Helping the poorest to improve their daily lives for a day through sports practice is the objective of the start-up Klabu – club in Swahili, the language of Kenya-, which is associated with founding of PSG
for a year now. A partnership that materialized this summer, in Bangladesh.
Within a few months, more than 800,000 Rohingya, an ethnic group from the Muslim region living mainly in Myanmar, west of Burma. Refugees have flocked to a tourist region in Bangladesh, home to the world’s longest beach. In total, nearly one million people have found refuge there, which makes Cox’s Bazar the largest refugee camp in the world.
Van and club house to allow sports
“Initially, the authorities did not want to hear about our project“, concedes Jan van Hövell, founder of Klabu, to France Bleu Paris. “Without PSG and Friendship (very influential NGO in Bangladesh, editor’s note), that would not have been possible. I’m very happy, it’s a dream to work with Paris Saint-Germain, we’ve been collaborating on this project for a year.“PSG is also the first sports club in the world to open such an infrastructure.
A project supported and approved by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Every day, between 100 and 200 refugees, young boys and girls, can play sports in the camp. Thanks to a mobile infrastructure, a “sport truck” in the colors of PSG, which allows children to play football, volleyball, badminton, cricket, footvolley (locally called Sepak Takraw), as well as d other popular sports in the region. He roams in the refugee camp, but also in the adjacent regions, outside of Cox’s Bazar.
And since last July, a club house came out of the ground in camp 19. In total, more than a thousand children come to the hill to practice physical activity every week. Equipment (swimsuits, shoes, balls) are loaned during the session. In total, 600 jerseys are loaned, 300 in the club house, and 300 in the “sport truck.” The Paris Saint-Germain foundation intends to develop its initiatives in other territories.