Finally, here is my finished article about Jorge Morillo and his project Educar en la Calle. It is to be published in our program magazine Más+Menos along with the Spanish translation written by my Spanish partner Pedro. (Some of my photos from my experience will also be published in the magazine). I hope you enjoy it!
One of the photos I took of the children in Tres Mil Viviendas has been chosen to be the cover of the magazine. Exciting! =)
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Soccer is the excuse. Education is the goal.
With his project Educar en la Calle [Education in the Street], Jorge Morillo uses the game of soccer to cross boundaries few others have dared in the hopes of improving the lives of children forgotten by the world.
By Molly Rivera
He stands in the center of the grey, barren courtyard, looking for a moment at the children scattered amongst the trash on the ground. He wears a bright green soccer jersey and his hat sits backwards on his head. Jorge Morillo, founder of Educar en la Calle, smiles at the children who call this area of poverty and social marginalization home, and, without hesitation, blows his whistle. “Let’s go play soccer!” he shouts.
Since 1985, Educar en la Calle, Education in the Street, has utilized soccer as a fundamental tool to positively influence the education and overall lives of children in disadvantaged and socially ignored areas in Seville. “Soccer is not the key to education. It is the excuse. In these places, I believe education has not realized its potential. You have to know how to advance education within the system.”
Educar en la Calle aims to help develop the education of these children by using the sport to instill values that Jorge Morillo considers to be essential to a positive and rewarding life, including responsibility, companionship, teamwork, and respect. Furthermore, above all, Jorge recognizes the value of friendship to be critical to his work. “Where there is friendship, there is love, and love is perhaps the key to educating in values. Love is the most important thing in the world and without it I could not accomplish the work I do. Love surpasses all.”
The program reaches areas of Seville considered to be underdeveloped and socially excluded including Tres Mil Viviendas, El Vacie, Torreblanca, and locations in Los Bermejales, San Juan de Aznalfarache, and Cerro Blanco.
Jorge says that the area of Tres Mil Viviendas, in the Polígono Sur District, is one of the most complicated locations. He explains that the people live in an isolated and unwanted area dominated by drugs and poor living conditions that has progressed into the worst case of vertical slums in half a century. According to the Plan Integral del Polígono Sur of Seville, only 7.3 percent of registered habitants of Tres Mil Viviendas have professional or university degrees, and over two thirds of the population is illiterate. In this area, Jorge works with more than 80 children.
According to an article published in El País in 2008, the area called El Vacie includes at least 46 huts, 90 houses made of prefabricated sheet metal, 120 families, 923 individuals and 227 children. At this location, Jorge works with at least 35 children.
From Jorge’s point of view, the location in Cerro Blanco is currently the most difficult situation for his project. He made his first contact with the area only two months ago, thus he still feels unfamiliar with the area and the children.
“It is true that I have worked in difficult situations. But it is also true that it is within those difficult situations where my project can actually educate. If the situation were easy, everyone would do it,” he says.
Jorge Morillo considers each area’s different living conditions and social complexities, but points out a single consistency among them. “They all include children, and they are the most important thing.”
Discovering Humanity
Born in the Sevillian district of Triana in 1957, Jorge Morillo believes his life’s purpose is to help others. With profound religious conviction, and an absolute love for soccer, Jorge believes his life was destined for what he is discovering every day. “I speak from my heart. I am in love with God and all of life.”
He believes that thanks to God, his life has taught him to find humanity in the world. “Luckily, the real reward I have found in my life is the human quality of the areas where I work. This is very important, because we may live in different realities with different experiences and perspectives, but above all we are all human.”
Francisco Narbona Arbole, Fran, a 24-year-old student from the Polígono Sur, started to help Jorge in March, and since then has become his most consistent volunteer. “I wanted to help others. There are many people in the world that help others, but here in Seville, there isn’t anyone in the streets. And since I like to play soccer, I thought this would be the best way for me to contribute,” Fran explains.
He shares Jorge’s view of the importance of the humanitarian aspect of the project. Although society rejects these areas of Seville and considers them to be dangerous, Fran’s involvement has given him a different perspective. “When you walk down the street, people greet you and respect you. There are good people here like in any other area in the world.”
This outlook has convinced Jorge that a solution to the social marginalization of these areas exists. Thus, he continues to educate in the streets even during times without many economic means.
Educar en la Calle receives support, monetary or otherwise, from donations and people in the community such as the Fundación Telefónica de España. But it does not have any connections to official institutions. “The Council of Seville has almost no interest in the project. In the majority of places, I am in the background. Therefore, the story of my project has not been discovered,” Jorge says.
These official institutions do give recognition to his project, however, and Jorge has thus recently been awarded the honor of “Defense of the Rights of Children” by the Junta de Andalucía, the region’s governing body, for “his personal attention as an ‘Educator of the street’ of children most disadvantaged.”
New Developments
On just his third visit to the location in the Cerro Blanco area, Jorge Morillo parks his bright green van in an open field near a small playground. As he begins to set up orange cones for a makeshift soccer field, two young boys approach him. Jorge introduces himself and tells them that he is going to play soccer and invites them to join. Seemingly uninterested, they continue walking in the direction of the playground.
Jorge has seen this before. He says that when he introduces his project to a new area, the children hesitate at first, but soon enough they join the game. “This is the start of building relationships. Hopefully they come back with their friends to play”.
Within minutes, another young boy approaches his van. “Is it true you are going to play soccer?” he asks.
As more children begin to gather around his van, Jorge begins to talk with them while handing out soccer jerseys. He tells them about his project and experiences, and informs them that every Monday at this time he will come to play soccer with them.
Soon enough, more than 25 children gather on the field. Jorge divides them into teams, and upon his whistle, they begin to play.
After the game, the children gather around the van once again as Jorge hands them containers of yogurt. He smiles and talks with them while he begins to learn their names.
“I am building the story here and it is very important that the children are the protagonists. It is good that so many came to play. This is a good start.”
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