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Baltimore, MD
SWB Baltimore celebrated World Refugee Day by inviting all of our high school, middle school, and elementary school participants to our World Cup Soccer Camp! The camp kicked off on June 20th (World Refugee Day) and lasted 3 days. Throughout the camp, many discussions arose about unity and the importance of community. Some teams also talked about remembering the Refugee team in the Olympics and how they wished the World Cup had a refugee team. One SWB team named themselves "The Unstoppables" while another named themselves "Team Senegal" but regardless of their team names, all of our student-athletes came together and played with passion and respect. Throughout the week we had about 90 students each day and concluded camp on Friday by going swimming!
Greeley, CO
In partnership with Lutheran Family Services (LFS), and the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado (IRCNoCo) and sponsored by the Human Relations Commission, First Bank, and United Way, SWB Greeley hosted a World Refugee Day Celebration on Saturday, June 23. Students from SWB and members of the community shared dances and music from cultures that represent many of the refugees that arrive in Greeley. Over 100 people stayed to share an Eastern African and South Asian meal from locally owned restaurants, enjoyed the film, “The Island of All Together”, and created a beautiful mosaic. Earlier in the week on World Refugee Day, SWB Greeley also hosted a trivia night with prizes from SWB, LFS and IRCNoco. Trivia answers exposed attendees to the inside scoop on refugee resettlement!
Kampala, Uganda
This year's World Refugee Day celebrations at SWB Uganda were very special! The day kicked off at 10:00 am with a brief discussion on what World Refugee Day is all about and the rights of refugees living in Uganda. This was then followed by a fun quiz with small prizes and snacks for correct answers. We then jumped into the final competition for our 3rd Annual Spelling Bee, a month long team spelling competition for SWB participants. The winning teams all won books, writing books, and pens. The spelling bee was followed by our end-of-term SWB Youth Awards; celebrating all of the achievements of SWB’s refugee youth both on and off the pitch during the Spring Term. Give-aways included official hats and t-shirts from FIFA for those who displayed the best attendance and behavior over the course of the 5 month term.
And then came the music! Music is always a highlight (and very loud) at our events, and led to some great youth dance competitions and tons of happy vibes all around the Youth Center. Before we knew it, lunch time was upon us. Coach Jeremiah cooked up an epic batch of beans while Coach Laura and Coach Mina prepared the pots of rice. Finally, the coaches had a little surprise to end the day, a movie. We split into two groups and watched the classic 90's kids soccer movie, “The Big Green.” It was an incredible and fun way to celebrate refugees all from all over the world over with over 200 of our kids and young adults.