Poverty sadly defines the reality of a fifth of the Peruvian population today. Many children are not able to choose their life path and have access to a good educational basis due to poor living conditions, a lower access to quality education or the ongoing problem of child labour. In fact, Peru is the Latin-American country with the highest rate of child labour, more than a million children from the ages 5 to 17 are engaging in child labour. By doing so, they not only expose themselves to an unsafe and dangerous environment on the streets but are also at higher risk to drop out of school.
It has been scientifically proven that table tennis is the sport that most affects brain growth, and it also favours the hand-eye-coordination – which stimulates and improves concentration, reading comprehension and logical reasoning.
Impacting Lives is a three-year project which aims to transmit Olympic values such as friendship, excellence and respect with children and young people in national schools from the most vulnerable and impoverished areas of the country.