SILAO – Our visit to Mexico coincided with dozens of young girls from Inter Campus sites across the Central American country coming together for our first women’s tournament in the nation.
It was a day of celebration – of sport and good, old-fashioned fun – with the aim of promoting gender equality and raising public awareness around machismo and femicide, two extremely serious issues currently facing Mexico.
The day before the tournament, the girls – around 100 in total – trained together under the watchful eye of Inter Campus coaches Juri Monzani and Silvio Guareschi, with local instructors Juan Jose, Ruben, Oscar, Roberto, Roman, Juan Pablo, Armando and Ivan helping out.
Tom Gravalos, the director general of Pirelli Mexico, who were helping us organise the tournament, said a few words at the tournament: “The lives of many vulnerable children have been changed thanks to the Inter Campus project and the support of Pirelli.
“The project is helping to develop the Silao community, promoting values such as acceptance and respect and facilitating healthy growth and social integration.”
In truth, the Silao tournament was the culmination of a ten-day journey led by Inter Campus Mexico’s organisational director Christian Valerio and technical coordinator Karla Gutierrez.
We saw packed days of training in Mexico City, where the Valle de Ecatepec University site has just renewed its collaboration with Inter Campus for another two years. Here, the project is oriented towards destitute kids living in the area around the university.
Silvio and Juri laid on training sessions out on the pitches and in the classroom for the local coaches. Among those present were Adancito and Fernando from the Uneve project, Oscar from the tough district of Tepito, Ruben from Ceylan, Johanna – a former Inter Campus student who’s just become a technical assistant – and finally Max, the indefatigable Triqui assistant.
Our work in Valle de Ecatepec drew to a close with a meeting for the parents, who were given a presentation on the Nerazzurri’s social work around the world. The goal of meetings such as these is to better get to know the parents and their needs, listening to them and sharing the values we place at the centre of their children’s development.
Our last stop was in Queretaro, visiting children from the Bolanos and Girasol sites, both of which are run by the St Marcellina Sisters.
