CCPA and Al-Salaam organise seminar and OFFS in Northern Iraq

A three-day trainer’s seminar was held in the city of Dohuk, where 21 women and 41 men from Baghdad, Mosul, Suleimanieh and Dohuk took part. The participants spoke 3 different languages, but this was not a problem on the football pitch, where the volunteers were trained by the team of instructors from al-Salaam in how to organize Open Fun Football Schools.
Following the seminar, 2 Open Fun Football Schools were organized by the newly trained CCPA-trainers. The first school was in Dohuk and the other in the countryside of Suleimanieh. In total, the 2 OFFS gathered more than 500 boys and girls and hundreds of parents, spectators and municipality officials.
The OFFS in Suleimanieh was attended by special guests from the Danish student organization, Operation Dagsværk, which is currently visiting Iraq as part of the cooperation with Cross Cultures. The Danish students will support Cross Cultures’ project, "Grassroots", which will give young men and women in Iraq the opportunity to be youth – and the chance to give the next generation the opportunities, that they never came close to having themselves. Through education of young role models, the project wishes to enhance an active club culture that can help organize activities for kids and youth from different religious and ethnic backgrounds. The young people will be educated as club leaders and given the tools to establish clubs and associations all over Iraq in order for them to be included in society, take responsibility and get the opportunity to make a better future for the children and youth in the war-torn country. A crucial element in the cooperation between Operation Dagsværk and Cross Cultures is the information campaign, which will reach all Danish high school students. In order to prepare this campaign, the Danish students are now visiting Iraq and Cross Cultures’ activities.
Please see www.facebook.com/ccpairaq for more photos from the activities.