The Special Olympics Rwanda last week donated school kits worth Rwf117 million to over 70 schools in the Eastern Province. The committee is an organisation that engages children and adults with intellectual disabilities into sports, in order to promote their social inclusion in schools and other areas of society. According to Jean-Bosco Munyurangabo, the Project Manager at the Special Olympics Rwanda, during the latest outreach, each school received a package worth Rwf1.5 million, comprising football jerseys, two balls, athletics kits, and a referees kits. He noted that the project will continue with an aim of supporting up to 400 schools in the country; in areas including the City of Kigali as well as the Western, Northern, and Southern Provinces. “The purpose is to raise awareness concerning children with disabilities. Indeed, children with intellectual disabilities are often deprived of their basic rights, including the right to education and play, which only exacerbates their situation. So, we need to help them enjoy life,” he said. “Many families, and even parents, subject children and adults with intellectual disability to social isolation, some going as far as hiding them or mistreating them and making them feel unwanted and unworthy,” he lamented. According to Special Olympics Rwanda’s statistics, over 19,000 children and adults across Rwanda live with intellectual disability but it’s believed that the number is higher than that if all cases were recorded. Intellectual Disability is a term used when a person has certain limitations in cognitive functioning and skills including communication, social and self-care skills, according to Special Olympics International. A number of schools that are selected for Special Olympics support also get training for coaches and teachers, in regard to inclusive sports (Bocce, athletics, and football), and get equipment for sports like Bocce, athletics, and football. Inclusive sports are sports that bring together persons with disabilities and those without.
