I experienced an unexpected ‘democracy lesson’ facilitated by Claude Jonkmans, a young Canadian-Swiss woman living and working in Greece, while visiting a sport facility to organise summer activities for unaccompanied minors in Athens. This is how the idea of interviewing her for our newsletter came about. Enjoy!
Claude, could you briefly describe what “Yoga and Sport for Refugees” is?
Yoga and Sport with Refugees (YSR) started in 2017 on the island of Lesvos, when our founder and executive director Estelle Jean was volunteering with another organisation on the island. She saw the need for sports and – in response to the massive need for a healthy safe space, a sense of community and a place to work on mental and physical health – she created Yoga and Sport for Refugees with the first gym on Lesvos.
The project has come a long way since then, with the gym in Athens starting as a project named Project Hiwawhich was founded by a Kurdish athlete who was also involved in the start of YSR on Lesvos. The gym in Athens is a space over two floors in the centre of the city, and offers a variety of sports from martial arts, dance, yoga, fitness classes and bodybuilding to field sports. The sports activities are all led by the refugee and asylum-seeking community here in Athens, as the aim of YSR is to put the community in the lead. Here everyone is welcome, and we focus on bringing the refugee, asylum seeking, international and local Greek communities together in our activities.
We believe in the power of sport to connect people, improve individuals’ mental and physical well-being, build community and facilitate integration.
I noticed that there was a very significant change in the name of your initiative from Yoga and Sport for Refugees to Yoga and Sport with Refugees. When and how did this happen?
We changed the name last March. Over the years we were doing sports with the goal of making people happy and strong trying to create a sense of purpose in difficult situations. Gradually, we realised that as our community felt more empowered, there was a shift in their needs and ambitions. They wanted to be more than just participants and coaches in the activities, they also wanted to be the trainers, coordinators and volunteers on the ground. That is why we decided to change our name to Yoga and Sport with Refugees, as we run this mile together and not alone.
The painting on the wall talks about empowerment, responsibility, equality and respect, which are the core values in a democratic culture. How do you deal with them in your daily work?
Our team of asylum seekers and refugee teachers collaboratively defined the core values for the gym in a workshop. Every day, we use our values to guide us as we strive to empower our community, take responsibility and treat each other equally and with respect. These values are a guideline for how we want to treat each other in the gym, but also in the sports classes. We empower our students to take responsibility, to train hard and to treat everybody equally and with respect. Which ultimately offers the perfect basis on which we can build our teams and sweat together!
What are your future plans and dreams? Both as an individual, and as part of Yoga and Sport with Refugees.
My future plans and dreams for YSR in Athens especially is that we can move to a bigger space where we could have more rooms and a larger capacity for more classes. This way we could have one classroom, one gym room and one room for women’s activities, allowing us to empower more women on the move to believe in themselves, connect to the power of sports and become mentally and physically stronger together.
Personally, I have done sports my whole life and really see how it can make a change in individuals’ lives. I wish to be able to connect more to the local Greek community and implement systems where a healthy and sustainable two-sided integration can further take place.
For myself, as one of the team members of YSR who was lucky to have been certified as an empowerment and self-defence instructor by ESD Global last March, I want to build an empowerment programme and teach to as many women on the move as possible. More generally, as a woman I believe we need to shift our societal norms to aim for equality and support each other as women. As a victim of harassment, I also want to empower women to believe in themselves, to learn how to set boundaries and to feel that they are able to defend themselves if an incident was to occur. Women on the move are particularly vulnerable and face many situations in which, unfortunately, abuse isn’t unheard of. And that’s why I want to make empowerment and self-defence freely accessible for women on the move.
Is there anything else you would like to add/conclude with?
YSR has changed my way of looking at things and my view of the world. Through the stories of the people on the move and having worked with them side by side, I feel even more strongly about striving for a more equal world and about creating opportunities for people fleeing from conflict. These people are not ‘migrants’ – they are true warriors who have given up everything they have and they know, and stepped completely out of their comfort zone in order to make a better life for themselves and their families. And if running a gym here in Athens where we can come together and spend positive moments is what I can contribute to making their journeys more bearable and creating positive connections, then I feel honoured to be part of it. Because in the end we are stronger together!
If you are interested in finding out more about YSR, please visit their website: https://yogasportwithrefugees.org/about-us/
