Bangladesh Girls Refugee Basketball Camp

The project that I am advocating is a basketball program specializing in helping girls and disabled children living in refugee camps in Bangladesh. When I read about this NGO-supported team, it called out to me. Let me explain why. I am a sixteen year old, five foot two and a-half inch shooting guard on my high school Varsity Basketball team; I started playing basketball when I was eight years old and didn’t know anyone at my new school. I had just moved back to Los Angeles from northern California and I was tiny…I was four feet, three inches. Despite this, I loved the challenge and the companionship that basketball presented to me. It bonded me to my classmates, and later on to my teammates. In my freshman year of high school, I was selected to be on the Varsity Girls basketball team at my school. There were twelve other girls on the team that year, and I can honestly say that all of them became my best friends. We won C.I.F. that year, which means we were champions of our division in the entire Southern Section of California. But, I have to say, the greater accomplishment that year was definitely how close all thirteen of us became. Girls Basketball is currently a developing sport. Though it hasn’t been given nearly as much attention as Boys or Mens Basketball, I am currently trying to change that: by developing a program called Sport Support (where we collect and donate sports attire and equipment for underprivileged children), and globally with what I am about to tell you—
The Bangladesh-based refugee camp program that I am putting forth for your consideration is supported not only by a local NGO, but also by the UNHCR (the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). It was started by Petar Ristic, a Yugoslavian who was on the junior national basketball team in Yugoslavia, as well as being a coach. This program has grown greatly from Ristic working a year ago with 25 children, to him now coaching over 700 girls, boys, and disabled children in multiple camps. Ristic says: “Children in my country needed special attention after the war. By playing organized sports, they learnt important life skills like working together and respecting each other. The refugee children in Bangladesh also needed help in overcoming some of the frustrations of living in camps.” This basketball program has enabled these children to dream—some saying that because of it, they now want to go to college. There are about 14,000 children in these camps (Nayapara and Kutupalong), made up of Muslim refugees from Myanmar, that have now been relocated to Bangladesh for some up to eighteen years. Ristic’s program is a life-altering opportunity for these Muslim girls. It is incredibly rare to have a basketball program for girls in a place such as this internationally—and this unique NGO-backed enterprise definitely needs to be supported. Ristic has fed these girls’ spark for engaged team play. I propose that ‘5 for Fairness’ becomes part of the team, and help nurture and sustain this international refugee garden of hope and opportunity for girls.
For more information, here is a link to an article on this program from “OneWorld South Asia” which highlights people and groups working for human rights and sustainable development from across the world. http://southasia.oneworld.net/todaysheadlines/basketball-coach-provides-hope-to-refugees
Thank you for your consideration.
Juliet Spies-Gans

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