A beacon of hope: The Beirut refugee camp offering children a lifeline through cricket

Palestinian children in Shatila refugee camp face discrimination and displacement and are largely illiterate. But as Richard Edwards discovers, a pioneering new cricketing project for boys and girls is providing respite from their grim predicament – and putting smiles on faces

Cricket holds a special place at the Shatila refugee camp (Richard Verity )

Good news has been thin on the ground in the Middle East in recent months, the majority of headlines focusing on conflict, escalation and an increasingly uncertain future in a region that is no stranger to crisis.

Deep in the Shatila refugee camp, first set up in southern Beirut for Palestinian refugees in 1949, though, lies one of global sport’s best-kept secrets – an unlikely beacon of hope through a project offering displaced children from across the region the opportunity to play a game that has never previously gained a foothold in the Arab world: cricket.

Just 24 hours after England’s sensational win in Hyderabad, on a cold January evening in the UK, The Independent is given the chance to speak to two of the Alsama project’s most promising young graduates, as well as the coaches who have witnessed at first hand the transformative impact that the sport is having.