KLABU - the unbeatable spirit!

Hi! Welcome and thank you for reading our blog again. This week we highlight KLABU.

KLABU - the unbeatable spirit!

We spoke with Jan van Hövell, the initiator of KLABU. Jan sets up sports clubs in refugee camps with his Amsterdam-founded humanitarian sports brand KLABU. KLABU means "club" in Swahili and is run by the local community. The first project in Kenya has now been launched. In collaboration with football club Paris Saint-Germain, they’re now working on a sports club in Bangladesh. The ambition is to get 500,000 refugees worldwide to participate in sports and games within ten years. “There are people with a physical disability who like to come over to play chess or talk to each other. Something that is not taken for granted in such a camp.”

Worldwide, there are currently 82 million displaced people. A refugee camp is a camp that is intended for the temporary accommodation of refugees. In this sense, the word temporary may turn out to be a pretty relative term. Take for example the refugee camps in the region in and around Palestine, which includes Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan in addition to the Palestinian territories. These camps for displaced Palestinians have existed since 1948. They have grown from collections of makeshift shelters into urban neighborhoods with apartment houses and urban infrastructure, but are still referred to as 'camps'. The average length of time that refugees live in the camp is 17 years. These are worrying numbers.

The idea arose when Jan worked as an intern for the UNHCR in the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana. ‘During my internship, I saw how many young people and how few opportunities there were in the refugee camp. At the same time, there was a lot of talent and potential present.”

KLABU focuses on the basics necessary for sports. According to Jan, there are many organizations that have programs running. He calls this the software. But what is often missing is the basics for sports, the hardware, such as footballs, shoes and long-sleeved sportswear for Muslim girls. KLABU has come up with a solution for this: a sports library that is run by the local community.

Besides that, a clubhouse with its own name and identity will be built. This is where people will come together. The core is the sports library, but people can also go there for electricity, Wi-Fi, to watch sports matches on television and more recently: for music and dancing.

The sports on offer depend on the local popularity. ‘We adapt to demand,’ says Jan. In Kenya, for example, there was a demand among girls to do yoga. In the camp, there is now someone from Uganda who will provide yoga classes. “We don't want to commit ourselves to a sport, but see what is needed and what we can make a difference with.” And they make a difference!

As Up To Do Good, we are a proud donor of the KLABU Foundation and the sportswear is also available in the store and online.

Do good: With your purchase, you give back to nature and society

Up To Do Good is a movement with the mission to make the world more beautiful, fairer, and more sustainable. In short: doing good!

We do this by selling products in our airport store and online shop that are well made and do good in every way you look at them. With the proceeds from their sales, we support charities such as Human Rights Watch, De Voedselbank, Onetreeplanted, KLABU, and many more great initiatives. In addition, we draw attention to all kinds of good initiatives on our socials, website, and in the store. We have impactful exhibitions in the store that change on a regular basis.

We would like to continue to inform you about the state of affairs in the world, while at the same time give you a good feeling and draw your attention to beautiful products that are also really beautifully made. What counts for us is that every small change in our daily lives can make a lot of change. That’s why our mission is to generate impact to make the world more beautiful, fairer, and more sustainable.

On this blog, all our team members will highlight a goal to which they feel a high degree of involvement. This week, Shirley de Groot, our store manager tells her story.

We look forward to providing you with interesting and above all beautiful posts. Do you have any questions, tips or other comments? Send them to blog@uptodogood.nl Source: Rijksoverheid.nl/Klabu/Jan van Hovell