The refugee camp of Azraq was created in 2014 near the town of Azraq, Jordan to accommodate incoming refugees from Syria’s ongoing civil war. The camp now hosts more than 32 000 residents, many of them being children. THF began to operate a taekwondo academy for children and youth of the camp in April 2016. There are currently more than 70 students who attend weekly training sessions covering both technical taekwondo and educational activities.
The cooperation contract between THF and JTF will be effective as of April 1st, 2018 after which JTF will start supporting THF’s project by becoming its local focal point of coordination. With the construction of a new taekwondo facility, expected to be operational from end of March, the academy will be expanded in terms of activities and training spots, and the national Federation’s help in coordinating this growth shall be instrumental.
Through this agreement, the two organisations make a strong commitment to collaborate in promoting taekwondo as a powerful tool for peace, social development as well as social integration, a point of view strongly advocated by their mother organisation, World Taekwondo, which also supports the project since its launch in early 2016.
Azraq Taekwondo Academy was in fact jointly launched by World Taekwondo and THF as a first pilot project before developing other project locations in Rwanda, Turkey, and Nepal, among others. For more information about THF’s current activities, please visit http://thfaid.org/projects/.
