Don Pepe and his 40 children

Argue:

"Africa and China are the future. If there were a thousand more crazy people like me, hundreds of professionals would come out. The main objective is to live better and if someone becomes a soccer player, the better. Hopefully. Here come French and Belgians to fish, but soon they leave. They are not going to train ,

A French businessman 'bought' his ideas and helped him embark on a new story that looked like a storm, but that has been going on for three years with 40 players. In September, Merche, his wife, will join the project with plans even for the female population.

"I hope we stay there all our lives. When they ask me, I always say that I have 40 children."

Pepe arrived, saw and executed. He re-adapted a residence abandoned by Jesuits and reformed it (and continues reforming it with two coaches and two professors) to accommodate a privileged few. After doing several tests to about two thousand children and observing hundreds of pachangas in the streets, the elect were leaving their villages during the week to settle in this kind of Masia.

"Many arrived without families because of the war. Some, at best, had grandparents. The majority ate what they stole "

Recognizes Pepe:

"The first three months, in which I did not speak any French, were very hard. I thought to go back immediately. The worst, so much disease: I buried a two-year-old child. I will never forget it. There they do not have anything. But every time they arrive at camp at six in the morning with a smile, they give me life and keep me working. I could never leave them lying around."
Pepe lives with them. He wakes them up at five o'clock to train with the first rays of sunlight and he sleeps them at half past eight, after a hard day of classes (the illiteracy in the residence has been eradicated) and trainings and, finally, with four meals in the body.

"They eat rice 365 days a year with some fish 90% of the time, sometimes with hard cow meat and very occasionally with chicken, which is a luxury."
The kids are aware of everything that has changed their lives. That's why they decided to eat a little less each day to put five extra dishes and invite other children from the village daily to join the table. That conscience turns this staff into a family. Pepe, every time he returns to Spain, takes the opportunity to return loaded with sports or school material donated by ex-partners, clubs, anonymous and good-hearted patrons. But it is not always easy to adapt the new and unknown world in such a precarious environment.

"The first time I brought them boots to stop playing barefoot was not easy. A few minutes later he had to remove them. They did not adapt and they hurt them. They preferred to play without them ... "
Pepe directs kids from the youngest category to children. There is no competition there, so they play friendly with kids much older than them in their youthful age. They have been two years and means without losing (120 games) and two years ago, thanks to the sponsorship of ARC and Mirsalife, they already competed with the best quarries in Spain in the Madrid Sur Cup, where they were already champions, and in the Cotif Youth Cup (quarterfinalists competing with teams two years older).

"Coming to Spain is a luxury. Seeing her through her eyes is wonderful. The first time I brought them, I spent a month talking about the trip. To prepare them. One of the kids asked me how many planes we were going to move. I thought I had not understood him because of the language. He repeated it to me and I was amazed. I told him that in one, all together and that with more people. He told me he did not believe me. 'I see them sometimes in heaven and they are very small. There we all do not fit. "
The arrival at Barajas summarizes their lives:

"They did not want to go down the escalators or get into the elevators. They were scared."
Pepe does all this because the others were always before him. In Ivory Coast he has a fixed salary but, in any case, is less than he had in Pinto as sports director. He puts everything on his part to try to avoid dangers. Especially the diseases. Therefore, despite training at 40 degrees, almost always goes with his tracksuit and a long-sleeved shirt to avoid attracting mosquitoes ("are airplanes"). Sometimes, instead of eating rice, you have the luxury of making a salad and you have even rented an apartment five kilometers from the residence, where you go when the night comes to contact the family through WhatsApp or Skype.

"I asked the Orange company why they did not put an antenna so that the communications were better and they were blunt: 'if 90% do not have light, do not you want one for you alone ...?".
This is how Pepe López lives and gives his life, the best coach of the month, surely the best of the year so far and, if they rush me, for the last three years. He has so much faith in expanding the residence and consolidating this academy that he is taking the title of agent in case he can get some talent to jump to Europe when he turns 18. While, he tells the adventure and struggles to raise more funds for the benefit of his children. Not so that they can progress, they already do, but to improve and talk about this summer when they come to Spain, in tiny planes, to continue their triumphant streak.

link https://scorum.com/en-us/football/@apoloo/don-pepe-and-his-40-children