On a sunny Thursday afternoon in Berlin, the sound of children’s laughter reached to the rafters at Tempelhof, the historic former airport of West Berlin. They had gathered there for an afternoon of play to mark the official launch of Berlin Kickt, a unique partnership between the International Rescue Committee, Nike and the organization, buntkicktgut – cross cultural street football leagues. The project brings the unifying power of play and the universal language of soccer to children, including recently arrived refugees in primary schools across Berlin.

The tent in Newroz, a refugee camp in northern Syria, looks homey, its span of canvas divided into small “rooms” for living and sleeping. A soft-spoken Yazidi couple, Suleiman Khalf Kajo and his wife, Khabshe, have lived here with their family since fleeing ISIS in August 2014.

Each year the IRC in San Diego resettles approximately 1,000 refugees with the majority coming from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia in recent years. By September 30, we expect as many as 500 individuals, mostly Syrian, to reach their new homes in San Diego.

“I call the children one by one to see what it is inside the box,” explains Amer,* an educator with the International Rescue Committee. “I explain to them that they will find the picture of a very important person inside the box, someone who set up his or her goals and achieved them.” Amer is one of IRC's educators who provide street and working children in Beirut, including Syrian refugees fleeing from war, with psychosocial support, recreational activities and basic literacy and numeracy classes. Educators facilitate a number of games, such as the mirror box, to help children improve confidence, creativity and thinking skills.