Para Junior Football League. Paramaribo - Suriname

The Para Junior Football League PJL was inaugurated on October 27, 2007 and is composed of young players ages 9 to 15 from the region of Para, located 30 kilometers from the country’s capital.

The league has a total of 8 clubs and 32 teams and is the first activity of the organizing committee FUWIVA (Future With Values) in Suriname.

Background

Formerly Dutch Guiana, Suriname gained its independence in 1975. Nearly the size of Northern Italy with a population of approximately 500,000, 120,000 of whom live in the capital city of Paramaribo, some 500,000 people have emigrated over the last two decades. The country has three main ethnic groups: Hindustani Indians, African-originated, mainland Chinese and Indo-Chinese, making Suriname a place where different cultures and religions co-exist.

Suriname is a country where different ethnicities and religions live side-by-side in harmony. In the early 1980s, a military regime seized power and declared Suriname a socialist republic. It wasn’t until 1991 that democratic elections were held. The country achieved stability with the election of Runaldo Ronald Venetiaan as President, who began his first term of office in 1991. He was reelected in 2000 and again in 2005.

Suriname is classified as an impoverished country. According to the Human Development Report (UNDP) 2005, the country ranks 86 after Brazil 63 and Ecuador 82 on the poverty scale. The government launched its program to reduce poverty in Surinam in 1998, in collaboration with the UNDP.

The Project

The Para Junior Football League was inaugurated on October 27, 2007. Composed of young players, ages 9 to15, from the region of Para some 30 kilometers from the country’s capital. The league of 8 clubs and 32 teams is the first activity of the organizing committee FUWIVA (Future With Values) in Suriname.

“It is just the beginning, the framework, for many projects to come,” says Seedorf. “My dream has always been to give back to this world and especially to children. By supporting education through sport, we can help build a brighter future and teach authentic life skills, community and values.”

The Para Junior League will not only organize matches, events and activities, it will be overseen by the organization FUWIVA, an eleven member board sponsored by the foundation Champions for Children.

This blueprint model for other leagues to come world over aims to instill values and the integrity of fairplay. It is not only about play, but about the socialization and responsibility that come with the world’s greatest sport, football. The organizing committee will not only nurture personal and athletic talents, it will also oversee educational projects that participants will be given to carry out and complete during the season. Through this method, real and effective lessons can be taken from the field into the world and applied as life skills.

As it expands, it will include other sports applying the same model, to reach the same goals Para Junior League is shooting for.

Birthplace of Seedorf, the Para district in the country’s north is the mining and forestry centre of Suriname. “I have visited Para regularly since my parents left and still have family there,” Seedorf notes, “but for me, all of Suriname feels like my family.”

Hand in hand with the campaign Suriname 2014 – My Other Team, a national campaign for the Suriname National team to reach the World Cup, are all part of Seedorf’s and the FUWIVA board’s determination to build move towards the future hand-in-hand, creating a support system to nurture a the youth of a country and ensure that hopes and dreams become reality.

A special commision has been established to monitor and assist with reaching specific objectives, such as:

motivation and responsibilization of the children
training for parents, teachers, trainers, group leaders and other influential figures in the lives of Para Junior Football League players
Direct link between academic and athletic performance as a way to stimulate scholastic growth

Budget

The cost estimated for this project is Euro 150,000

Fuwiva and Champions for Children Foundation

Future With Values or FUWIVA is the partner foundation for the Para Junior League.

Association members are:

Johan Orlando Seedorf (President)

Dulie Enola Marleen Seedorf/Maragret (Secretary)