FCBARCELONA.CAT

05.12.2007 17:34

First results after a year of work

Marc Parramon (enviat especial)

FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta and the delegation from the club that are in Swaziland have visited two schools and Community Support Centres on Wednesday morning that have been financed by the club through the agreement Unicef.

The Blaugrana party had to be up bright and early to visit the different education centres in which the club collaborate. At 9.30am, Laporta and his colleagues went to see the Zwide Primary School in the small southern African state, where latrines have been built and a well that allows the children at the school to have fresh drinking water without having to walk long distances to find it, like that had to do a short time ago.

Sport for education

Thanks to the contribution of of FC Barcelona, the school is also developing a programme that uses sport as an educational took to help integrate the children into th community and to teach them to defend their rights.

At the school there are 224 children, 42 per cent of whom are orphans that have seen their quality of life improve notably thanks to the support of Unicef and FC Barcelona.

Community support

Immediately afterwards, the Blaugrana delegation visited the Community Support Centres in Nkambeni and Mbangarwe, just two of the 23 centres that the club has helped to build in Swaziland. These centres receive around 60 boys and girls who have lost either one of both their parents and are in a clear state of vulnerability. They are fed and offered education and health, as in many cases, they are carrying the HIV virus. The Barça president was eager to discover the reality of the children and made a private visit to three cabins to see how they live.

Musical greeting

At midday, the Barça party visited the school in Nkambeni, where they were made by an orchestra containing children from the centre, that celebrated their arrival with glee. Laporta and the members of the delegation presented trophies to the winners of football and netball tournament before handing out some balls to the children.