These next few weeks will be an exciting time for iACT, as our team returns to refugee camp Goz Amer to check-in on the three initial Little Ripples in-home Ponds and the meal program, and to work with the Little Ripples teachers to further develop engaging social-emotional and play-based activities for students. Each Pond is enrolled to capacity, with 45 children ages three to five attending six days a week. Each child at the Little Ripples School and Pond now receives a daily nutritious meal. The nutritional support is critical for the learning and development of young children and provides additional opportunity for employment and community involvement. Women from the surrounding camp blocks, or neighborhoods, are offered positions as the cooks and managers of the daily meal. They are to ensure the children eat a variety of foods each day, sourced from the refugee community.
On this trip, the team will also be launching two more Darfur United Soccer Academies! They’ll be heading north from camp Goz Amer to refugee camps Mile and Kounoungou where they will be recruiting, training and employing four men and four women to serve as the DUSA coaches for 4,000 boys and girls. Once DUSA is implemented in camps Mile and Kounoungou, iACT will be reaching up to 10,000 boy and girls in refugee camps in eastern Chad with soccer, peacebuilding, health, and hope. We’re extremely proud because each DUSA is supported 100% by individuals, soccer players and communities across the U.S.who believe in the power of sport and the right for refugee children to play and learn. As Coash Issag has said, “This is the first time young girls are consistently playing soccer in our community.”
iACT trips to eastern Chad are not only an opportunity for us to advance our work and deepen our relationships with the Darfuri refugees, but it is also a time to connect Darfuri refugees with you. Refugees want to feel connected, and so we do our best to share their voices, stories, hopes, accomplishments and needs with you each day. Please follow along and connect at iACT 23. You can also leave a message for our Darfuri friends as a comment on this blog, and the team in Chad will share it with them while there.