In 2020, Sunny, who is now over 20 years old, dropped out of the Salaam Balaak Trust’s books. The reason: He is too old. After his training as a soccer coach in 2016, his dream was to become a sports teacher. For the young “untouchable” - who is not in possession of the correct papers - there were many hurdles to overcome in order to pursue this career.
Soon, in 2021, we can make his dream come true. Agnes Fernandes, Director in Mumbai, says: “The Salaam Balaak Trust has had such good experiences with the ‘Berlinger Project’ that we are planning to expand it to all three children’s homes in Mumbai.”
When Andrea visited Mumbai in January 2020, we decided to invest in Sunny’s training. The plan: In 2021, he should be able to teach sports in the two boys’ homes and in the girls’ home. Incidentally, even the City of Mumbai has got involved in the project. It provides a soccer field free of charge for the children to train on. In view of the small meadow where it all began, this is a great success.
The girls’ home has not yet benefited from sports lessons. However, we are equally passionate about supporting young girls. Therefore, money will also go into equipping the first girls’ soccer team in 2021.
Our commitment to this project continues to be supported by the private charity “Helping Hands” run by Natasha and Tatjana Pathare and Adrian Weiss. We are motivated by the progress made and we never thought we would come this far! We would also like to thank our customers!
