Inter Campus Cameroon: From Children to Adults, 20 Years Together

Inter Campus Cameroon: From Children to Adults, 20 Years Together

The first photos ever taken at Inter Campus Cameroon were in black and white. And that’s not because there weren’t available yet. Rather, it was the choice of the official photographer, Franco Origlia, to emphasise with contrast the nature of a continent full of contradictions and extremes. However, it is true that decades have passed since Inter Campus’ first African project started in Cameroon – a pilot project with the Centro Orientamento Educativo in Milan. It was also spearheaded by Francis Kammogne, secretary of Centre Sportif Camerounais, the organisation that oversees all Cameroon’s sporting activities.

In the 20 years that it has been up and running, the Inter Campus project has also expanded to involve children from three other sub-Saharan countries (Uganda, The Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola). Moreover, Inter Campus has established further projects with an emphasis on stability and with reliable partners, to strengthen the social action projects through football already carried out by NGOs and/or local associations.

Two decades of travel, meetings, programmes implemented and years of fun and games. Inter Campus staff speak of heart-warming experiences of meeting men they first encountered as boys, particularly those who took part in their oldest projects in Cameroon and Angola. They first saw them running barefoot after the ball on muddy red earth, looking to score in goals marked by two banana branches planted on the ground, and now they come back bringing their children to play in the Inter Campus project.

Often, they become coaches and teachers themselves. And everyone remembers their years at Inter Campus fondly, whether they were involved in Limbé, with its intense rainy season, on the Atlantic coast, or in the punishing heat that parches the land in Garoua, a port city which lies on the edge of the Sahara. Many also remember the great 2009 celebration, when 20 children from every country with an Inter Campus were invited to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Project at an “Inter Campus World Cup” in Tuscany, with all participants returning home with a brand-new bicycle, donated by one of our partner organisations. Some of these bicycles are still being ridden in Cameroon by the younger brothers and sisters of the children who came to Tuscany.

The Cameroon Inter Campus project continues to flourish and is still active, even during this period where there are limitations due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. And although sub-Saharan Africa has been spared more than other places, there have been lockdowns and difficulties in moving and gathering. In places where contact with other people is very limited (isolated villages, institutions for orphans), Inter Campus continues to organise football activities while respecting all the local social distancing rules. Where it’s not possible to play together, their instructors and coaches consistently receive videos containing advice and instructions in order to help them continue to learn and grow. Furthermore, contact with all our children and their families is being maintained.

Once the pandemic is over, the aim is to resume all activities and ensure their educational development work is not interrupted. Inter Campus staff can hardly wait to the children donning the Nerazzurri colours, running around on the red earth, hugging each other after a goal and laughing to reveal beautiful, white teeth that are no longer covered by masks. Because football is the joy of playing together, irrespective of the obstacles that might stand in the way.