Africa-Press – Namibia. Athletes with intellectual disabilities have been included in the Region 5 Games for the first time, marking a milestone for Special Olympics in southern Africa.
Special Olympics Africa president Charles Nyambe says this inclusion is highly appreciated.
In an exclusive interview with Desert FM recently, he said the games have been going on for years, but Special Olympics athletes were never included although Paralympics athletes were.
“Paralympics are for people with physical disabilities; the Special Olympics are for people with intellectual disabilities. So the Special Olympics were not included until this year.
“And this is because Stanley Mutoya, who is the chairperson and the chief executive officer of Region 5, had the opportunity to attend the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin, Germany.
“I invited him. I extended an invitation to him because I noted that Region 5 Africa Union had very little knowledge about the Special Olympics,” Nyambe said.
He said when Mutoya arrived in Germany to experience the games, he was blown away.
“When he saw the magnitude of these games – 7 000 athletes from all over the world from 200 countries – it was just like a replica of the Olympic Games.”
Nyambe said the Special Olympic Games are bigger because more athletes participate.
“He could not believe it, seeing the opening ceremonies, the march and everything that happens at the Special Olympic Games.
“The bigger transformational point is when he witnessed the athletes participating and performing on the fields… it was a wow to him. He came up to me and said: ‘Listen, pardon us for our ignorance. Now my eyes have been opened. I understand we have a population that has been neglected, and we are not going to continue to neglect this population. We’re going to include them in our future activities’.
“At that point, he extended the invitation to the Special Olympics Region 5 Games that were going to be held in Namibia, coincidentally.
“And now the ball, the unified ball that I gave to Ndeuli Hamutumwa and Stanley Motoya, those footballs are called unified footballs,” he said.
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