WAITING FOR THE SUN. WHEN EVERY MEETING CARRIES LOSS
They will arrive in Italy for the first time accompanied by their coaches, thanks to a cultural and sporting exchange that we organised together with the Florence-based sports cooperative Centro Storico Lebowski: they are 11 Palestinian children aged between 8 and 13, members of the 'Palestine Youth Club' football team active in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut (Lebanon).
From 25 June to 10 July, the delegation will move to various cities in Italy: in addition to the sports camps organised by CS Lebowski in their Florence headquarters, the Palestinian team will also move to Bologna and Rome thanks to the contribution of some popular sports realities such as Atletico San Lorenzo, Acrobax, All Reds Basket (Rome); Palestra Popolare TPO, PCB - Pallacanestro Cooperativa Bologna, Polisportiva Hic Sunt Leones and Hayat APS (Bologna). The support of institutional bodies is important, as well as the valuable support of the Italian Football Coaches Association (AIAC). The project 'Dritti contro il cielo, da Shatila all'Italia' (Straight against the sky, from Shatila to Italy) has in fact received the patronage of the Municipalities of Florence and Bologna, the VIII Municipality of Rome, the Region of Tuscany, and the support of the AIAC. For this reason, institutional meetings are planned in the three Italian cities in addition to the sports events.
Among the many activities planned is a visit to the Football Museum in Coverciano on 5 July, organised by AIAC president Renzo Ulivieri, which will be attended by the Councillor for Sport of the Municipality of Florence, Letizia Perini.
The Palestine Youth Club's trip to Italy is part of a very long journey of solidarity and sports collaboration that we have built in the Shatila camp, where we have been working for over 20 years in support of the Palestinian refugee population, and where we actively support the sports centre where the team trains.
In 2023, we also accompanied a delegation of coaches from the Lebowski History Centre there. During that week, the team had held football training sessions with the Palestine Youth Club, involving lə kids in a sporting and sharing experience.
Accompanying the delegation then was director Niccolò Falsetti, who in those days shot the necessary footage for the documentary 'Dritti contro il cielo' (Straight against the sky). The documentary has since been screened throughout Italy, in a series of self-financing initiatives that made the exchange possible.
Our goal is, as always, to keep the focus high on the denial of access to rights for the Palestinian refugee population in Lebanon, and to consolidate the bridges we have built over the years, also and above all through sport. The initiatives planned in Italy will also allow us to raise funds from below and make the second part of the documentary.
The delegation arriving from Shatila will be:
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