Cruzada por los Niños, a CIS University non-profit organization, and the Fundación Real Madrid have once again renewed their collaborative agreement to continue developing various social programs in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique.
Real Madrid Foundation Executive Vice President Enrique Sánchez, Deputy General Manager Iker Casillas, and CIS University and Cruzada por los Niños President María Díaz de la Cebosa were all present at the ceremony.
Members of the CIS University staff, as well as a number of standout athletes and Dean’s List students from the school were also invited to attend the event.
María Díaz de la Cebosa began her speech by highlighting the following:
“Today’s renewal of this collaborative agreement is very special. We have been walking together since 2011 in Mozambique, learning and overcoming every instance of adversity, which in recent years has certainly not been scarce. We have been able to overcome everything side by side with great enthusiasm”.
During her speech, the president made special mention of the great growth of the program, having begun in 2018 with seven schools in Gorongosa District and 280 beneficiaries. The following year, the project already had 17 schools distributed between the Nhamatanda and Gorongosa districts. By 2020, there were schools in communities in three different districts and 800 beneficiaries. This year, thanks to the support of the Real Madrid Foundation, the schools of Chibuabuabua and Nhamacuenguere, devastated by a powerful cyclone, were rebuilt.
Currently, the program has 23 schools located in the Gorongosa, Nhamatanda, Dondo and Cheringoma Districts, with a total of nearly 1000 beneficiaries between each location.
Renewing hope for a better future through sports
With this partnership, the Real Madrid Foundation, the Gorongosa National Park and Cruzada por los Niños are developing a unique program in which soccer is the tool designed to enable great personal development of each participant in many aspects such as education, health, gender equality, environment consciousness and protection, and psychological and motor development.
Iker Casillas stressed during his speech that:
“This initiative is a great demonstration of how sport can contribute to improve people’s lives and work with them in the development of their communities.”
María Díaz de la Cebosa concluded by stating that:
“This program will not end here. We will continue to support more and more girls to secure a dignified future. We will continue to increase the number of schools and beneficiaries of this program year after year. There are many more individuals that still need support.”
