The Game On! Youth Sports program continues to make strides in Darfur, Sudan, as a Game On! Youth Sports training recently wrapped up in the conflict-plagued region.

About 20 children got the chance to play sports with their peers and rid themselves of worry and stress – if even temporarily – earlier this month at the Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) Camps in Shangil Tobaya, a region of Darfur, thanks to the Game On! Youth Sports program.

The program was put on in part due to a partnership with the African Union Military Peace Keeping Team, the Supreme Council of Sport in Africa (SCSA), the U.S. Embassy in Sudan and the International Alliance For Youth Sports.

Fleur Cowan, from the U.S. Embassy – which has helped support the project – in Khartoum, expressed praise for the program.

“Sports are a great way for kids in the IDP camps to build cross-tribal trust and learn teamwork – not to mention the fact that it is pretty rare that they get to have a good time as well,” Cowan said. Major Innocent Chileshe of the African Union Military Peace Keeping Team in Darfur said the program so far has received much praise.

“The response in general is overwhelming,” he said. “Most of all the children of Darfur need some fun because they have been mourning too long.”

Currently, the Game On! Youth Sports program is being integrated into the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), with the goal of becoming integrated into other peace missions elsewhere in the future.