You Have Made a Lasting Impact on the Lives of Troubled Youth [with video]

Fatima Cruz stands in front of her humble stone house with her two children, Harry and Alicia who participated in youth programs through CEPAD and are now more outgoing as they learned new social skills through playing soccer.

With your support CEPAD began working in El Guineo in 2009 and youth volunteers from the community identified many needs for children ages 7-12. They determined that soccer was one of the best ways to reach out and help these children overcome their challenges.

Fatima is excited to see the changes that CEPAD’s program made in her children. “They used to be shy, they didn’t like talking with other children, but now they are more outgoing with other kids and are doing better in school.”

Some of these kids come from broken homes and have been subject to verbal and physical abuse. For others, the combination of rural living and few opportunities to interact with people outside of their village, mean that many children are shy or have poor social skills.  As they learn the sport, interact with other youth from their village and visit other communities it helps them to learn better social skills and improves the likelihood that they will be successful in the future.

“The teams provide 15 children in every community with the opportunity to learn to work together and relate to children in other communities,” explains Maykeling Martínez, who heads the psychosocial project.

The idea to form a soccer league was well received and replicated in seven of the surrounding villages close to El Castillo. The league not only created community teams, but also organized them into playing small tournaments in the area.

Fatima is thankful for your support and is hopeful that these programs will continue so that other children may also benefit. “I hope you will continue working with kids, so that, like my children have come out ahead, others can do the same.”

So far the project has shown great success in the development and growth of the children. We are so thankful for you, as you continue to support these projects for youth development.

Watch the video below of Fatima, Harry and Alicia.