Fundación Su Cambio por El Cambio (Your Change for Change Foundation)
Of the programs with which Shine a light collaborates, Su Cambio has to be the model for using sports to change the lives of street kids. For Su Cambio, sport isn’t just a reason to get off the street; it is a fundamental part of education.
Su Cambio trains children and teenagers in seven sports:
- Football
- track and field
- cycling
- judo
- skating
- gymnastics
- tennis
These sports teach discipline and cooperation; they also improve self esteem. Here it is important to note that Su Cambio only believes in competitive sports -- winning a football game against an upper class high school raises self esteem infinitely more than any number of friendly scrimmages. If the children are to feel good about themselves, they must win on an even field and not by pity. Su Cambio emphasizes sporting achievements, giving out trophies and medals and always looking to find the highest level of competition.
This method doesn’t just raise self esteem; it trains great athletes. A former student won the 2002 Pan American junior cycling championship and is now a member of the Ecuadorian national team. Others compete with national-level teams in football and other sports, while the Su Cambio teams always win school leagues.
In addition to the educational and disciplinary benefits, sport also has a playful side. Many poor children are punished for playing at home (instead of working or doing chores) so sport redeems the desire to play. More importantly, Su Cambio believes that sport is a “School of Happiness” that teaches children that they deserve to be (and can be!) happy.
Children are admitted to the school based on economic need, not athletic ability. All candidates must have spent some time on the street, they must come from poor families in the southern shantytowns of Quito, and they must have dropped out of school. In order to participate in sports, the children must return to live with their families and cannot be working (Su Cambio provides help to end family abuse and to improve family income).
Each morning the children come to the school and share breakfast, then the train in their chosen sports for four hours. In the afternoon, they attend classes at a school on the Su Cambio grounds. It is a serious school with high expectations. After classes, children learn carpentry, computers, sewing, mechanics, and other job skills. Parents come weekly for parenting and literacy classes.
Su Cambio has a large campus, so it also runs a small farm, where children can learn how to grow vegetables. This farm provides much of the food for meals at Su Cambio.
Funding for the foundation is entirely domestic, largely from corporations like ECOP, IPSOL, Supermaxi, and Produbanco.
Fundación Su Cambio por El Cambio
Matilde Álvarez s/n (Fundeporte Chillogallo)
Quito, Ecuador
262 1177
Contacto: Padre Sereno Cozza, sercoz@yahoo.com
