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43 42 FOOTBALL FORGOODMAGAZINE | AUGUST 2019 KICKSTARTERS Kindergarten that is open daily from 8am until 4pm, runs football training sessions for 340 children and young adults each week, in addition to a variety of activities that meet the other interests of the participants - from homework support to languag- es, music and art. “I didn’t study education or train as a teacher – in fact, I didn’t finish school and went travelling instead,” Florian remarks, adding: “But I always asked myself what an education system should look like. What we do today is give the children a safe space in the centre. They have a lot of freedom to decide what they want to do. It’s all about intrinsic motivation, which means to say that their motivation for doing something comes from the action of doing it rather than from an external reward or consequence.” When Florian first introduced this approach at the football school, he says it took a while for it to have an effect. “The kids are used to having a coach who stands in front of them and shouts orders and who punish- es them if they make a mistake.” He notes that it is the same at schools: “The children are used to being beaten by their teachers. Corporal punishment is seen as an educa- tional tool.” Though he says that he does not blame the teachers, as he says they “think they are doing something good”, he cannot accept this treatment of young people. The Delta Cultura players have since learned that if they don’t show motivation, he will not con- tinue the activity they are doing. “Such an approach takes time and perseverance,” Florian admits, but act resolutely according to his own ideals. As a result, he and his colleagues at Delta Cultura have witnessed the young people en- gaging with full concentration and contentment on something they have chosen to do. Watching such a development is what motivates Florian in his work. He says that it becomes acutely apparent on the football pitch. “Football, they simply love it! One of my favourite things to do is to go out and watch them play. With football everything else in life slips into the back- ground. Football has the potential to make you forget the hardship of your life. When the players become fully absorbed by the game, they aren’t just playing football, they are football!” people aware that the reality we find ourselves in is not God given, it is the work of humans. We shouldn’t just accept it! God has nothing to do with the fact that the people here are living in poverty!” Florian says enraged. “Changing this mindset is the prerequisite for change to be- come possible.” Florian found out more about how such societal challenges could be tackled through football-based pro- grammes when he was contacted by streetfootballworld. “They found me by researching for programmes that used football all over the world. And I found out about the other side of the sport.” By becoming a streetfoot- ballworld network member in 2004, Delta Cultura was later included in FIFA’s Football for Hope programme. That not only meant funding for football for good activities, but also the initiation of the Tarrafal Football for Hope Center in 2012. Some ten years before this facility was built, Delta Cultura had already moved its activities to new grounds. The municipality had other plans for the town centre pitch and requested that the players make way for the construction of a market. Florian and his colleagues negotiated with the local council and secured a parcel of land just outside the town. Building work began on the ‘Delta Cultura Educational Center’, which was completed in 2004. The financial foundations for the construction work were laid by a profitable exchange with the Arbeiter Samariter Bund (The Workers’ Samaritan Federation). In response to a letter Florian had writ- ten about Delta Cultura’s work on Cape Verde, a woman from the fed- eration walked into his and Marisa’s bar one day to discuss opportunities for collaboration in person. The re- sult was funding for the construction work and the engagement of Delta Cultura as the Arbeiter Samariter Bund’s implementation partner for a German Foreign Ministry funded professional training programme for carpenters, tailors and in IT from 2004-2007. “Why that needed to have a football element took a lot of explaining,” Florian laughs. “Football is what attracts the young people in the first place, it’s the key.“ Today, the organisation has a “WITH FOOTBALL EVERYTHING ELSE IN LIFE SLIPS INTO THE BACKGROUND. FOOTBALL HAS THE POTENTIAL TOMAKE YOU FORGET THE HARDSHIP OF YOUR LIFE. WHEN THE PLAYERS BECOME FULLY ABSORBED BY THE GAME, THEY AREN’T JUST PLAYING FOOTBALL, THEY ARE FOOTBALL!” Florian Wegenstein, Co-Founder Delta Cultura