Opening of a game library in Santa Cruz (Philippines)

In the Philippines, despite strong economic growth in recent years, many inequalities remain and a large part of the population continues to face poverty, food insecurity and unemployment.

In Santa Cruz, a popular city on the island of Luzon, close to the capital Manila, the social situation is particularly difficult. Problems of access to drinking water, health care and quality education. Crime and violence are also recurring problems.

Despite these challenges, many local initiatives and civil society organizations are working to improve the social situation in these neighborhoods and across the country. The Délépine Foundation works in the Philippines to provide educational and recreational spaces for children. Twenty game libraries have already been created in the Philippines since 1996.

What is a game library? It is a preventive, educational and recreational therapeutic space which allows each child to express what they carry within them, their obsessions, their psychological and physical traumas. Play therapy is an ideal tool to allow children with a traumatic past to rebuild themselves harmoniously. Game plays an essential role in the creation of personality as well as in communication between the child and his environment. A child who plays is a child who develops.

The game library offers a new living space and another perspective than that of the street and the slums. At the game library, it is simply possible to play.

The Michelin Corporate Foundation wanted to support the Délépine Foundation for the construction of a new game library in Santa Cruz, which will open its doors from the next school year, August 2024.