Berlinger has worked with Salaam Baalak to create a football program. What started a few years ago with one team, has now grown into a real little Salaam Baalak League for the children. With multiple teams they can play against each other with a professional Coach to help them every step of the way.
Also, the girls can finally profit from this great opportunity to train and play soccer on a regular basis. They train twice every week; this regularity encourages them even more to keep improving themselves and to find joy in their team spirit.
What brings Berlinger the most joy is the commitment of the children that has formed over the years. Their football program at Salaam Baalak truly gives them the opportunity to develop from loners of the street to team players.
- Already 80 children are part of the program today.
- Four homes from the Salaam Baalak Trust are participating.
- Girls are allowed to train for the first time.
- There is new sportswear and shoes for all children (financed by Berlinger).
- Sunny, a former street child who we have portrayed several times over the last few years, is about to face the next tests in order to gradually develop from volunteer to assistant trainer to certified trainer. A real way outof the slums and a role model for the younger kids.
With every year passing, the ultimate goal gets closer, to give the children a way out of the slums, whether that is through becoming a professional player or start training the next generation of street children, as Sunny does.
