Hopes are high that the forthcoming Paralympic games will prove a watershed moment for people with disabilities in Haiti.
Thanks to
significant backing from several UK Christians and Christian organisations Haiti has sent
a team to the Paralympics for the first time.
Their athletes
include Josue Cajuste, throwing in the javelin and the shot put F42 class,
while Nepthalie Jean Louis (pictured) is earmarked both for the javelin and the
discus F54 class.
Carwyn Hill, co-founder
of the Haiti Hospital Appeal (HHA) charity, has been a key figure in ensuring
the athletes are here. He believes their presence can have a profound effect on
removing the stigma that people with disabilities face back in Haiti, where
they are often called ‘Cocoabi’, which means ‘worthless’.
‘They face physical
and verbal abuse,’ Carwyn explained. ‘But we hope that seeing world class
athletes will help to challenge the belief that people with disabilities are
worthless.
‘We also want to
inspire, encourage and empower those with disabilities . ’ HHA is one of the
founders of The Dream, an international campaign to encourage positive change
in attitudes and behaviour towards people with disabilities, and which has worked
alongside the National Paralympic Committee of Haiti in facilitating the
athletes coming here.
HHA has been
providing quality healthcare in north Haiti since 2006, and following the
earthquake of 2010 it opened a rehabilitation centre for people with spinal
cord injuries. Through this it discovered that sport was a useful way of
empowering those who had been injured, and reintroducing them back into the
community. This prompted Carwyn and the team to dream of the possibility of
bringing a Haitian team to the London 2012 Paralympics.
BMS World Mission,
already a HHA partner, and the charity Global Hands got on board and a new
movement, The Dream, was officially launched in September 2011. The Dream has
worked to provide funds for the Haitian athletes to compete in London,
and to secure the television rights in order to broadcast the Paralympics in Haiti for the
first time. Tangible benefits already in place include the building of a sports
centre at the HHA, which will open next month.
Josue and Nepthalie arrived in the UK earlier this month, where they
met Haitian Olympian Samyr Laine, a 2012 triple jump finalist. Samyr said,
‘This is the beginning of a dream come true and something bigger for the
nation.’
BMS mission educator co-ordinator the Revd Gareth Wilde, who has
been involved in The Dream campaign, agreed, adding more needed to be done.
‘More dreams are needed to eradicate the stigma of disability from countries
like Haiti,’
he said.
Carwyn
added that while Haiti
was a focus for The Dream, the campaign was working to raise the issue
worldwide. ‘We also want to challenge the international community in its
attitude towards people with disability, and highlight the challenges that
people with disability across the world face every day.’
