(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
DOHA: Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, through its programme Reach Out To Asia (ROTA), celebrated the completion of ROTA's project 'Empowering Palestinian Refugee Children and Youth through Sports in Lebanon, by refurbishing sports facilities and implementing training programmes in three Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
The project was launched last year with the aim of restoring sports facilities and initiating a training project for the benefit of Palestinian refugee youth in El-Buss camp, Mieh Mieh Camp, and Nahr el-Bared Camp, which all suffered from severe conditions of poverty, negligence and poor infrastructure. Before the completion of the ROTA's initiative, young people living in these refugee camps had limited access to safe sporting grounds and recreational activities, owing to the fact that the voluntary community-based sports clubs were not sufficiently equipped or supported.
A field visit on Friday and yesterday was conducted by ROTA's Executive Director Essa Al Mannai and ROTA's goodwill Ambassador Ghanim Al Muftah, who carried on several visits to three Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and inaugurated the revamped sports fields and facilities.
Al Muftah played a major role in the successful implementation and execution of the refurbishment of the playfields and the call for informal education for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. After a visit to the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr El-Bared in 2015, he led a campaign to secure QR1m to finance the project. Thanks to his efforts, the needed funds were collected giving hope to thousands of Palestinian children.
Commenting on this occasion, Al Mannai said: 'We, in EAA, are committed to providing high quality and relevant primary and secondary education, encouraging relationships amongst communities, creating safe learning environments and restoring education in crisis-affected areas across Asia and around the world. The Empowering Palestinian Refugee Children and Youth through Sports in Lebanon is an essential step to achieving our mission of building the leaders of tomorrow and showcasing the significant power of sports, as well as the massive impact we can bring to the lives of youth and their communities.
The initiative, launched in collaboration with the American Near East Refugee Agency (Anera), provides more than 4,000 Palestinian refugee youth with upgraded sporting facilities, equipment and activities, which will subsequently support their personal development, improved awareness and life skills, social integration, and healthy living. Aside from the refurbishment of playfields, the project also provides training courses for 45 sports trainers to enhance their coaching and life skills, to engage Palestinian youth in sporting tournaments and learning courses.
From his part, Al Muftah said: 'I am both humbled and proud to be speaking as the goodwill ambassador of ROTA, a position that carries both great responsibility and consciousness. I am very much aware of the difficulties that thousands of children endure, which I have witnessed in my visit to the Palestinian refugee camps. I therefore stress and accentuate on the importance and relevance of our project. It is crucial that we help the Palestinian refugee youth to improve their lives and actively make a change in their communities. It is a way for the youth to let go of all the hardships they have endured and suffered from on one hand, and look onto a brighter and limitless prospect on the other.
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