Za'atari is a refugee camp, located 10 kilometers east of Mafraq and 80km of the capital city of Jordan, Amman. The camp was first opened on 28 July 2012 to host Syrians fleeing the violence in the ongoing Syrian Civil War. On 26 March 2015, the camp population was already estimated at 83,000 refugees as that number regularly keeps increasing.
Peace and Sport, which has been active in Za’atari Refugee Camp for a long period of time, is leading the LIVE TOGETHER program. The goal is to bring sports activities to the refugees, through a partnership with UNHCR and under their supervision, together with their implementation partner IRD. Refugee coaches were hired for the activities, and a lot of equipments were donated.
Iris VLACHOUTSICOS, Peace and Sport International Relations & Field Programs Director, explained: “The JUDO coach approached me and told me his background. I went and saw the activities he is doing with the kids and except the great level I saw, I realized how important it is to have judogi to train. The coach himself, as he had to flee Syria very quickly, did not have any judogi. He participated in the other seminars we organized and told me that it was his dream to see and teach his pupils with judogi. I never forgot his wish.“
On July 26 2018, a donation from the International Judo Federation was offered to Alla Aldeen Alwadi, national judoka and coach in Daraa area in Syria and today coach of the young Syrian refugees. After having received the precious donation, Alla Aldeen Alwadi declared: “Please transmit to the IJF President, Mr. Vizer, my deep appreciation for this donation. It is a dream come true”. Peace and sport said: “Peace and Sport would like the thank Mr Vizer and the IJF for this donation. We were so pleased to see the impact of it.“
In Za'atari, Peace and Sport supports all NGOs to provide better quality Sport activities through education and equipment. Since the program has been running for a while, the content will be enriched in order to develop Peace building activities and work on some social issues such as aggressive management, gender equity etc.