Sports helps injured Syrian refugees and Jordanians find common ground

As part of the World Refugee Day celebrations, 40 Syrian refugees with disabilities will attend a USAID-funded sports festival at the National Paralympic Committee of Jordan (NPCJ) sports facility on Friday 21 June from 1pm to 4pm. The festival will mark only the second time this injured and often ostracised group has ventured out of their rehabilitation center in Amman.

Exchanges between Syrian refugees and Jordanians
The group, who is supported by the Syrian NGO “This is My Life”, was encouraged to step outside their compound for the first time after hearing of another BlazeSports and NPCJ sports festival held the previous week. During this festival the Syrian refugees were only spectators looking on as Jordanians with disabilities participated in a variety of adapted sporting events.

However, after encouragement from BlazeSports staff and Matthew Underwood, assistant cultural affairs officer with the US Embassy, the Syrian attendees agreed to venture from their seats and speak with some of the Jordanian participants. As conversations began to develop, both groups discussed their life experiences together while finding a common ground via their love of sports.

"Breaking down barriers and building social tolerance"
On Friday the Syrian Refugee Disability Sports Festival will see Jordanian coaches, previously trained by BlazeSports, deliver a variety of events and use sport as a common language to convey messages of social tolerance and friendship.

Stuart Sharp, BlazeSports director of international development, said “This was a very exciting development of our work in Jordan and truly shows the power that sport has when it comes to breaking down barriers and building social tolerance. We hope that we can now find funding to continue our efforts in Jordan to support conflict resolution and highlight areas of commonality between the people of Jordan and Syrian refugees through sport”.

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[This article has been edited by the Operating Team.]