Children&Youth Sport in Palestinian Refugee Camps

Despite the ongoing security tensions in Ein el-Hilweh camp, the football team, consisting of 18 children and teenagers, continues to train regularly. Led by Coach Mahmoud, the team meets once a week for training due to the field being located outside the camp. However, the security situation has not prevented them from engaging in football, which serves as an important outlet for the children and a source of positive energy.

Sports play a crucial role in directing children towards constructive and healthy activities, preventing them from drifting into negative or dangerous behaviors. The team stands as a role model for children in the camp, offering them an opportunity to express themselves, while learning teamwork and discipline.

In the near future, training conditions are expected to improve as efforts are underway to build a football field within the camp. This will allow the team to increase their training sessions to twice a week, providing the children with more opportunities to enhance their athletic skills in a safer and more accessible environment.

Since this is a long-term project because the teams rotate frequently (children grow into teens who grow into adults quickly), your kind donations are still very appreciated in order to supply shoes, equipment, ongoing access to football pits, and coaching services.

One of the first Jafra sports initiatives was the Shatila Camp teams. Jafra wants to provide the young people in the camps with a constructive method to use their energy, steer clear of unhealthy coping mechanisms, and foster a sense of togetherness and community among the team members and their families.

Through the years, with the help of their coach Bilal, who provided them with three times a week of training, the children and youth developed their skills, learnt how to function as a team, and eventually became formidable rivals to the other teams in the area.

Children aged 10 to 11 and youth aged 14 to 16 participated in a special Ramadan competition held in the camp, and both teams achieved great success and took home cups. They were proud of this, as was Jafra and their relatives.

We must emphasize that Jafra wants to keep this initiative going for a long time. Children grow into youth, and youth grow into adults, so the teams have a lot of turnover and must annually welcome new young people. The team would like to express their gratitude to all donors for their kind donations, which have made it possible to continue their favorite hobby.