Visit to Inter Campus Romania before the cold kicks in

BUCHAREST – Inter Campus coaches Andrea Galbiati and Davide Lubes have just returned from a trip to Romania, spent training, teaching and spreading Inter Campus values to 200 boys and girls in three separate locations in the country.

The aim of the Inter Campus Romania project is to offer children a chance to practise sport as equals while providing concrete aid to the local communities. Inter Campus does this with the help of Pirelli, who has worked alongside us on numerous projects – sharing the same values – in several of the 29 countries we operate in for almost 20 years now.

Our partner in Slatina is Comunita Nuova, an association headed up by Don Gino Rigoldi which also works with disadvantaged youths in Italy. Our mission is to use sport to aid the integration of Romanian and Roma kids.

We were met by the three local coaches, Medellin, Mircea and the newcomer Florin, along with 70 excited kids raring to get started. After handing them their new Nerazzurri shirts, we spent two days with them on the pitch.

The second leg of our trip took us to Valcea, where we were welcomed by Lidia Dobre, president of our local partner IPI, with whom we have worked on projects involving hundreds of children and adolescents. Children being abandoned by parents emigrating abroad – a problem which began in the early '90s – remains an issue in Romania today.

Valcea has two new coaches: Alin and Andrej, who are both PE teachers and play together for the local side. After our departure, The onus is on them to educate and train approximately 100 kids on the pitches of the two schools, Vladesti and Ocnel Mari.

The integration and social inclusion of children with family problems is one of the project's primary aims and football is one of the tools we use. Following an agreement with the schools, our training sessions have been included in the scheduled sports activities.

Our visit ended in the capital, where our local partner Parada works with street kids. Many of these spend the summer months in parks or covered open areas but when the cold weather kicks in they're forced to go back down to Bucharest's underground canals, where hot water pipes warm the air. Some of these children go to the Pinocchio day centre and play with the other Inter Campus kids from the San Marcellino children's home.

Franco Aloisio, president of the Parada Association, greeted us in Bucharest with two local coaches, both named Catalin, and around 30 boys and girls from the two centres. We spent a day working with them in the name of integration at the American school, whom we thank for the organisation.