World Cup champion looks in on UNICEF programs in Senegal

UNICEF

DAKAR, Senegal, (July 26, 2010) — International football star Sergio Ramos traveled to Senegal just days after becoming a champion as a member of the victorious Spanish national football team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

"This week was one of the most special weeks of my life," he said. "Two of my dreams came true: I won the World Cup, and I was able to travel to Africa and interact with children there."

In Pout, a village about 60 km from Dakar, Mr. Ramos saw community health programs that focus on improving the nutrition of mothers and their young children. And at a health post in the village of Keur Seydou, he held and weighed a newborn baby girl named Fatou.

Routine weight check-ups are just one part of the process that helps monitor the growth of local children to detect signs of under-nutrition. Such local health interventions are important in a country where 17 percent of children under five years of age are chronically undernourished.

Reaching children at risk

© UNICEF Senegal/2010/Bueno

FIFA World Cup 2010 champion Sergio Ramos, a player on the victorious Spanish national football team, holds a newborn baby at a health outpost in rural Senegal.

Participating in the process helped Mr. Ramos understand how a community approach helps UNICEF and its partners reach children at risk of health or nutrition problems.

Here’s how it works: Mothers come to the health center to learn about proper nutrition and record information about their children’s growth. A text message with the weight and measurements of each child is then sent to a central database, through which the Ministry of Health can assess when the local population might be approaching a danger point.

Inspiration, on and off the soccer field

Besides visiting health centres, Mr. Ramos witnessed the work of projects that aim to protect vulnerable children from abuse and exploitation. Many of these children live in urban poverty.

"After meeting these children and seeing the conditions they are living in, I have realized that some things we have are so necessary and other things are not necessary at all," said Mr. Ramos. One of those necessary elements is education, he added.

Success in sport and life

© UNICEF Senegal/2010/Bueno

International football star Sergio Ramos surprises Senegalese youths in a suburb of Dakar by joining them in a soccer match under the midday sun.

While in Senegal, the star footballer also participated in an initiative that uses soccer to help vulnerable children to interact with their peers in a safe environment within the community.

In one of the poorest suburbs of Dakar, children gathered to play in a local tournament. As Mr. Ramos came in to begin the game with a tap of the ball, children gathered around him along the sidelines and on the pitch.

"It feels so good to laugh with these children on a football field," said Mr. Ramos. Under the hot sun, the children chased after the defender, who scored a goal as they cheered loudly.

"I myself come from a very modest family,” he said later. "As a child, I dreamt that one day I would touch the World Cup. I would like to tell the children that they should continue dreaming and walking toward their dreams – going to the school, working hard and never saying it’s impossible. Dreams can come true."

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