Americas
Football gives Colombian youth a chance
Youth programme offers the choice of a different life to children exposed to drugs and gangs.
Last Modified: 16 Jul 2012 20:01

Hundreds of thousands of people live in violent slums dominated by criminal gangs in the Colombian capital Bogota.

But a shantytown football programme has helped the youth to move away from the drug trafficking, killing and rape that is often a part of everyday life.

Too much free time has made children in Colombia vulnerable to recruitment by gangs, but the football programme gives them another choice.

Al Jazeera's Alessandro Rampietti reports from Altos de Cazuca.

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Al Jazeera
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