Italy, Sampdoria coaches to support West Nile refugees
Happy To Help. (L-R) UNHCR’s Deputy Representative Parums, Italian Ambassador Fornara, Assistant Commissioner Refugees Office of the Prime Minister Hon. Menhya and UOC’s General Secretary Don Rukare were pleased with the partnership sealed yesterday. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
What you need to know:
- The project will be aimed at educating the youth on Olympic values, creating training programs as well as providing infrastructure to serve both refugees and receiving communities in the spirit of integration.
KAMPALA. Former Fifa President Sepp Blatter often called football the ‘celebration of humanity’.
No sport in the world best represents human values like football and accordingly, the Italian embassy in Ugandan and Serie A club Sampdoria will champion a training session in West Nile at the weekend.
Italian Ambassador to Ugandan His Excellency Domenico Fornara told a press gathering yesterday morning that the event will be used to uplift the livelihoods of the societies in the districts of Yumbe, Koboko and Arua.
Scouting talent
“We want to enhance sports as a uniting activity and that is why we are proud to partner with Sampdoria coaches who have been twice here before to scout talent in Uganda,” Fornara explained, flanked by Mahoua Bamba Parums the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Deputy Representative in Uganda.
The three-day training camp, to be supported by the Italian NGO ACAV, will be open to both refugee settlements and local communities.
Among the activities to be held on the day are sports management courses, to be coordinated by the Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) and Fufa, and a soccer tournament.
UOC General Secretary Donald Rukare said that a three-year sports education program would be launched at the weekend to improve the communities.
Olympic values
The project will be aimed at educating the youth on Olympic values, creating training programs as well as providing infrastructure to serve both refugees and receiving communities in the spirit of integration. The Commissioner for Refugees Hon. Gerald Simon Menhya, who was present highlighted how Uganda was the country with the third most refugees in the world – behind Turkey and Pakistan – and that the initiative of the Sampdoria coaches was a welcome development for the community.
The event’s closing ceremony on Sunday will be graced by the presence of Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Hillary Onek.
