After a very moving year spent on social projects in Bateys Caballona und Lecheria on the edge of Santo Domingo, 4 Weltwaerts volunteers had a lasting change of attitudes. The high school graduates, then all 18, were enthusiastic footballers and so it made sense to pique the interest and confidence of children in the slums with a football. The first football matches were passionate affairs and the kids quickly learned how to win as a team but also how to lose as a team. Back in Germany, the four founded “Café con Leche e.V.” in Völklingen in 2010 in order to change the life of children and young people living in extreme poverty. Since that time, the former founders repeatedly visit their growing project and worked voluntarily alongside their degrees, master’s theses, doctorals and now in addition to their jobs for the further development of the project.
Café con Leche
Dominican Rep.
Café con Leche e.V. uses football, to improve the life of children and young people in the impoverished neighborhoods of Lecheria and Caballona, as they have to suffer from the lack of jobs and qualified educational institutions. The only condition for taking part in the training sessions and football matches is regular school attendance.
Project name
Café con Leche
Location
Dominican Rep.
Project partner
Café con Leche e.V. was founded in 2010 by four former Weltwärts volunteers in Voelklingen. The association has been promoted by Margret Kratz (ex-football player) as a patron since 2013, and she regularly personally consults and supports on-site.
Project partner's website
Project partner's aim
Café con Leche e.V. tries to improve the lives of children and young people living in extreme poverty in a sustainable and future-oriented way. Football and extra-curricular education and leisure activities should promote personal and social skills and make clear the importance and need for a school education.
Aim of the BeA Foundation
Contribute to the running costs of the project, including:
- Salary payments for 8 full and part-time workers
- Financing transportation to away games
- Purchase of sports materials
Game on - The Project is Formed
A Project with Passion
In working with the girls and boys on the football field, valuable skills, such as confidence, esteem, conflict resolution skills, team spirit, etc., are acquired. Sharing the joy over a victory or a good game and enduring a defeat is experienced by both the coaches, volunteers and the young people. This affiliation also often extends beyond the voluntary year, and almost all former volunteers still work voluntarily for the association in Germany.
The Club's Philosophy
The condition for taking part in the training sessions and football matches is regular school attendance. This agreement is not always respected even by their own parents, because in the daily struggle for their own survival, they would rather have their children cleaning shoes or selling fruit on the street rather than focus on their children’s future prospects. Therefore various educational measures are carried out prior to the actual football training by the association to provide them with better support. Each completed and meaningfully used period of time is better for young people than merely standing around on the road.
Girls Can Play Football, Too
Café con Leche e.V. pays particular attention to girls’ needs. In football, the girls are treated as equal and valuable members of a common experience. This helps them to appreicate their important roles as women and the equal standing that goes along with that. To protect the girls from poverty prostitution in particular, educational work is also carried out, which deals with various themes such as sexuality, drug prevention and crime.