Impowering displaced people worldwide

The 3rd Hope and Dream Camps took place in Amman, Jordan. FISU President Leonz Eder was invited to join by founder Dr. Choue, President of World Taekwondo.

At the invitation of Dr. Chungwon Choue, President of World Taekwondo, FISU President Leonz Eder visited the Hope and Dream Camps in Amman and the associated Sports Festival. Originally started exclusively with taekwondo, the 3rd edition of this humanitarian event also included competitions in baseball, basketball, badminton and handball.

The growing importance of this initiative, founded by Dr. Choue, which is implemented by the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) established in 2015, was also underlined by the presence of World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) President Riccardo Fraccari, FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis and Gonzalo Barrio, Refugee Olympic Team Coordinator of the IOC.

The Hope and Dream Camps of World Taekwondo have been strongly supported and promoted by Jordan since their foundation. IOC member and President of Jordan’s NOC, HRH Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein, received the three IF Presidents Choue, Fraccari and Eder at the new NOC premises in Amman for in-depth discussions on the peace-building measures and opportunities that sport in general and these Hope and Dream Camps in Azraq and Za’atari in particular provide.

Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein and Dr. Choue expressed the wish that FISU would also become a partner of this initiative. FISU President Eder held out the prospect of launching online courses for the children and young people in the camps. Such an offer could be realised in view of the tenth anniversary of the THF in 2026.

The Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation

Founded by World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue at the United Nations HQ in New York in September 2015, THF mandate is to empower displaced people worldwide through taekwondo, helping to improve their quality of life, develop skills, learn the Olympic values and pursue their dreams. Besides of the two camps in Amman, the Azraq Refugee Camp and the Za’atari Camp the THF also runs sports programs in refugee camps in Djibouti, Eswatini, Kenya and Qatar.

Sharing smiles through sport

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“Unfortunately the humanitarian crisis is not abating, on the contrary, it has increased further with the effects of the war in Ukraine, reaching in 2024 the sad record of 120 million people forced to leave their homes due to conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution,” Chungwon Choue said. “It’s our duty to act to stem this crisis and help these people in every way possible,” he added. Jordan hosts around 730’000 refugees, mainly from Syria.

“Although the refugees in these camps don’t belong to the main target group of the FISU events, it is a great chance for FISU to cooperate with World Taekwondo and the other IF’s involved in these projects, as we already cooperate with these Federations for the success of our Games and Championships,” FISU President Leonz Eder stated. “in the field of education, e.g. through online courses, FISU can contribute to the already existing portfolio in the shaping of body and mind of these kids in the refugee camps,” he added.

Apart from the sports included in the programme, there was also a demonstration of para taekwondo poomsae among refugee athletes at the Za’atari camp, while weightlifting equipment was donated to the refugee camps during the Festival.