Our programs and activities

During term time, activities run in the late afternoon and at weekends. During the school holidays, the programme fills the whole week. This page sets out what the team runs at the centre in Dandora.

Football and boxing

Football

The pitch was built by the association, which has looked after it since. It is a rectangle of bare earth marked out with tyres laid on the ground, right inside the neighbourhood. DADSAC buys the balls and the boots, and supplies the nets. The local staff run the training sessions, and the players travel to tournaments around the area.

Dirt football pitch marked out with tyres, children playing, Dandora in the background
The dirt pitch, marked out with tyres, in the middle of Dandora.

Boxing

Boxing sessions take place outdoors, in front of the rest of the group. A coach holds the focus mitts and the young people take turns to strike. The association provides the kit, gloves included. Those who get far enough go on to compete.

Outdoor boxing training: a young man striking focus mitts, surrounded by the group
An outdoor boxing session, held in front of the rest of the group.
Children in a synchronised dance pose in a dirt yard, wearing everyday clothes

Dance and drawing

Traditional dance is rehearsed as a group in the dirt yard, in everyday clothes. Drums keep time during the rehearsals. Drawing and painting are done sitting down, with a pencil case and a few sheets of paper. DADSAC supplies the materials and looks after them.

Exchanges with Poland

Young people in Dandora talk with young people in Poland over video calls. The Polish organisation Good Network sets these meetings up with DADSAC. They are held in English, which gives everyone a chance to use the language outside school.

A coach holding focus mitts while a girl practises punching

Mentoring and prevention

Discussion sessions bring the group together around the tables outside. A youth worker leads the conversation and answers questions. The topics are hygiene and living alongside others. Taking on responsibility within a group comes up as well. Other sessions deal with preventing STIs and drug use. Crime in the neighbourhood is talked about too.

Children sitting at tables outdoors in front of a building during a supervised activity
A supervised outdoor session around the tables.

Help finding work

The older ones are reaching working age. The team helps them work out what they are good at, then look for a placement or a small job. The support is handled case by case, following each person’s own path.

Meals and snacks

A community meal is served every week and a snack every day. The children queue at the cooking pots, then settle outside to eat, often under a tree. A raised-bed vegetable garden is grown on site. Of the 840 francs the monthly budget aims at, 300 go on food.

Raised-bed vegetable garden with someone tending the crops
The raised-bed vegetable garden, grown on site.
Children sitting on long wooden benches around tables, outdoors

Library and homework support

The centre keeps a stock of books and young people come in to read. Homework sessions back up those who are in school, going over again what was not understood in class. The work is done outside, on long wooden benches set around the tables.

Photographs taken on site are gathered in the gallery of the Dandora centre. The monthly budget and the ways of giving are set out on the page about supporting the association.

How the year is organised

During term time

Activities run after lessons, in the late afternoon, and at weekends.

During the school holidays

The programme fills the whole week. There are more tournaments and a wider choice of workshops.

What a day at the centre looks like

In 2023, between 80 and 100 young people came to the centre each day. The number varied from one day to the next, depending on the resources available at the time.

Activities are still timed around school hours, so that the centre does not take the place of lessons. How many young people the centre can take depends on what the association manages to fund each month.

Help cover the monthly budget