Olympic weightlifting school in Baqaa camp calls for young innovators’ proposals

AMMAN — Inspired by the overwhelming success of his local sports initiative The Champ Camp established in Baqaa refugee camp a year ago, 20-year-old Waleed Abu Nada recently launched the annual Champ Camp “Youth Leader” competition, aiming to foster youth’s desires to create a positive change in underprivileged communities.

The first Olympic weightlifting school of its kind in the Kingdom, the Champ Camp empowers young boys and girls in Jordan’s largest refugee camp, by tackling issues on an athletic, social and academic level through sports-based youth development, Abu Nada said. 

“As our organisation’s name became familiar across the country, a number of people started approaching me wanting to help in any possible form,” Abu Nada remembered, adding: “I’ve had a lot of conservations with individuals who told me about ideas and projects they did not pursue because of a lack of time or resources and this is when I got inspired to launch this competition.”

“I want the brilliant brains of our country’s youth to help me in making a change,” the young Jordanian stated, highlighting: “All we need is an innovative proposal that will leave measurable results on the kids of the area and possibly their future.”

With “practically no criteria” for what the proposal should be, which country it should come from or its budget scale, the contest aims to “place no limits or constraints on individuals’ thinking”.

“If the applicants think smart and big, they can very realistically end up implementing the idea they deemed as ‘crazy’ just a couple of months from now,” Abu Nada underlined, adding “as long as the proposal will innovatively bring change to Baqaa camp and its kids, then it automatically qualifies in the competition”.

Published at the end of August, the call for proposals will run through December 15, and the selected leader will be announced on January 5 of next year.

“This is our first time selecting this Youth Leader, who will hold this position for the whole of 2019,” Abu Nada told The Jordan Times on Tuesday, noting that “the main objective will be for the leader to implement his or idea from scratch to gain experience in the field of social work, sports and development while also bringing positive change into the lives of The Champ Camp kids and youth from Baqaa camp in general”.

The largest refugee camp in Jordan, Baqa currently hosts over 119,000 Palestinians who are confronted to major economic and social challenges, according to UNRWA.

“I believe that youth are the most powerful group who can make a change in such vulnerable communities, especially in Jordan. Our generation often hears that ‘we are the leaders of tomorrow’ but many, including myself, realised that our time has come now,” Abu Nada continued, stressing: “We know what our generation needs and we are tired of hearing the same old promises. We want large impact at a fast pace.”

Reminiscing about a recent talk he gave in front of a young audience, Abu Nada said: “I realised the power you can have and how much you can influence certain people when there’s a strong connection. For youth to be moved and engaged, they need someone they can relate their stories with and see themselves in.” 

“If I learnt anything from The Champ Camp, it is that there are no limits for innovation when it comes to change. You think big, you eventually get big,” Abu Nada underscored, warning however that “nothing comes without hard work. 

“In one year, I’ve seen progress beyond any expectations I had with these kids. Out of the 25 children we have, all of them will become champions, regardless of their athletic achievements,” he continued, stressing “The Champ Camp is now no longer just the small training hall it was a year ago, but rather a platform that paves a path full of opportunities for the kids, with it being their ‘go-to’ place to escape their daily troubles and achieve their dreams.” 

Some of the successes achieved by the Champ Camp attendees include 13 medals seized in Jordan’s first ever Junior Weightlifting tournament in April 2018, three of the Champ Camp girls winning medals in the West Asian Olympic Weightlifting tournament in October 2017, and young Zaid Al Jabre being selected by the national team who took part in qualifications for the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires 2018.