Wicksteed Play Park for refugee children in Azerbaijan:
Wicksteed Play Park for refugee children in Azerbaijan - "Laughter filled the air and joy replaced the haunted look in their eyes."
This was the observation of one of the volunteers when a Play Park was erected in Kosovo in 2000 for children who had lived through unbelievably tragic times. Now, Samaritan's Purse International, after many successes of this kind, are to install a Wicksteed Play Park in Mingechevir, Azerbaijan's third largest city, as part of Samaritan’s Purse International.
One man's vision
Started by Dave Cooke, who took matters into his own hands when watching heart-rending footage of Romanian children in 1990, Operation Christmas Child has gone from strength to strength. His idea was beautifully simple - getting UK children to fill shoe boxes with gifts and trinkets for youngsters in other lands devastated by war, displacement or poverty. The scheme took off and flourished so dramatically that it was taken over by SPI in 1996, who distributed 6 million boxes last Christmas.
From presents to playgrounds
Recognition of these children's needs didn't stop there. Today the achievements of Samaritan’s Purse International include the building of refugee camps and such initiatives as providing young people with football coaching and installing playgrounds. Currently the venture is on standby for Iraq. According to Project Manager, Dave, "Teaching children who have been robbed of play by war and poverty to have fun again is what it's all about”.
Why choose Wicksteed?
"We chose Wicksteed Leisure as our supplier for the Azerbaijan project partly because they make things so simple. Their products are well designed and engineered, easy to ship and straightforward for the Samaritan’s Purse International volunteers to install on site.
The fact that Wicksteed are so committed to safety, with all their play equipment certified to the appropriate British and European Standards, also gives us peace of mind, along with the robustness and vandal-resistant nature of their products and systems."
The need
2,800 of the children in Mingechevir are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) resulting from war with Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabagh. Although western oil companies have now moved in to tap Azerbaijani reserves, little of this revenue is benefiting ordinary citizens, a proud people, many of whom live in appalling conditions.
The spec
The new Wicksteed Play Park, to be installed in September, includes swings for different age groups, slides, bounce-abouts for toddlers, roundabouts and new generation see-saws. It will not only bring the usual fun and laughter that this equipment always brings, to some of these children; there are also two colourful Storm multi-Play units with climbing walls and all manner of physical challenges, as well as a Fantasy Funrun Fitness Trail, enabling them to enjoy much needed exercise, skills development and co-operative play.
Grateful
“We rely on sponsorship, the proceeds of charitable events and donations to carry on our work and we are grateful to Wicksteed," says Dave, "for their added support in helping us keep to budget. Wicksteed's generosity in assisting our organisation is more than appreciated."
Teaching them to play again - Wicksteed's storm twister, one of the many delights awaiting Azerbaijani children in their new 'Samaritan's Purse International' play park.
