19 Nov 2015
Indoor rowing to aid migrants a success
“The event was a major success!” said Ahmed Kebdani, who helped to spearhead the 24 hour fundraising event that took place on 14th November. “It was a tough, long and tiring 24 hours, but definitely worth it.”
“The event itself went very smoothly,” Kabdani commented following the epic ergo. “Apart from some slots at 3am or so, every one of the athletes showed up on time with great enthusiasm to put in their time and kilometres for us to reach our goal.”
The small band of rowers took it in turn to keep the ten ergos spinning with the objective of covering the distance between Bremen, Germany and Syria’s capital city, Damascus. “We accomplished the 3,078 kilometres in 22 hours and 53 minutes,” says Kabdani.
The event website www.Row2Syria.com encouraged global participation through “solidarity” ergo sessions by individuals or groups. Nineteen solidarity sessions took place on the day of the event in communities right across Germany (9 locations) as well as the United States (4), the United Kingdom (3), Bulgaria (1), Canada (1) and Spain (1). A heat map of exact locations is still available on the webpage.
A number of migrants from the nearby “Blue Village” refugee camp even got a chance to try their hand at rowing on the Jacobs rowing tank as the erging continued around them.
Kabdani and his fellow rowers have raised €6264 so far, surpassing their goal of collecting €5000 to support the refugees living in Blue Village, one of numerous communities being hastily constructed out of shipping containers staked like giant lego blocks and any other suitable building materials in areas surrounding Bremen and countless other cities throughout Germany.
The buildings of Blue Village are neat and well organised, but space is tight and getting tighter with more refugees pouring in each day and many not even able to access such basic shelter. The need of residents in such camps is significant, ranging from language training and job search assistance to such fundamental necessities as blankets for the fast-approaching winter.
“Now that we know the amount we raised,” says Kabdani, “we will be sitting with [the coordinator of] Blue Village to discuss how they can spend the money wisely.”
The event, organised by students and supporters of the Jacobs University Rowing Club, has galvanised the rowing community, drawing enthusiastic endorsement from high profile rowers within and beyond Germany including the defending Olympic Champion German men’s eight and Croatia’s World Champions Martin and Valent Sinkovic.
The ergo event may be over, but funds can still be donated online at https://www.fundouts.com/projects/row2syria–rowing-for-refugees