Confidence and community in Paris
Right To Run partners with Up Sport! a French non-profit organization empowering people through movement. Read the story of Badia, who built a new life with their support.
Words by Karen Edwards. Photography by Anne-Sophie Soudoplatoff.
Badia was 35-years-old when she realized her dream of moving to Paris.
It was October 2021, and she'd been traveling between her home in Algeria and the French capital for many years, working as a sales manager at a large French construction company. In Paris, she had met her partner and fallen in love. After five years together, Badia moved to France to cement their relationship.
“The coercive control and verbal abuse started soon after I arrived in Paris,” explains Badia, via a translator. “It went on for some weeks. Then, one day, it got physical.”
“I was afraid. He terrified me. The day after I was beaten, I went to the police.”
Badia was directed to a day centre offering women and families advice on legal affairs, counselling and treatment for trauma. The facility, known as Centre d’Information Sur Les Droits des Femmes et des Familles (CIDFF), helped her find temporary accommodation at a hotel. From there, Badia had to rebuild her life.
At the centre, Badia met other women who had also left relationships because of domestic violence. Some had the added complication of fleeing with children, while others didn’t have the right immigration documents to let them to stay in France. “Everyone faced their own difficulties. Everyone had their own story as to how they had reached this place, but we all understood each other.”
A few months later, Badia was directed towards the Up Sport! program for vulnerable women through those working at the day centre. Designed to complement the advice and treatment offered at the CIDFF, UpSport! founder, Karine Roussier, had built a voluntary ‘camp’, consisting of mindful movement sessions such as yoga and fitness. The activities took place independently, or in groups of up to 12 women.
“I started with yoga, fitness and dance, in the hope I could regain confidence in my body,” remembers Badia, who explains how she no longer found comfort in her body – a traumatic effect felt by many people who experience domestic violence.
“The dance sessions – with a lot of choreography – helped me to find a way of expressing myself through movement,” she says.
For two years, Badia enjoyed different activities through the UpSport! program – adding swimming, volleyball and basketball sessions to her dance, yoga and fitness schedule. As some of the sessions were practised outside, Badia began feeling at ease again in public spaces.
“I especially loved dancing and swimming,” she recalls. “When I dance, I just feel the flow of movement and I feel free to be myself. Swimming would take me into a different headspace and allow me to forget about everything. When I’d slip underwater, I’d be living in that moment. I learned that sport is an amazing tool to link psychological and physical wellness.”
“I learned that sport is an amazing tool to link psychological and physical wellness.”
Badia’s new lease of life went beyond sport itself.
“Out of the studio and pool, my confidence was slowly being rebuilt... I made strong friends through the Up Sport! community, and they became my network. We’d talk about what we had been through and I could be myself. I didn’t need to hide what I had experienced, and I knew I wasn’t being judged. They helped me to leave behind the pain of what had happened to me.
“It became a place of safety and security, a place to make friends and to find a community.”
In 2023, Badia was got a new role in client services at an electricity company. Naturally, Badia says, Karine was the first person she called with the good news.
“Karine had helped me with my resume, to get the job. I was constantly encouraged by the Up Sport! team and it motivated me. They helped me transfer the energy I received from playing sport into my career aspirations. Now, I work long hours but I enjoy my work.”
“Up Sport! helped me transfer the energy I received from playing sport into my career aspirations.”
While her busy work schedule makes it tough to continue with so many different sports, Badia stays close to the Up Sport! team. “I know they'll always be there for me,” she says. "They gave me an open door, and let me to walk away from a bad situation. It's thanks to them that I found sport, and came to a better place in my life.”
Up Sport! is a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering vulnerable people in France through sport. Right To Run partners with Up Sport! helping it to expand its sports activities and facilities. If you would like to find out more, visit Up Sport! and Right To Run.