Sport and refugees weekly: 22 August 2021
Ahead of the UEFA Cup, to be held in Belfast, BT Sport and the UEFA Foundation for Children are collaborating to raise awareness about online abuse. As part of the campaign, a youth football match was hosted for children between 14 and 17 years of age from different communities across Northern Ireland. The match aimed to address issues such as the integration of refugees and protection from online abuse.
McKinsey supports Syrian refugee children with education and cricket (Consultancy-Me)
McKinsey & Company, the global management company, has been supporting the Alsama project in Lebanon, providing education to Syrian refugee children and teaching them about the sport of cricket. The cricket camp began as a one-off in the Shatila refugee camp, but ended up being so popular that the project now runs six sites across Lebanon. The Alsama Cricket Club is now planning to hire a dozen coaches who are Syrian refugees, with the aim of reaching at least 1,000 children.
In 2008, when Sifan Hassan was 15 years old, her family fled Ethiopia and arrived in the Netherlands. She worked hard to continue training and improve on herself. She has now secured a hat-trick of medals at the Tokyo Olympics, winning bronze in the 1,500m and gold medals in 5,000m and 10,000m events. She is the first athlete to win three medals in these events at the same Olympics.
The Real Madrid Foundation benefits more than 2,000 vulnerable young people (Real Madrid)
Real Madrid’s social intervention projects run 22 social sports schools across eight countries, providing education, healthcare and nutrition through sport to over 2,000 children and youth. Apart from these schools, the Foundation also plans on building seven clinics, one campus project and three education programs. The aim is to reach over 4,000 direct beneficiaries through these initiatives.
A message of peace and hope – the Olympic Refugee Team (The OWP)
Following their debut in the Rio 2016 Games, the Olympic Refugee Team came back to Tokyo, nearly tripling in size, with 29 athletes competing across 12 sports. The Team is a testament to the partnership between the IOC and UNHCR, which has been around since 1994 – the partnership was built to support refugees in their physical and mental well-being, using the medium of sport. The Team also epitomizes the values of the Olympic Movement, which promotes a peaceful world, emphasizing the values of friendship, solidarity and fair play.
The Doro Recreational Center in Maban county, South Sudan, run by the Jesuit Refugee Service, hosts 40 refugee women thrice a week to train them in martial arts. The classes are run by Isaac Auyub, a member of the Doro community who himself has been a refugee, serves over 250 members of the Doro refugee community. The program helps students develop relationships, build their physical strength and learn how to control their emotions, traits that are extremely important for those that have been displaced. Beyond building their martial arts skills, the classes also help students with their communication skills, character development and mindfulness.
“The beautiful game” bringing communities together (Scottish Refugee Council)
On 8 August, 24 teams participated in the annual Refugee Festival Football Tournament, organised by Glasgow Afghan United, in collaboration with the Scottish Unity Football League. People from over 50 nationalities came together to compete in 7-a-side matches, making new connections and highlighting the difficult journeys made by many to come to Scotland for a better life. Watch a video on the tournament, featuring one of the participating teams.
From South Sudan to Tokyo: Reath’s rise to Boomers bolter (Sydney Morning Herald)
Duop Reath and his parents and siblings fled his native South Sudan when he was six, resettling in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya for a year before moving to Australia. He grew up dreaming that he would one day play football for the Socceroos, or that he would make it to an Australian footy team. A growth spurt when he was a teen, however, made him consider basketball. Now a professional basketballer, Reath has already made it to the Olympics, winning a bronze medal with his teammates – his sights are now on the NBA.
This information has been compiled by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
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