USA Wrestling for Peace’s First Journey: The Sahrawi Refugee Camps in Africa
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by Christina “Kiki” Kelley & Dan Russell, Wrestling For Peace ambassadors
USA Wrestling has established a new program called “Wrestling for Peace," which is designed to help build relationship bridges and connect people throughout the world. By using the great sport of wrestling in a sport diplomacy fashion, USA Wrestling hopes to make a positive impact. Recently USA Wrestling for Peace Ambassadors Christina “Kiki” Kelley and Dan Russell visited Algeria on our first mission.
Wrestling has a rich history and its importance has been well-documented throughout the ancient and modern world. Tribes such as the Sahrawi, a nomadic people related to the Bedouins and Taureg, remember and retell their wrestling tales of woe and glory. Archeological evidence that validate these tales have been discovered in Middle Egypt. These discoveries leave little doubt of the sports importance in the daily life and culture of ancient societies from Timbuktu to Tehran and beyond.
The tombs of Beni Hasan are considered hallowed grounds named for the Bedouin tribe. The tribe lived for centuries in this region of the world. Here Egyptologists have found tomb paintings that offer important insights into the rich history of wrestling and the world in which it existed. These hieroglyphics date back to 2100 BC. For thousands of years, wrestling has been an important part of the tribes of the Beni Hasan. This is all interesting, you may say, but why is it relevant to us today?
Recently, USA Wrestling for Peace (USAW4P) Ambassadors Kiki Kelley and Dan Russell spent 10 days in Saharan Algeria engaged in a new Wrestling4Peace project with the Sahrawi people, the descendants of the Bedouin tribe of Beni Hasan. With the advent of Team Refugee’s existence in the Olympics, there is now a viable route for promising wrestlers (of both sexes) without a homeland to maintain tradition and bring glory to their people who have suffered so much. Moreover, wrestling can provide a community-sanctioned alternative to the reviled and feared drugs and terrorism rampant in the region, just as Beat the Streets provides an outlet and alternative to gangs in the USA. With the Sahrawi as prototype, the hope is to model this program in other at-risk regions throughout the world.
Kelley and Russell expected a daunting task ahead of them, and very likely, real danger. After all, the Sahrawi are still at war with Morocco, and Algeria has instituted tight controls for entering the camps due to snipers. Instead, the Americans (including a skeleton crew of documentarians and a representative of CitiHope) found such generosity and hospitality that they were made to feel as family. Within days, plans were already being made for the first wrestling demo in the Saharan Dunes, and school children were asking when they could start wrestling practice. Because of the temperature, a dedicated wrestling room will need to be built.
So how in the world did this group get to such an isolated and forgotten place? It was by request of the Sahrawi elders, who desperately desired for wrestling to be restored to its original prominence in their culture. Thus, Wrestling4Peace was contacted. Wrestling has been in the Sahrawi blood for generations. Surviving the harshness of desert life as refugees for the past 42 years, the Sahrawi youth are growing up without the life-affirming, positive outlet, and discipline that wrestling had always provided them, until now. Refugee camp life can seem hopeless, and wrestling, the elders argued, would reignite hope. Not only is there the real risk that this ancient culture will lose a major part of its identity, but that their youth will fall prey to drugs or worse, terrorist scouts spreading lies.
Wrestling4Peace has made a commitment to reinvigorate wrestling in the refugee camps. As we in the wrestling family know, to wrestle is to struggle, and everybody struggles because Life is hard. Therefore, everybody wrestles, at least symbolically. But wrestlers learn how to create beauty and find purpose in the struggle. Therefore, Wrestling4Peace is identifying where there is excessive struggle in our world and asking the question, “How can wrestling be part of the solution?”
There is much to be done, and the work has only begun. But already, government and private entities have taken note of the potential this project brings for real-world change. After only one conference call discussing the mission, CitiHope pledged 1 million dollars in medical aid. A board-member of CitiHope, Larry Steckman, traveled with Ambassadors Kelley and Russell to assess needs at the camps.
In addition, the Peabody Award-winning Windrider Productions film group, who have shown their work at the Sundance Film Festival, were there to help the Sahrawi tell their story -- the other request of the Sahrawi elders, to not languish in the Sahara, forgotten. Alongside this documentary in the works, film footage can be repurposed to present to and potentially partner with organizations who naturally dovetail with the Wrestling4Peace mission, such as the IOC, the UN, the US Dept. of State, as well as charitable organizations like CitiHope, who are also interested in our next trips to Iran and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Part and parcel to Wrestling4Peace’s mission to provide alternatives to at-risk youths is to support the burgeoning interest in female wrestling in the Islamic world. Contrary to what many Americans think, African and Middle-Eastern countries are interested in girls’ and women’s wrestling, provided suitable attire can be found. It took very little research to discover that Islam-friendly singlets are already being developed by several sources. The singlets are similar to what Irani and Afghani girls wear to surf (yes, they surf) or a combination of what speed skaters and ice skaters wear.
Although the initial goal of the Algeria trip was for USA Wrestling for Peace Ambassadors to meet with top government officials to discuss the feasibility of Wrestling4Peace’s vision, there was so much more to the trip than expected. The team was given full access to Sahrawi life and successfully completed a wrestling demo to great success in the Saharan sand dunes. The Sahrawi are 100% on board with the Wrestling4Peace mission, and plans are already in the works for the next visit (they didn’t want us to leave, actually).
With the support of the Governor of La Aioune, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Sport, the Minister of Health, local coaches and trainers, and--as soon as is organizationally possible--with help from volunteers like you, Wrestling4Peace intends to join forces with future wrestling family members to assist in their struggles, and hopefully, make a profound difference in this beleaguered world via our beloved sport of wrestling.
Wrestling has a rich history and its importance has been well-documented throughout the ancient and modern world. Tribes such as the Sahrawi, a nomadic people related to the Bedouins and Taureg, remember and retell their wrestling tales of woe and glory. Archeological evidence that validate these tales have been discovered in Middle Egypt. These discoveries leave little doubt of the sports importance in the daily life and culture of ancient societies from Timbuktu to Tehran and beyond.
The tombs of Beni Hasan are considered hallowed grounds named for the Bedouin tribe. The tribe lived for centuries in this region of the world. Here Egyptologists have found tomb paintings that offer important insights into the rich history of wrestling and the world in which it existed. These hieroglyphics date back to 2100 BC. For thousands of years, wrestling has been an important part of the tribes of the Beni Hasan. This is all interesting, you may say, but why is it relevant to us today?
Recently, USA Wrestling for Peace (USAW4P) Ambassadors Kiki Kelley and Dan Russell spent 10 days in Saharan Algeria engaged in a new Wrestling4Peace project with the Sahrawi people, the descendants of the Bedouin tribe of Beni Hasan. With the advent of Team Refugee’s existence in the Olympics, there is now a viable route for promising wrestlers (of both sexes) without a homeland to maintain tradition and bring glory to their people who have suffered so much. Moreover, wrestling can provide a community-sanctioned alternative to the reviled and feared drugs and terrorism rampant in the region, just as Beat the Streets provides an outlet and alternative to gangs in the USA. With the Sahrawi as prototype, the hope is to model this program in other at-risk regions throughout the world.
Kelley and Russell expected a daunting task ahead of them, and very likely, real danger. After all, the Sahrawi are still at war with Morocco, and Algeria has instituted tight controls for entering the camps due to snipers. Instead, the Americans (including a skeleton crew of documentarians and a representative of CitiHope) found such generosity and hospitality that they were made to feel as family. Within days, plans were already being made for the first wrestling demo in the Saharan Dunes, and school children were asking when they could start wrestling practice. Because of the temperature, a dedicated wrestling room will need to be built.
So how in the world did this group get to such an isolated and forgotten place? It was by request of the Sahrawi elders, who desperately desired for wrestling to be restored to its original prominence in their culture. Thus, Wrestling4Peace was contacted. Wrestling has been in the Sahrawi blood for generations. Surviving the harshness of desert life as refugees for the past 42 years, the Sahrawi youth are growing up without the life-affirming, positive outlet, and discipline that wrestling had always provided them, until now. Refugee camp life can seem hopeless, and wrestling, the elders argued, would reignite hope. Not only is there the real risk that this ancient culture will lose a major part of its identity, but that their youth will fall prey to drugs or worse, terrorist scouts spreading lies.
Wrestling4Peace has made a commitment to reinvigorate wrestling in the refugee camps. As we in the wrestling family know, to wrestle is to struggle, and everybody struggles because Life is hard. Therefore, everybody wrestles, at least symbolically. But wrestlers learn how to create beauty and find purpose in the struggle. Therefore, Wrestling4Peace is identifying where there is excessive struggle in our world and asking the question, “How can wrestling be part of the solution?”
There is much to be done, and the work has only begun. But already, government and private entities have taken note of the potential this project brings for real-world change. After only one conference call discussing the mission, CitiHope pledged 1 million dollars in medical aid. A board-member of CitiHope, Larry Steckman, traveled with Ambassadors Kelley and Russell to assess needs at the camps.
In addition, the Peabody Award-winning Windrider Productions film group, who have shown their work at the Sundance Film Festival, were there to help the Sahrawi tell their story -- the other request of the Sahrawi elders, to not languish in the Sahara, forgotten. Alongside this documentary in the works, film footage can be repurposed to present to and potentially partner with organizations who naturally dovetail with the Wrestling4Peace mission, such as the IOC, the UN, the US Dept. of State, as well as charitable organizations like CitiHope, who are also interested in our next trips to Iran and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Part and parcel to Wrestling4Peace’s mission to provide alternatives to at-risk youths is to support the burgeoning interest in female wrestling in the Islamic world. Contrary to what many Americans think, African and Middle-Eastern countries are interested in girls’ and women’s wrestling, provided suitable attire can be found. It took very little research to discover that Islam-friendly singlets are already being developed by several sources. The singlets are similar to what Irani and Afghani girls wear to surf (yes, they surf) or a combination of what speed skaters and ice skaters wear.
Although the initial goal of the Algeria trip was for USA Wrestling for Peace Ambassadors to meet with top government officials to discuss the feasibility of Wrestling4Peace’s vision, there was so much more to the trip than expected. The team was given full access to Sahrawi life and successfully completed a wrestling demo to great success in the Saharan sand dunes. The Sahrawi are 100% on board with the Wrestling4Peace mission, and plans are already in the works for the next visit (they didn’t want us to leave, actually).
With the support of the Governor of La Aioune, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Sport, the Minister of Health, local coaches and trainers, and--as soon as is organizationally possible--with help from volunteers like you, Wrestling4Peace intends to join forces with future wrestling family members to assist in their struggles, and hopefully, make a profound difference in this beleaguered world via our beloved sport of wrestling.
