Paraguay
EIGHT YOUNG WOMEN SELECTED TO REPRESENT PARAGUAY
Posted by Paraguay - 11.08.2011
Team Paraguay have confirmed their squad for the Paris 2011 Women’s Homeless World Cup.
Homeless World Cup national partner ‘Fundación Paraguaya’ organise Team Paraguay with the aim to generate positive transformations in participants, keep them away from drugs and show them another kind of life and social harmony.
The soccer players are students from the Mbaracayú Educational Center located on the Mbaracayú Nature Reserve in the Department of Canindeyú.
Players were chosen from the 142 students at school where, in addition to the basic curriculum, the students develop entrepreneurial and business skills through a diverse education for entrepreneurship program.
All are students are from low-income rural families who were called to participate due not only to athletic ability but also positive attitudes and sense of camaraderie.
Julia Corvala of Fundacion Paraguaga explained the importance of the project in changing player’s lives: “Forty per cent of people in Paraguay live under the poverty line, 20% are in extreme poverty. The girls who come to us all live below the poverty line, with families living on only $2 per day."
“They are under pressure from their parents to work or marry into a richer family; there is little ambition for them to be educated - for our players to attend the Homeless World Cup is an incredible experience simply because some players may never may left their town or settlement before. It is a unique opportunity to play football, and to embrace other cultures.”
The players selected are Ylsialini Battro Dávalos, Dora Elizabeth Galeano Galeano, Nancy Beatriz Florentin, Julia Clavelina Ortiz Bustos, Marta Mercedes Noguera, Bianca Carolini Soares Zucón, Sandra Delicia Aguilar Gimenez and María Montserrat Oviedo.
Paraguay will compete at the Paris 2011 Women’s Homeless World Cup taking place at the Champs de Mars, Paris, France from 21-28 August 2011.