Speedskater Clara Hughes high on Right To Play's work in the Middle East
Olympic speedskater Clara Hughes was initially afraid to go to the Middle East with Right To Play, but it turned out to be a profound experience for her.
After a recent five-day African trip through Ghana with the organization, which promotes sport and play as a tool for developing children in poverty-stricken areas of the world, Hughes and husband Peter Guzman went on vacation.
During a visit with a friend in Jerusalem, Hughes discovered there was a Right To Play office in the West Bank in Ramallah.
While the Hamas-controlled Gaza is considered the more dangerous of the two occupied Palestinian territories, Hughes was still nervous about entering the West Bank.
She quelled her fears and went to play with children at the Al-Qabas school for the blind in Ramallah as well as in the refugee camps of Deir Ammar and Jalazoun.
“What was interesting for me in the Middle East, because it was the first time I travelled to that part of the world, I thought there was going to be bombings and it would feel really dangerous,” Hughes explained.
“Places in the world that we see as being so devastated with poverty, with war, with whatever severe conditions that don’t really exist in our world here, we’re afraid of it. I’m definitely guilty of that.
“It reminded me that you have to go and see for yourself.”
Hughes brought attention to Right To Play by announcing after her victory in the 5,000 metres at the 2006 Olympics that she would donate her $10,000 in prize money to the organization.
That sparked donations of more than $430,000 in the 13 months after the Games.
Hughes, 35, is from Winnipeg and now lives in Glen Sutton, Que. The four-time Olympian and medallist in both speedskating and cycling has travelled to both Ethiopia and Ghana for multi-day trips with Right To Play.
But her one day in the West Bank affected her deeply.
She witnessed people surviving in crushing poverty and angry children living on the streets.
In Deir Ammar, she participated in a play day with about 200 young boys.
“These kids have scars all over their faces and they have scars because kids grow up learning how to throw rocks there,” she said. “They grow up on the streets of refugee camps and they’re third-or fourth-generation refugees.
“There’s glass everywhere and there’s garbage everywhere. This is not a safe environment for a child and their faces showed it.”
But when Hughes and the children hoisted a rainbow-coloured parachute into the air together, or when she chased after them during a scavenger hunt, she saw their burdens lift.
“I thought ‘this is what these kids need. A positive outlet to release some energy,” she said.
“In the West Bank, a lot of it is basically taking kids out of their life situation and giving them an outlet of play that’s safe and fun and letting them forget their demographic and life situation.”
At the end of her day in the West Bank, Hughes saw on the news that five Palestinian children from a refugee camp in Gaza had been killed in bombings.
“I remember saying to Peter ‘those could have been five of the kids we played with today,”’ she said.
Johan Olav Koss, a four-time Olympic gold medallist in speedskating for Norway, founded Right To Play and it now operates in 23 countries.
Much of the organization’s focus is on Africa, but Hughes is now drawn to the organization’s efforts in the Middle East.
“This was my vacation and it was on my own coin, but I would pay to go back and work with those people,” Hughes declared. “I would love to see a group of athletes go back there.
“The kids don’t know what I do. They don’t even know what ice is. They know that I’ve done something and I’ve come from Canada. Right To Play staff say “the kids know someone important has come to visit and that makes them feel special.”’
