• Text size Normal size text | Increase text size by 10% | Increase text size by 20% | Increase text size by 30%
  • Also available in French

International Women's Day: UNHCR and Nike encourage Somali refugee girls to play sports

News Stories, 8 March 2007

© UNHCR/M.Mutuli
Action from a volleyball match between girls from two camps in Dadaab, north-east Kenya.

DADAAB, Kenya, March 8 (UNHCR) – It has been a hard struggle, but UNHCR and its corporate partner Nike have had some success over the past three years in encouraging Somali girls to engage in sports at three refugee camps here in north-east Kenya.

When the partners launched their "Together for Girls" campaign in July 2004, less than 100 girls played sport compared to more than 5,000 boys in Dadaab, a three-camp complex hosting some 170,000 refugees.

None of the girls were from the mainly Muslim Somali community, which makes up 98 per cent of Dadaab's refugee population. But today, more than 270 Somali refugee girls regularly play sports on the dusty camp facilities – most play volleyball, but some also enjoy badminton, handball, netball and football.

And some of them will be taking part in a special volleyball tournament being held today in Dadaab's Dagahaley camp to mark International Women's Day. Aid workers will take on a team of refugees drawn from Dagahaley and Ifo camps.

"This pilot initiative has gone a long way in really helping girls to come out of their houses and say, 'Look, we can also play sports,'" said Nemia Temporal, the head of UNHCR's office in Dadaab. The campaign also tallies with one of the core aims of the joint UNHCR-Nike-Microsoft ninemillion.org campaign – to get young female refugees more involved in sports.

Organisers of the initiative and sports coordinators in the camps have always faced a major obstacle in getting results – the Somali refugee community is still not sure if girls should play sports. Some conservative Muslims link sports with loose morals, while boys in the camp have on occasion thrown stones at Somali girls returning home from sports activities.

Elizabeth Mwiyeria is sports coordinator of the project and works for UNHCR's implementing partner, CARE. She said the main opposition comes from parents and religious leaders. "They say girls should not play in public and people should not watch them when they are playing. Some say that when they [girls] play, they get strong and I think the men don't like that," Mwiyeria added.

But some hardened opponents have become fans of the initiative, such as Arfon Hussein, who took in Zahra Hussein Aden after the girl's parents were killed in Somalia's long civil war. Two years ago, Afron threatened to kick the girl out of their camp home after she came back late from her first volleyball practice.

"I did not say anything. That night, I just slept with no food. I prayed to God," said the 17-year-old. But after she explained that she had been invited by CARE and that there were only girls, her stepmother became positively enthusiastic and Zahra has since become the captain of the volleyball team for Somali refugee girls in Dagahaley camp.

She encouraged others to come and play and said that it not only kept her fit and healthy, but was also therapeutic in the monotonous routine of camp life. "When I joined the team in Dagahaley two years ago, we were only two Somali girls playing sports. Now there are 87 girls in different teams," Zahra said.

A former teammate, Ismahan, has not been as lucky. Her parents were initially happy for her to join the volleyball team, but later changed their minds and said she must concentrate on school and household chores.

"Some of the parents do not allow the girls to play. We have had to go from family to family to convince them that what the girls are doing is not unusual. Sport is played all over the world," said Abshiro Aden Mohammed, a member of the female sports committee in Dagahaley.

"Change is gradual and we will eventually come up with an educated community on sports," she predicted, while noting that many opponents had changed their minds after the benefits were explained to them. But Abshiro and her colleagues will still need to convince people like Sheikh Mohammed Noor Abdi Hussein.

"I as an individual would not encourage my daughter to play sports, but it is a matter for the community. I cannot impose my views, I can only give guidance," said the sheik, who wields influence in Dadaab's Ifo camp as a kadi or Islamic judge. The sheik advised that if girls must play outdoor games, they should wear appropriate clothing, play in secluded fields and have no interaction with boys.

UNHCR and CARE have made efforts to meet these requirements. The girls have been given special sports clothing designed with the help of Nike. This includes a hijab to cover the hair, a long-sleeved tunic and loose, ankle-length trousers. Playing fields have been fenced off and "girls only" signs will be put up.

The "Together for Girls" project, which has also received funding from the Japan Association for UNHCR, plans to include physical education in the curricula of Dadaab's camp schools. That could help win broader acceptance among the Somali refugee community for the idea of sports for girls.

By Millicent Mutuli in Dadaab, Kenya

• DONATE NOW • • GET INVOLVED • • STAY INFORMED •

 

Related stories by:

UNHCR country pages

Crisis in Horn of Africa

Tens of thousands of Somalis are fleeing conflict and drought into Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Somalia Emergency: Urgent Appeal

Widespread malnutrition among Somali refugees requires immediate action.

Donate to this crisis

Sport Against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Sport Partnerships

Teaming up to give refugees a sporting chance.

How UNHCR Helps Women

By ensuring participation in decision-making and strengthening their self-reliance.

Women

Women and girls can be especially vulnerable to abuse in mass displacement situations.

Follow us on Twitter

Women in Exile

In any displaced population, approximately 50 percent of the uprooted people are women and girls. Stripped of the protection of their homes, their government and sometimes their family structure, females are particularly vulnerable. They face the rigours of long journeys into exile, official harassment or indifference and frequent sexual abuse, even after reaching an apparent place of safety. Women must cope with these threats while being nurse, teacher, breadwinner and physical protector of their families. In the last few years, UNHCR has developed a series of special programmes to ensure women have equal access to protection, basic goods and services as they attempt to rebuild their lives.

On International Women's Day UNHCR highlights, through images from around the world, the difficulties faced by displaced women, along with their strength and resilience.

Women in Exile

Refugee Women

Women and girls make up about 50 percent of the world's refugee population, and they are clearly the most vulnerable. At the same time, it is the women who carry out the crucial tasks in refugee camps – caring for their children, participating in self-development projects, and keeping their uprooted families together.

To honour them and to draw attention to their plight, the High Commissioner for Refugees decided to dedicate World Refugee Day on June 20, 2002, to women refugees.

The photographs in this gallery show some of the many roles uprooted women play around the world. They vividly portray a wide range of emotions, from the determination of Macedonian mothers taking their children home from Kosovo and the hope of Sierra Leonean girls in a Guinean camp, to the tears of joy from two reunited sisters. Most importantly, they bring to life the tremendous human dignity and courage of women refugees even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Refugee Women

Kenya Floods Threaten Refugees

Flood waters in north-eastern Kenya in mid-November, caused havoc in the Dadaab refugee complex of three camps. Over 100,000 of the 160,000 refugees have been badly affected by the flooding, particularly in Ifo camp. Refugees' homes were swept away and latrines have overflowed and collapsed. The main supply route linking Dadaab to the rest of Kenya has been cut by the rains, blocking all aid deliveries by road.

To get refugees to safety on higher ground, UNHCR started transferring people to Hagadera camp, 20kms away – often using donkey carts. A series of airlifts has brought in fuel for generators, emergency health kits, tarpaulins, and shovels to fill sandbags to keep the flood waters at bay. Essentials items such as plastic tarpaulins, sleeping mats, and food have been distributed to refugees who lost everything.

These floods have been compared to the massive flooding which followed the record 1997 El Nino rains that swamped much of low-lying eastern Kenya.

Posted on 29 November 2006

Kenya Floods Threaten Refugees

Kenya: In Need of ProtectionPlay video

Kenya: In Need of Protection

The legacy of Sudan's civil war haunts many refugees. In Kakuma camp some need special protection to ensure their safety.
Survivors, Protectors, Providers: Refugee Women speak OutPlay video

Survivors, Protectors, Providers: Refugee Women speak Out

Women and girls from around the world share their experiences of sacrifice and inspiration.
Somalia: No Peace HerePlay video

Somalia: No Peace Here

Fighting continues to force people to leave areas of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Abduallahi Ali is fleeing from one makeshift camp to another, saying he fears for his life.