FCBARCELONA.CAT

13.02.2009 12:54

Atmakur: Laying the foundations

Marc Parramon (Special envoy)

FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta laid the first stone of the second Xarxa Internacional de Centres Solidaris (International Network of Solidarity Centres - XICS) centre in India in front of a crowd of around 400 locals in the town of Atmakur.

The Blaugrana chief and the director general of the club's Fundación, Marta Segú, carried out the symbolic act to mark the start of work on the project a day after performing a ceremony in Bathalapalli.

Great expectations

At 10am local time, a dust cloud covered the town of Atmakur, situated 30 kilometres from Anantapur, after it was created by 400 excited locals that ran to celebrate the initiative that has been set up by Barça Fundación and Vicente Ferrer Fundación to create a new XICS centre.

A symbolic ceremony

Laporta and Segú laid flowers and the put cement in a whole where the foundations of the new centre will go. The inhabitants of the town, many of whom are children, applauded as the president carried out the gesture, just as they had when opening the XICS centre in Bathalapalli. They then revealed a plaque that commemorated the act.

Laporta’s message

With the regional and local authorities present, Laporta said: "At times, stating that we want to make a better world can sound pretentious, but I can assure you that at Barça we do it so that we can see people smile." He then gave the local children, who will benefit most from the centre, a message. "You will always be in our hearts and you will never be alone. Congratulations to the children of Atmakur."

Integrating through sport

The Vicente Ferrer Fundación's Jordi Folgado than stepped up to say he few words as he explained: "Through sport we are seeing the disappearance of marginalisation of Dalit children (people without a caste that have difficulty obtaining an education). By forming team, the prejudice of the castes disappears."

Inauguration of the new residences

After laying the stone at Atmakur, the Blaugrana delegation then headed towards Singampalli, a very rural area, where a colony of 51 residences was inaugurated by the Vicente Ferrer Fundación. There they were met with a show of singing and dancing. The Fundación has built a dike in the middle of the swamp in the area to accumulate rain water which is fundamental for local residents.

A four hour car journey will take the Barça party to Bangalore, where they will then travel onwards to Barcelona.