Since the beginning, Just.Childhood has been working with the communities living in the Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut. The children and youth are often excluded from sports and any recreational activities and have hardly access to places to move in general. This is true especially girls and children with disabilities.
One of Just.Childhood’s main missions is to provide safe spaces, besides our educational program, to have fun, build confidence and break down social barriers. The Skateboarding program started as a collaboration with the organization Make Life Skate Life. Following a relief fund in support of the skate community in Lebanon after the explosion in the port of Beirut in August 2020, an international team of volunteers constructed Lebanon’s first public skatepark. Make Life Skate Life initiated the Snoubar Skatepark project, a free-of-charge community skatepark at the urban park Horsh Beirut. The project addresses underprivileged youth in the refugee camps to contribute towards increasing their resilience and psycho-social well-being through skateboarding.
The project addresses underprivileged youth in the refugee camps to contribute towards increasing their resilience and psycho-social well-being through skateboarding.
Especially the youth living in the camps suffer from severe economic, social and psychological problems due to the living conditions and violence in the camp and within their families. This project constitutes an important step in giving children and youth the necessary and safe space to engage in physical activities, which positively reflects on their physical and psychological health and contributes to their integration into the local community outside the camp.
