The last Bridges sports activity of CPS was organised as a sports weekend split into two separate events in two different cities. The activities happened in cities Zagreb and Sisak, for the weekend that marked the World Refugee Day, commemorated yearly on the 20th of June.
First, the collective Women to Women, with whom we collaborated throughout the project, visited the city of Sisak to organise an exhibition and workshop that were both a part of our second public event – Refugees’ Weeks 2021. The women used the rest of the weekend time to connect with local women in Sisak and to together unwind with sports: they went swimming in the nearby river Kupa, and also had an afternoon of park games – badminton, volleyball. It was a good way to connect with locals – even if some women were missing a language to communicate with, they were able to connect through the common language of sports, particularly swimming in the river – which was a first for many of the women.
At the same time, in Zagreb, CPS gathered refugees and other third country nationals with whom we have worked throughout the Bridges project, as well as locals, volunteers, other NGO members – on a Sunday afternoon filled with food and sports! We organised different sports activities: badminton tourney, football and volleyball in the park, that all gathered quite a few very eager participants! Over 50 people participated in the gathering, joined in the sports activities, and tried different types of food (Nigerian, Lebanese, Turkish, as well as Croatian-style barbecue).
The event was a great way to mark World Refugee Day, as well as the last, 12th integration event, that was planned together by Centre for Peace Studies, all our partners and communities involved in Bridges.
