Kenyan sportsmen and women have called on the whole world to embrace peace and stability in their respectively nations to avoid the upsurge of refugees across the world.
As the world marked the World Refugees Day yesterday, the message from the sporting world was that Sports is an arbiter of all, calling for an end to the vices that couse suffering.
It was a moment to reflect on refugees who shared their ambitions in sports, as they promise to emulate others by flying their national flags at International championships.
With various sporting activities lining up, like the world championships in Tokyo, Japan, Youth Olympic Games in Dakar Senegal next year, the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games, the refugees are willing to represent their nations.
National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) president Paul Tergat, Athletics Kenya president Jack Tuwei and double Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge were part of a delegation that visited refugee athletes based at the Complete Sports Training Centre in Kaptagat to celebrate the day.
Tuwei said that the federation has been working with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to give athlete refugees opportunities to train and compete.
The same was echoed by Tergat and Kipchoge who called for peace and stability and embracing sports for peace.
Also present was the Athlete Refugee Team (ART) head coach, former world 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei.
She said: “We have so many talented refugees but we want to prepare the few that we are training to demonstrate to the world that there is potential in them.”
Former Commonwealth Games 800m champion Japheth Kimutai, who serves as Complete Sports Director is optimistic that the ART will produce good results this year.
“For the last two months, the athletes’ refugees have shown a lot of improvement. They came here when they were not sure of what to do,” said Kimutai.
Among those athletes based at Complete include Solomon Ayela who competes in the 200m and 400m and was discovered at the Kakuma Refugee Camp.
He said: “The athletics scholarship is my chance to prove my potential in athletics and to show my community in Kakuma that it is possible. We appreciate the love we have been accorded. It has been a lot of hard work and sacrifice,” he said.
Perina Nakang, from South Sudan is among the beneficiaries of the scholarship and she is set to compete at the Athletics Kenyan national trials set for this weekend ahead of World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Ethiopian Abdifattah Hassan, left his Soomaali Galbeed in Eastern Ethiopia for Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya in 2009.