New shoes for Special Olympians
With the athletic feats of Marion Jones erased from the record books and only a token team headed to China this summer, the Belize Olympics will be a non-event in terms of Belizean National pride. But as our top runners and jumpers suffer from lack of resources and motivation, another group of hard working athletes is beginning to capture the public’s imagination. News Five’s Janelle Chanona has the story.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
This afternoon more than a hundred special needs children, parents and teachers from across the Belize District gathered at the Stella Maris School compound to participate in a three mile fun run through the streets of the old capital. And they did so in some very fancy footwear.
More than five hundred pairs of new tennis shoes were donated to the children by the U.S. based organisation One World Running.
Ana Weir, Executive Director, One World Running
“It’s not just about running. It’s about community, it’s about sport, its about community, it’s about engaging whatever activity so that the people can come out and see their kids participate in all of this.”
The event is part of a Special Olympics campaign to have the public connect with special needs citizens in unique ways.
Joy Westby, Principal, Stella Maris
“I am sure that this will create awareness to the public that when we come out we come out strong.”
For Joy Westby, the Principal of the Stella Maris School, as a country Belize is making strides towards acceptance, empowerment and dignity, but that progress has been slow in coming.
Joy Westby
“We always talk of integration, we always talk of inclusion but yet there are businesses where the infrastructure is still … we really need to have our, to have more awareness not only to say this child is special, we need to show them they are special.”
Hector Hoare, Visually Impaired
“Me, as an experienced person, for me I know it’s kinda difficult out there on the streets of Belize City. People, they don’t tend to recognize you that much, they just walk by. Some don’t even know who you are, they don’t know what happened to you, they don’t care. If people come out and support the children and interact with them and get to find out more about these children then I think they would get to find a place of acceptance in their hearts for disabled persons in our country.”
This afternoon’s run proceeds the National Special Olympic Games, which is held every two years. The competition will take place at the Marion Jones Stadium on Saturday.
Myrna Elliott, Director, Special Olympics Board
“We are asking for volunteers. We’re still short of like about fifty volunteers. We are asking the high school students to come and join us. It’s for a worthy cause. You don’t know more or less when you’ll encounter a special needs person. And at the end of the month we’ll be having a gala dinner, the money will be used for when we go on trips and so on, take part in games so we’re really asking for support of the public. They’re really support us but we’d really like more support.”
The donated shoes were shared with children in the rest of the country so they could participate in fun runs organised in other municipalities. Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.
The public relations effort by Special Olympics Belize is part of a global campaign called “Be a Fan” supported by the local media. For more information on the movement or to volunteer call 224-4564.
