Tired but filled with many one-off experiences and encounters, a mixed team of the U12s and U13s returned from Kokrobite, Ghana. Like the U12 group did last year, they worked on a social project, got to know the Ghanaian culture and made steps in their personal development, which they will draw on for a long time to come.
Continuation of last year’s project
The young talents raised a five-figure sum with house and garden work, cake sales at school and even the independent organisation and staging of a tournament with the help of their parents. In addition, the VfB foundation ‘Brustring der Herzen’ also contributed financially, as it did last year, in order to further develop the content of the project. Even with the overall financing, the Ghana project fulfilled its purpose of personal development, as personal responsibility and creative solutions were required when raising the money.
The 17 youngsters also faced a number of challenges in Ghana: a new culture, being spoken to in a foreign language, the heat and also a strenuous schedule, with daily cultural and sporting activities on the programme. “The boys coped with these tasks very well,” said U12 coach Moritz Pfeiffer. “They helped each other, quickly absorbed the new impressions and tried to immediately apply them in their conduct.”
The main task during the nine days in Ghana was to fill used plastic bottles with sand and use them to build so-called ‘aquaponic tanks’. These large water basins are used, for example, to purify water, grow vegetables or breed fish and contribute to the self-sufficiency of the people in Kokrobite. The young boys also got involved in the local learning centre, the Kokrobite Chiltern Centre (KCC), where they took part in lessons and even slipped into the role of maths teacher for a lesson. There was no shortage of football either: the boys from Cannstatt competed against local clubs and a regional team in several matches. Ghana's national team coach Otto Addo also visited KCC and answered questions during a Q&A session.
On behalf of the whole team, Finn Weyers summarised his main takeaway from the Ghana trip: “Even though the people in Ghana don’t have much, they’re happy. And they make a lot from what they do have. That was great to see.”