Bearded men resembling the Taliban lined up in a newly white-washed building in Pakistan’s northwestern town of Mardan to welcome their guest. Scorching July sun and humid air failed to dampen the spirits of boys practicing basketball in modern ground. With dust rising on the dirt track, a caravan of four-wheel vehicles emerged. Anxious hosts rushed to the gate to receive a tall man with a broad smile on his face. He was no Mulla Omar or Ayman al-Zawahri but Johann Olav Koss, winner of four Olympic gold medals for Norway.

The athlete has roughly a million followers across Pakistan where his organization – Right to Play(RTP) – that uses sport and play to improve health, teach basic life skills, and develop peace and conflict resolution abilities for children and communities.

Enjoying a solid base of over 900,000 children in regular sport and play every year, the Toronto (Canada)-based RTP is actively involved in countries like Botswana, China, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Palestinian Territories (West Bank and Gaza) and the Sudan.

In Pakistan, the RTP is spread all over, from disaster to terrorism-hit regions; from northwestern towns of Peshawar, Mansehra, Mardan to extreme southern district of Thatta.

Though Koss visited a region normally westerner are advised against, the Government High School, Attarshisha, in Mansehra district – one of 180 schools – overwhelmed with their sporty performance, academic achievements and hospitality. The remote Pakistani school itself is a symbol of global solidarity with Pakistan, prior to Swiss-funded Norwegian NGOs, Turkish philanthropists had rebuilt the school after October 2005 earthquake.

Mohammad Nazir, headmaster of Government High School told the European diginatory, “Since we integrated sports with studies, attendance and class performance of students both have improved.”

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