Habibi and Sport with Refugees (HSR)

Dear Friends and Supporters, 

At Habibi and Sport with Refugees, we are happy to finally have the sun out in the north of Greece as well. Although we are obviousyl concerend about the heatwave and wildfires affecting much of Greece at the moment. In spite of the heat our project is running well.  We have many outdoor events in the city such as the Cultural Event "Plasmata", an exhibition bringing together technology, urban spaces and nature.

Since our last update we have done many great things together. We planned a talent show event, where we presented some of our sport classes and where the students could present what they had learned. For this we prepared a dance choreography and Muay Thai, wrestling, as well as a boxing routine. Everyone was very excited and proud to be part of the YSR team. Furthermore, we are slowly reaching out to partners and trainers in order to get additional support for our on the ground coaches. Towards the end of last month, we organized a trip to the Iliochori waterfalls. There we hiked together and enjoyed being surrounded by such scenery and calmness. Of course we swam in the waterfall, it was an amazing experience to have together.

We are happy to have welcomed our new and motivated sport-volunteer in the Habibi and Sport family, Alessandra. Francis, our new running coach is also motivated to join the project and we look forward to become faster in his running classes! Moreover, Nasim, our boxing coach left and we wish him the best for the future and thank him for his inspiration. 

Thank you, as always for your support, we couldn't do all of this without you! 

Hello!

I hope that spring finds its way to all of you, as it does to this part of Greece! 

The first quarter of the new year is almost over and this is my time to introduce myself to you. I’m Lena, I took over project coordination in December after Maeve left and I’m grateful to be a part of this amazing project now.

Since the new year, the camp is almost full again and we are happy to welcome many new participants in our sports classes and to see that more and more people are coming. Since this month, the weather is getting better again, which also means that more people are coming. Seeing this place so alive is very beautiful and always motivates us to continue this work. A lot of great coaches left last year, but also a lot of new great coaches joined this year. We are an amazing team now with 10 coaches and community volunteers, who bring a lot of new motivation to the project. Beside that, they also brought new classes such as Muay thai, Parkour and Wrestling and we are very happy about these new additions. 

Ramadan started, a time of spiritual practice and fasting for muslims around the world. This means that these weeks are a bit more quiet and the sports schedule has moved mostly to the eventing hours. 

I have attached the reports from the last 3 months and the annual report of 2022 to give you a better understanding of everything that has been happening at all four Yoga and Sport with refugees locations.

I want to say a big thank you to all of you for your continued support of the project. The situation of people on the move in Greece is forgotten because of other crises like the Ukraine war or the earthquake in Turkey and Syria and it is harder for us to get donations. But people are always on the move and Greece and the EU are only making the situation worse. Your donation allows us to provide a safe space outside of an inhumane camp - a space people can improve their mental and physical wellbeing. As always, we would be grateful if you could share our project to your social media network or just tell people about us. 

In solidarity,
Lena

• Monthly report december 2022 (PDF)
  
• Monthly report january 2023 (PDF)
  
• monthly report February 2023 (PDF)
  
• annual report 2022 (PDF)