2020 - 2021

In January 2020, with the expansion of the camp, we increased the number of football sessions. However, due to the COVID19 pandemic, we were not able to provide any in-person activities from March until July 2020. Upon our return to camp in August of 2020, we focussed our football programme specifically for children who had no access to formal or informal education during this period. Continuing COVID19 restrictions endured until December 2020.

From the end of 2020 we integrated an increasing number of Resident Volunteers (RVs) into our football sessions - further increasing capacity, and providing learning and development opportunities for camp residents.

During 2021 our football programme developed, thanks to the continuing generosity of the SOL Foundation. In August we ran a week-long Ritsona Football Tournament, with the final being held at the Ermilios Football Club, near Chalkida.

Sports facilities at the camp improved in 2021, with a newly re-surfaced area available for football. And children were grateful for new shirts, donated by SOL Foundation.

Lorenzo, our Sports Intern in 2021, captured the essence of our work in the following words: “We see friendships between children of different communities and genders being formed before our eyes, and that is what football is all about. Football is an international language and has the means to create links between people who might not usually interact, and it has done exactly that in Ritsona Refugee Camp.”