Ping Pong Paz
Colombia
Local coaches have been trained and hired to lead table tennis classes twice a week to the children at three venues. In December 2009, the ITTF World Junior Championships were played in Cartagena, Colombia. 25 children from Colombianitos were invited to watch and participate in activities with National Team players and a former World Champion. The aims were to motivate them to practice sport, have fun and meet some role models. And just one month after the launching of the program, they had the chance to watch the best players of the world in their age. Miss Colombia also attended and interacted with the children. For many of them it was the first time to take a flight and also to see the beach
- To use table tennis as a vehicle to assist children in underprivileged regions as a healthy and positive option for their spare time
- To provide them sport opprtunities and education of values through sport
- To bring hope to children from families displaced because of the Guerilla.Families bring together children from different neighbourhoods in a society devastated by the conflicts
Peace and Sport, Butterfly, Colombianos (Local NGO), Colombian Table Tennis Federation
Context:
According to the United Nations, Colombia has the highest number of displaced persons worldwide (4 million). The main problem of these children is the lack of worthwhile leisure activities for their free time under adult supervision. That creates the environment to stay on the streets and promotes criminality and drugs use. Despite the fact that organizations are trying to solve this problem, children still do not have access to sport facilities. The NGO “Colombia” is the local partner, they assist more than 4,000 children in 7 venues of Colombia, most of them living in underprivileged neighbourhoods and belonging to displaced families. They had to move from the countryside to slums to escape from the risks of the guerilla, paramilitary and drug gangs
Project Content:
25 children from Colombianitos were invited to watch and participate in activities with National Team players and a former World Champion. The aims were to motivate them to practice sport, have fun and meet some rôle models. And just one month after the launching of the program, they had the chance to watch the best players on the world in their age. Miss Colombia also attended and interacted with the children. For many of them it was the first time to take a flight and also to see the beach
Objectives:
Offering to children a way to have a leisure activity through the discovery of table tennis and having the opportunity to see a high-level tournament
Impacts and results:
The project offered to children an opportunity to discover both sport practice, seeing professional players and travelling for the first time
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