“Sports programs teach youth both on and off the field,” says Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions. “Learning and playing team sports encourage leadership skills as well as teach youth to work as part of a team. Students also learn important social skills and have opportunities for growth and maturity.”
So, for instance, Don Bosco Anbu Illam, located in Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India, has received a donated sports bus thanks to the HCL Foundation, which aims to alleviate poverty through a community development approach. The goal of the donation is to encourage and motivate people who are poor and marginalized to engage in sports-related activities. The vehicle will transport the elite players from various community centers and government schools for training, coaching, and competitions across southern India. It has comfort features, including air conditioning, a water dispenser and a television.
While more than 300 youth, ages 5-17, play sports and learn values thanks to the two social-sports schools the Real Madrid Foundation set up in Senegal with the collaboration of the Salesian Mission Office in Madrid, Spain. The programs are hosted at Salesian schools in Thies and Tambacounda. Most of the project’s participants come from local Salesian centers. The partnership between the Real Madrid Foundation and the Salesians began in 2010 in Senegal and continued to schools in Central and South America. Today, the collaboration has 21 projects in 14 countries and serves nearly 4,000 children each season, using educational sport and its values as a catalyst for the social betterment of youth and communities.
“Don Bosco Maputo” also offers a Real Madrid Social-Sports School, in Mozambique’s capital of Maputo. Through soccer and basketball, more than 70 children and adolescents learn values and improve their academic performance. For three days a week, the students at Don Bosco Maputo participate in training sessions. Walter, age 13 and one of the participants in the soccer school, said, “Here we have fun, we learn a lot and make friends. When I grow up, I want to be a teacher. I know that what I’m learning will help me achieve this goal.”
Finally, a new basketball court is now available to youth at Palabek Refugee Resettlement Camp in Uganda. The idea of creating a space for youth to play sports began in 2019 when a benefactor gave a basketball to the youth. At the time, there was no place where they could use it. From that day forward, youth have been waiting to see a court built where they could play and connect with their peers.
