Inside the Palestinian Husn refugee camp, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Amman, Fadi al-Squor, a member of the Jordanian Kickboxing Federation, has established a rudimentary sports center to train disabled youths in martial arts and self-defense.

Squor’s free trainings are a result of the outrage he felt when he watched a video that showed a man spraying anti-rust spray into the mouth of a mentally disabled person in the city of Irbid, north of Amman, while others watched and made fun of the victim. The video, which went viral in 2016, encouraged Squor to teach children and youths with disabilities to stand up for themselves through self-defense and martial arts classes.

Squor, who was a sports coach in the Jordanian army before he retired in 2014, told Al-Monitor, “[The video] and similar incidents prompted me to think about protecting this vulnerable group and to boost their confidence. I rented a rundown house in Husn camp — paying for it myself — and named it Sawaed al-Nashama sports center. I welded iron bars and arranged them as training machines. We have trainees with hearing impairment, Down syndrome and various birth defects. I started training them in May 2016 on how to defend themselves against attackers.”

“Today, the center has 20 members who are all camp residents. I also formed a kickboxing team, made up of eight children with hearing and speech impairments.