Community

In the middle of the pandemic, I was asked to move to Greece, start my PhD in Sports Psychology, and coach at a refugee camp. My job was to build a coaching program for women living in a camp of 3,500 people. It became clear early on that I was facing what seemed like an impossible task: starting a program from scratch without speaking the participants' language, in the middle of a pandemic (and Ramadan!), and for women whose culture did not typically embrace sports.

I began by connecting with women who spoke English, Arabic, French, Somali, or Farsi. I started walking around the camp with them, getting familiar with the people. We began by gathering in their containers and dancing. That’s how it all started. As time passed, close to 200 women joined us. We walked behind the hills to play football, boxing, fitness, volleyball, and, most importantly, created a powerful women community.

We conducted research on the effects of sports interventions on refugees' mental and physical health. What started as an impossible task ended with us women exceeding male participant attendance ;)

This powerful experience truly shaped the direction of my life. I came to Greece wanting to become a researcher but quickly realized I didn’t want to study people—I wanted to give them opportunities to lead, shine, and show who they are. Not for them, but with them. And that’s how Warm Hearts was created.