This blog was originally posted on DarfurUnited.com. When asked, “Who likes football? Tomorrow morning we start the first day of coach’s training with 15 men and 15 women candidates from refugee site Gado! It doesn’t feel real yet. We’ve been traveling for over three weeks now, and I’ve been anticipating this part of our trip – the opportunity to launch a new Refugees United Soccer Academy, the first in Cameroon for refugees from the Central African Republic. This morning we

This blog was originally posted on LittleRipples.org. A typical day for Mairama is waking up and walking to the field. It takes about two hours to walk where she goes to collect wood to sell at the market. She spends her entire day in the field and usually comes back home around 4pm. Her older children, ages 14 and 16, accompany her to the field while the younger ones, ages 6 and 10, stay home to fetch water. When we asked her what she wishes most for her children, Mairama re

This post was originally posted on LittleRipples.org. I’m now calling them our all-star refugee Assessment Team. This group of 11 (image) has been helping iACT measure the impact of Little Ripples since 2014. In total, the team has completed six assessments for us and contributed to further improving and designing our survey tool. And we now have an official team cheer! We stack our hands in the middle of our huddle, count to three, and collectively yell, “Assessment Te

I asked a young man today how he and his friends planned to celebrate World Refugee Day in the camp. He said, “Tomorrow is June 20th!?” I said, “Yes, it’s World Refugee Day, tomorrow!” He then responded, “Oh, that is just another day for us in this camp. Years ago international organizations would throw us a big celebration with activities, but the past couple of years they haven’t. They are not interested in us anymore. For us, it is just another day.” I found this to be poi

I have been out visiting the camps, as I am now, for some of these World Refugee Day celebrations, and there’s always mixed feelings. It’s hard to overlook the irony of celebrating a status that you gain by having had to flee your home because of violence. Nonetheless, the refugees are grateful, especially when they see or hear that people are standing in solidarity with them on June 20th—and any day for that matter! The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is asking everyone around the

I don’t know what it is about being out here in eastern Chad, but so far at the end of each day in the camp I find myself battling a headache, fighting to keep my eyes open, and willing myself to eat and drink something. For lack of time and appetite, I barely eat while we’re in the camp. But I don’t mind or notice. On this trip, I see it as my half attempt at solidarity with our friends and colleagues as they fast for Ramadan every day. Today I conducted a refresher training

Last rainy season was very bad. It started late, and it stopped early. A refugee told us that he has faith that this will be a good, heavy season. It has to be. Even if it rains, it’s not easy for them. They must pack up and go long distances to the lands where they set up their temporary farms. There are no services of any kind in these areas, and malaria season follows the rain. The refugees rent the plots of land from Chadian citizens. Many also have to promise part of the

This blog was originally posted on DarfurUnited.com. What excited us the most was hearing about the coaches’ work off the field, outside of the Soccer Academy. They have begun to visit primary schools across their camp in order to introduce the Soccer Academy, and to begin to build relationships with the students, teachers, and school directors. In doing so, they aim to get a better sense of the number of young children ages six to thirteen available to participate in the Soc

This was first posted on LittleRipples.org Today was our first day in refugee camp Goz Amer since leaving Los Angeles six days ago. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of time, plane rides, planning, and coordinating it takes to get to eastern Chad. Arriving to Little Ripples School this morning and being greeted by our refugee friends and colleagues was like taking a long deep breath in and letting it out slowly. It was moment of calm, peace, and happiness. We were embrac

“It’s a small world,” has become a cliche, but it sure does take a lot of time for us to get out to a refugee camp! After leaving LAX, it took us 26 hours to get to our hotel in Yaounde, Cameroon. Refugee sites in Cameroon are actually our second destination, but we decided to land in this beautifully green city first because we’ll be leaving for home from here. iACT’s Sara-Christine Dallain on the tarmac. After a day of half recovering from the jetlag and knots on my back, w