The game had barely started when something shifted.

Sixteen young people, from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, and beyond, were standing in a circle in Kakuma Refugee Camp. Different languages. Different histories. Different reasons for being there. Then the game began, and none of that was the first thing anymore.

A Camp of 200,000 People, and One Team Already Doing the Work

Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya is one of the largest refugee camps in the world. More than 200,000 people call it home, many of them children and young people who arrived carrying the weight of displacement, loss, and interrupted lives.

Into that community, the Youth Relief and Development Program (YRDP) has been building something. Founded and coordinated by Yusuf Mulamba, YRDP brings young people together through sports and dialogue, working from a conviction that even in displacement, youth can find belonging, build trust, and lead.

When YRDP connected with Play for Peace®, they were already doing the work. They just found a new set of tools to deepen it.

Sixteen Facilitators, Trained and Ready

On May 1, 2026, Play for Peace® officially welcomed YRDP as a Partner for Peace® and the story behind that launch date is the one worth telling.

In the weeks leading up to it, Play for Peace® trainers Swati and Agyat certified trainers from India, traveled to Kakuma and worked directly with the YRDP team. Their focus: equipping 16 facilitators with cooperative play methodology. Not just the games themselves, but the principles underneath them. Why a circle changes the dynamic of a room. Why a game where nobody loses gives a child's nervous system a different message than the one conflict has been sending. Why play, when it is done right, becomes its own language.

Those 16 facilitators heard it. And then they went and tested it themselves.

One Hundred Children, Already Playing

Before the ink was dry on the partnership, YRDP's newly trained facilitators had already brought cooperative play sessions to more than 100 children in Kakuma. Young people from eight different countries, sitting in circles, playing games built on trust and shared goals rather than competition.

"Play doesn't need a common language," one facilitator said after the training. "It is the language."

That is what cooperative play looks like when it lands in the right hands, in the right community, with a team that was already committed before the training began. One hundred children is not the ceiling. It is the floor.

What Partnership Makes Possible

Play for Peace® Community Manager Sinthuja along with Sarah Gough , Executive Director led the onboarding orientation on April 29, 2026, alongside Sarah, welcoming YRDP into the global network of partners who are proving that peace is not only possible but buildable, one circle at a time.

Marketing Liaison Charles Imani Asukulu joins Yusuf in leading YRDP's connection with the Play for Peace® community. Together, they represent what this partnership is built on: local leadership, deep community roots, and a shared belief that young people in Kakuma deserve the same tools that are building peace in 22 countries around the world.

This is Play for Peace® at its most essential. A refugee camp. A trained team. A circle of children who just experienced what it feels like to belong.

Welcome to the family, YRDP. This is just the beginning.

Inspired by this story? Explore more from our global community at playforpeace.org/stories — or support this work with a gift at playforpeace.org/donate.