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April 6: WAKO in Za’atary Refugee Camp

April 9, 2018

April 6 was declared the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013. WAKO signed in 2016 an agreement with Peace and Sport in order to do our share to promote sport as a tool of peace.

WAKO joined Peace and Sport for the celebration of April 6, the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, in Za’atari Camp, kicking off the WAKO contribution in the Live Together concept. Za’atari is a massive refugee camp with 80.000 refugees.

WAKO is very proud to be a part of such an important contribution to the society. We understand the importance of our sport in any environment, but when you first see the conditions in refugee camps, you understand the essence of how sport can contribute to make some lifes a little bit better.

On the APRIL 6 celebration Tomaz Barada from Slovenia, one of the greatest WAKO champions, conducted a sporting workshop for girls. Mr. Barada, who is also the chairman of WAKO athlete committee and the Slovenian NOC Vice-President, said: « I am proud to be a part of this and to have the opportunity to be here, to understand the situation fully and to experience the impact we can make developing our services here.»

Joel Bouzou, Founder and President of Peace and Sport said: « We are very happy to team up with WAKO in the celebration of April 6, the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, in the Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan. On this day, Peace and Sport will bring together high level athletes, international sport federations and local NGO’s committed to stand for refugees. Today, more than ever, sport can be used as a vehicle to heal, bring a sense of normalcy and support social inclusion programs for refugees in host communities and camps.”

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WAKO participated in the ceremony together with the International Table Tennis Federation, the World Tea Kwon Do Federation and the Tech-Ball Federation, all coordinated by the great team from Peace ands Sport and in coordination with UNHCR, IRD and the National Olympic Committee of Jordan.

WAKO is grateful to Dr. Basel Alshaer, President of the Arabic Kickboxing Federation, the Jordanian Kickboxing Federation and their great teams for the help, the enthusiasm and the trust in the implementation of this important work.

It was a true inspiration for us to be able to join the enthusiasm from other champions and ambassadeurs of Sport, like Christian Karembeu, Former World Champion in Football from France and former top player in Real Madrid, and the former 2004 Olympic Champion in Table Tennis Ryu Seun Min, in addition to great Jordanian Champions.

In order for everybody to understand the size of this camp, please see the video on YouTube; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMDObKVf2VE

This week a great WAKO team will come to Za’atary camp in order to start the Train the Trainer programme. More information to follow on the Live Together Programme coming up.

Because we care!

#WhiteCard, #OneWAKO #equality #fairplay

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