“Captain Ali”, sport as a lifeline in the largest refugee camp in the Middle East

When he arrived in Zaatari camp in northern Jordan in 2013, Ali was a 21-year-old who had seen all his projects reduced to dust along with the walls of his house. Today, the Syrian is a person known to almost everyone in the largest refugee camp in the Middle East, the UNHCR’s privileged relay for its latest campaign on raising awareness of violence against women. A status of “community leader” acquired thanks to his involvement in the “Live Together” program of
the Peace and Sport organization, which makes sport a tool to promote peace.

Ali’s story is both unusual and terribly banal in a country ravaged by civil war for many years. Forced to stop his engineering studies in Damascus and flee the family home of Daraa, in the south of the country, after a bombing, he found himself without anything overnight, like hundreds of thousands of compatriots.

“We left at night, with only one bag, to arrive in this camp in the middle of the desert,” he tells us by email. At that time, there were only tents and no electricity. We got food twice a day but there was no activity, no school and of course no university. It was there that I stopped studying and became a “refugee”. “

Four years later, when this supposedly temporary camp has grown in a sprawling fashion with medical centers, schools and makeshift businesses, Ali participates in a Peace and Sport seminar, which is setting up a program in the camp. and is looking for educators. His personality immediately attracts attention. “He particularly stood out in several aspects,” recalls Laurent Dupont, the general manager of the organization. He gives off something, has a great motivation, an extraordinary relational capacity and he has worked a lot to get where he is. For example, he did not speak English when he arrived at the camp and today he is one of the best in this field. “

17 years in a camp on average …

Since then, Ali has been giving kickboxing lessons – a sport he practiced a little in Syria – to children mainly aged 9 to 14 years old. Before the pandemic, which as everywhere changed daily life, they were 300 each week to benefit from the programs set up by Peace and Sport, which also offers table tennis and teqball (a variant of tennis-ball which is practice on a curved ping table). The role of the educator goes beyond simple physical activity, of course. It is more about education and living together.

“Sport is a great tool for peace,” says Ali. It allows positive values ​​to be transmitted. As you can imagine, life in a camp is very difficult. The children are at their best, these training sessions are moments of freedom for them. Parents tell us that this has a positive effect on them, that they are more fulfilled, more optimistic. “

He himself found there a way to make himself useful and to go beyond his condition as much as possible. Moreover, since the appearance of the Covid, it has diversified its activities by offering its services to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Jordanian army to spread prevention messages and participate in the distribution of hydroalcoholic gel. and masks. “Ali made the choice to be active on a daily basis within the camp. This allows him to build his future, even if he will probably spend a large part of his life in Zaatari, ”says Laurent Dupont, who recalls that today, a refugee spends on average 17 years in a camp.

A model of resilience, the young man is taken as an example by Peace and Sport to highlight his action – “but Ali, there are plenty of others,” said the CEO. A documentary, entitled “Captain Ali” was shot with the production company of the French company MyCoach, and broadcast last December on Canal +. We also discover Nasren, a woman from Daraa like him, who teaches self defense to little girls. Quite a challenge in traditional Syrian culture. “Nasren is a role model for them,” says Ali. His lessons are a fantastic way to promote them. As the father of two daughters, I find it important to give them new opportunities. “

“In the camp, girls and boys cannot necessarily play sports together. It was therefore important for us to train a woman coach in order to include girls in our program, adds Laurent Dupont. Nasren, through his action, wishes to contribute to the empowerment of young girls and women in the camp. Sport allows them to exist, to gain self-confidence. “

Almost 80,000 refugees today in Zaatari

And ultimately, the whole community benefits from it. Sport is there to create social interaction, dialogue between children but also with parents. “If you leave a village without any activity, everyone stays at home. Organize a match and you will bring together people who might never have been met otherwise, illustrates Laurent Dupont. Sport has this unique ability to unite people, and this is also true in a refugee camp. “

Today, Zaatari has nearly 80,000 refugees. Children are born there every day, and will know nothing else for a long time. Even will stay there all their life, if the Jordanian state decides to transform the camp into a “real” city once the Syrian conflict is over. Ali dreams of returning home, to a peaceful country, where he could use what he has learned in this life he did not choose. “Sport is a universal language that teaches you a lot,” he says. I hope I will have the opportunity to share these values ​​and improve the life of my family. “