by Frankie Veesee
From May 16-20 I was able to travel to Havana, Cuba with Indiana Futsal! Indiana Futsal was invited by two Cuban-based non-profits (La Liga en Cuba and Artecorte) to schedule futsal tournaments for the men’s and women’s leagues at the end of May. I was invited on this trip as a separate program to facilitate conflict resolution workshops with Artecorte’s young-adult students.
Artecorte focuses on community development in Old Havana through a variety of programs. They have partnered with La Liga for the second year in a row to offer these futsal tournaments, but they also regularly teach unemployed young-adults the skills needed to succeed as hairdressers, barbers, and bartenders. The people involved with this organization, especially the founder, Papito, have done amazing work to build a strong community in Old Havana. I could go on for hours, so please let me know if you’d like to chat more!
Here is an article about former-president Obama praising Papito’s work (the photo above this article shows a children’s park in the neighborhood that is barber-themed): https://cubacounterpoints.com/archives/5181
Here is more information about Artecorte: http://artecorte.org/en/
Finally, here is more information on La Liga: https://laligacuba.org/artecorte/
There will be a short documentary released sometime in the next few months about the growing passion for futsal and soccer in Cuba. This will be put together by a gentleman who followed La Liga, Artecorte, and Indiana Futsal as they organized and executed the tournaments. The conflict resolution workshops will also be featured!
