The sport of the little ones

The dream of being able to build a sports field on the land in front of the Arsenale dell'Incontro was in our hearts from the very beginning of our presence in Madaba. Over the years we have shared it with all the people we met, in the hope that someone would help us give it legs.
A year ago - just as everything was closed due to the lockdown - we received the news that the Italian Cooperation would support us in this project, creating for us a multifunctional sports field and a shaded meeting area.
The joy on the faces of our children and teenagers was great when, returning to the Arsenale after almost a year at home, they found not only all of us to welcome them but also a new, beautiful and ready place for them!

On November 29th we inaugurated these new spaces with a party which, as always, had our children and their families at the center. Any event or meeting, small or large, always has them as main protagonists. Anyone who intervenes and participates can truly understand that the Arsenal of the Encounter wants to be the prophecy of a place where the little ones are in first place and all of us, around them, learn to live together by putting ourselves at their service.
At the inauguration this was evident in a very particular way, because the authorities present were many: the secretary general of the High Council in Jordan for people with disabilities, the Ambassador of Italy, the director of the Italian Cooperation Agency, the head of the World Health Organization in Jordan, the vicar general of the Latin Patriarchate, the governor and mayor of Madaba and a local representative of all the ministries with which we collaborate. All of them, together with volunteers, friends and family, have been listening to and watching our children and teenagers: they have seen them play, train in basketball and football, sing and dance, take a psychomotor course and road education activities, which , thanks to the willingness of the local police to get involved in this initiative, it was of great quality. The promise from the police is to continue this path together also in the future.

The families of our children and teenagers were all gathered under the shaded canopy and the atmosphere we breathed was moving, because it really seemed to be in the Arsenale square, in our courtyard! Mothers, fathers, siblings were delighted, many at the end of the inauguration thanked us for being here, for the presence of Sermig in this land and for always thinking about their children, with an eye to their present but also to prepare for the future. Even the authorities who intervened were able to experience first-hand that if we truly make ourselves available, it is possible to create something new and beautiful together. The trees that all the authorities present planted at the end of the meeting together with our children want to be the sign of this commitment that unites us all.


Arsenal of Encounter
NP January 2022