Inter Campus Cuba, the centre in Jaimanitas

HAVANA – On the fifth street of the Cuban capital, having gone past the embassy area and past the grand palace for international conventions, you arrive at the neighbourhood of ‘Las Jaimanitas’, in the north-west of the city and only a few steps from the artisti Fuster’s scenic and colourful architecture. You immediately notice the new atmosphere compared to a few hundred metres back, and shortly after entering the neighbourhood, you arrive at the nuns' house where Sister Onoria represents a new piece of Inter Campus history: the first non-governmental Cuban partner who is also active in a social context for the poor (they are the ‘Hijas de la Misericordia de la tercera orden regular de San Francisco’).

The unity of their aims and the common will to help children through sport is immediately clear. Inter Campus immediately managed to involve around 45 boys and girls who live in the surrounding neighbourhood and whom the sisters already help together with their families. Poverty and various social emergencies emerge as a risk of child prostitution, emphasised by the parent’s behaviour and the numerous cases of hostile and disorganised divorces that affect the children’s development, who also don’t participate in any recreational or sports activities outside of school. Every Tuesday and Thursday, in a green plot of land within a maritime club where you can feel the sea breeze, without goals but with long grass, Inter Campus have created a project that is a breath of fresh air for these boys and girls who are going through a tough time in their development.