Recreativo Social Desportivo Guelson FC is a social insertion project in Angola, whose purpose is to help young boys and girls to express their talent through sport and to give them opportunities that will prevent them from getting involved in behaviour such as drug abuse, gangs, prostitution and early pregnancy.
The project all started with Pedro André Pembele. The idea was to have fun by playing sports, but the activity had the side effect of keeping boys off the streets and out of the clutches of gangs. After football training, they were so tired that they didn’t have the energy to go out and get into trouble! Pembele soon realised that the problems faced by youngsters in his neighbourhood, Sapú, began much earlier than adolescence, and that the younger children also needed to be kept busy. Three years after its inception, this club became the Recreativo Social e Desportivo Guelson (RSD Guelson), a legal non-profit organisation. This, along with increased numbers of beneficiaries, gave the club greater credibility, and the ability to participate more in competitions.
Meanwhile, awareness of other problems on the streets, like teenage pregnancy and prostitution, prompted Pembele to encourage girls to get involved. Although a female football team was initially created, it enjoyed limited success for cultural reasons. The female club members expressed more interest in handball – encouraged by the fact that the Angolan women’s handball team is the most successful in Africa – and so the RSD Guelson handball team was born.
The project all started with Pedro André Pembele. The idea was to have fun by playing sports, but the activity had the side effect of keeping boys off the streets and out of the clutches of gangs. After football training, they were so tired that they didn’t have the energy to go out and get into trouble! Pembele soon realised that the problems faced by youngsters in his neighbourhood, Sapú, began much earlier than adolescence, and that the younger children also needed to be kept busy. Three years after its inception, this club became the Recreativo Social e Desportivo Guelson (RSD Guelson), a legal non-profit organisation. This, along with increased numbers of beneficiaries, gave the club greater credibility, and the ability to participate more in competitions.
Meanwhile, awareness of other problems on the streets, like teenage pregnancy and prostitution, prompted Pembele to encourage girls to get involved. Although a female football team was initially created, it enjoyed limited success for cultural reasons. The female club members expressed more interest in handball – encouraged by the fact that the Angolan women’s handball team is the most successful in Africa – and so the RSD Guelson handball team was born.
Vocational Training Centre
In September of 2020, the team embarked on an exciting venture of creating a vocational training program that will provide the necessary foundational training to enable members of their community to look for a job or to become self-employed after completing the secondary level. Many community members do not have access to university and lack the important skills that could allow them to find a job after graduating, and so by providing them with this support, RSD Guelson is working to enrich and empower their beneficiaries with key life skills for entering the working world.
In 2021, SD Canada has committed $3,000 to RSD Guelson's project of creating a vocational training centre.