Less than two years ago. a group of 12 girls from Malakasa camp asked us for a girls’ football team. We practised in the village square and a car park. Now, CHEERing Football Club has almost 200 players, and is supported by the Barca Foundation. This week Barca came to see our work not just…

Sometimes, stuff happens. On Saturday we got a text from our friends @projectelpida telling us a German NGO needed to host a football tournament, pronto. Three days later, on Wednesday, March 8 , CHEERing FC held a full scale tournament at Goal Soccer Club in Athens, for over 100 refugee footballers, thanks to Stelp, an…

CHEERing launched War on Worms in 2022 with the ambitious goal of eliminating worms in two camps and among the refugee children on our football teams. Since then, we’ve distributed worm medicine to 172 family members. Numbers have dropped dramatically in the camps, though as new people arrive, new cases emerge and we treat 2-6 cases…

The Center for Health Equity, Education, and Research (CHEER) has received a seed grant from the Boston University Center on Forced Displacement (CFD) to support CHEERing’s international refugee work in greater Athens, Greece. This inaugural funding signifies the university’s investment in our international work. CHEERing Executive Director and Founder Anne Merewood MPH, PhD, affiliated faculty…

It’s cold and bleak right now in Afghanistan, especially for women and girls, but CHEERing’s Grow Clinic provides ongoing hope and warmth – literally – for many families in Herat. Stichting Salaam came to the rescue after seeing our photos of children and families freezing in our Clinic and classroom, and contributed 300E to buy…

CHEERing Director Anne Merewood presented with colleague Camie Goldhammer in December 2022, on decreasing racial disparities in breastfeeding, for the New York State Department of Health in Albany New York. The presentation is an annual event together with the University at Albany School of Public Health, and attracts a live audience of over 1000.

CHEERing recently teamed up with the NGO Project Armonia to provide nourishing meals and cooking classes to refugee children. Project Armonia supplies hot meals to 120 CHEERing football players every week, and once each week, 20 of our players visit their kitchen to cook, cause chaos, and eat great food! The cooking classes are followed…

CHEERing’s football players are scoring goals with happier feet – thanks to Rahma Hulsman and her team from Stichting Salaam in the Netherlands. Rahma and her colleagues returned to Athens in a characteristic whirl of energy last week, and promptly bought 37 pairs of new football shoes for our older players here. They even sent…

Last night, the CHEERing team screened 40 of our young footballers for cardiac (heart) health. This included checking footballers’ heart rates and rhythm and the electrical activity of their hearts using ECG. This work is supported by the Barca Foundation. CHEERing conducts health screenings to ensure preventive health and provide direct support in refugee camps…

CHEERing would like to thank you YouBeHero for their recent 75E donation to CHEERing. Every time you shop with a YouBeHero partner, you can opt to support CHEERing and YouBeHero will make a contribution at not cost to you! Partners include booking.com and e-fresh. If the YouBeHero donate link shows up when you’re buying please…