Hope United

Sports became our starting point.

​

What began as a response to deep trauma has grown into a full-fledged movement of movement.

​

In early 2019, following the final battles in the desert town of Al Baghuz Fawkani, a number of Yezidi children and teens began arriving at our gates. These were young people who had spent five years in desert encampments, drawn into rigid and controlled environments far removed from childhood. We quickly realized they wouldn’t thrive in a classroom—at least not at first.

​

These weren’t kids who could sit through lessons after all they had endured. They needed space. They needed motion. They needed a full-time sports and activity program—something to reconnect them with freedom, rhythm, and play.

​

The answer was to build a dedicated sports space: a playground, outdoor exercise equipment, a football field, volleyball courts, and a running track. We hired a coach to walk them gently toward a renewed sense of childhood, adolescence, and community life.

​

What began with a few dozen has grown into something much bigger. The program now serves not only our students, but many others from the surrounding tent community in Shariya Camp. Teams representing the Springs of Hope Foundation—both male and female—regularly compete in local and national football and volleyball championships, either hosted at our facility or in nearby centers.

​

Since the opening of the Hope United sports complex in mid-2019, 275 students have joined regular training programs, and 155 have gone on to compete in formal championships.

​

Our next goal is to build an indoor gym onsite, giving all our students—boys and girls alike—a year-round space to grow strong in body, mind, and spirit.