
promote social inclusion for the children over time and ensure they get
important basic services by using football as a social stimulus.
The beginnings are always difficult, but they take nothing away from the joy with which the children wear the Nerazzurri shirt, and warmth with which they’ll cheer for Inter this evening, along with the rest of us.
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