A few months after we last met them, Juliette and Wendhris – aged 14 and 17 – arrive at the camp with their little girls in their arms. They take part in the girls’ group training and leave their daughters off the pitch with someone from the community. The fathers are there, yes, in the sense that they are still alive, but who knows where and with what goals. The companions of the two girls can’t wait to run to the newborns and cuddle them a little, helping their friends however they can. They understand that in a few months’ time they may be in the same situation and maybe they will need help too; in Venezuela, social protection for maternity is not strong.
Perhaps one of the few protections is Inter Campus, understood as a recognized, structured group, a family identified with a color, indeed two colors, and a shirt. Thanks to the support of some local organizations, a hot meal and a few drinks come at the end of each workout, and specific educational moments are organized for sexual orientation, since early pregnancies and the absence of a stable father figure are now the norm.
Today, in the Inter Campus group, only the two of them are mothers, and this is already a success: the protective curtain of the Nerazzurri project plays its part in terms of mitigating domestic violence, preventing gender discrimination, and providing an identity beyond just a name, a surname, and an age. What seems like an accelerated journey toward adulthood is perhaps, in reality, a skipped stage of a life that does not wait, falling prey to social inequalities and poverty.
The daughters of Juliette and Wendhris will grow up quickly, and so will their mothers, who will cross through full adolescence and then into adulthood—a stage perhaps already reached through their experiences and in being women of a family without one truly existing. What remains, then, is the Inter Campus family, which perhaps compensates slightly for this absence with the love it brings and the respect that follows. We wait for the little girls to grow up and join our smiles.
