Educar en la Calle: First Experience

After my  first encounter with Jorge, I met with him again to do my first formal interview. We decided to meet at his office, which is near the Betis soccer stadium (of course). So I grabbed my voice recorder (which is necessary with how much and how fast this guy talks) and took the bus to the stadium.

We ended up talking for more than 2 hours about the project, the children, the areas in which he works, education, soccer, religion, governmental institutions, life, everything.

He then invited me to join him on one of his visits to a disadvantaged and socially marginalized area called Cerro Blanco. We made the date for the next day. 

So I took the bus again to the Betis stadium to meet Jorge. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. I had seen some footage of his project from the documentary, and had read about what he does, but I still did not know what would happen exactly. 

So he, Fran (a volunteer), and I got into the van (painted green, of course) and drove to Cerro Blanco. 

Dashboard of Jorge's van

For Jorge, this area is currently the most difficult for his program. He only made his first contact with the area about two months ago (and his project has been active for over 25 years), and therefore is not yet familiar with the neighborhood or the people. So I suppose Jorge didn't really know what to expect either. 

We pull up to an open, barren field. I can see a small playground and shanty homes in the distance.

Jorge parks and gets out of the van to scope out the area. He and Fran then start to place orange cones around the dirt to create a makeshift soccer field. 

Jorge shows me his personal scoreboard

Jorge stops for a moment to glance at the playground. I ask, "What's going to happen?" He responds, "I don't know."

But it wasn't long before two young boys approached us. Jorge told them that he was going to play soccer and invited them to join. Seemingly uninterested (and perhaps a little confused), the boys continued their walk towards the playground. 

I shot a disheartened look at Jorge. But he told me that he has seen this before. He said that normally when he begins his project in a new place, the children are hesitant to join at first--they don't know who he is and may be afraid that he is the police or other governmental body, and also, it is a little strange to see a guy in a green van ready to play some soccer in the slums of Sevilla. But Jorge seemed confident that the boys would come back with their friends to play.

And sure enough, they did.

Within minutes Jorge had a crowd around the back of his van. He began introducing himself to the children and handing them soccer jerseys. Then, when everyone was dressed to play, he divided them into teams, quickly explained the rules, and blew the whistle to start the game. 

This really was an incredible thing to see. I mean, Jorge is really just this guy who feels it a moral obligation to help those who need it most, and uses his obsession with soccer to do so. Although he has created an official project, he is not part of any formal organization or governmental body, nor does he receive any support from those official institutions. What's more, this "ordinary" guy simply drives his bright green van to the middle of the slums of Sevilla, areas considered to be overrun with drugs and poverty, and dangerous. And he goes either by himself or with one or two volunteers. So this guy is literally saying, "To hell with you, Sevilla! I believe in my heart that there is a solution to these areas stricken with poverty and ignored by society, and I am going to find it myself!" It's really a hell of a thing to do. 

After the game the children gathered around the back of the van again as Jorge handed them yogurt (for some of these kids, that will be there only meal for the night). 

He smiles at the kids as he begins to learn their names. As we get in the car to drive home he says to me, "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.”