Intellectually disabled children need support — Nana Wereko-Ampim Opoku
With barely six weeks to Austria 2017 Special Olympics World Games, Special Olympics Ghana (SOG) is struggling to raise a total of $100,000.00 for team Ghana to travel to Austria for the games .
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Already SOG has selected and camped 11 intellectually disabled children in preparation for the tournament.
The team was selected last year after Special Schools across the country converged on the Dzorwulu Special School in Accra to participate in a keenly contested Floor Ball gala competition.
According to a board member of SOG, Nana Wereko -Ampim Opoku, Ghana would be participating in the Floor Games during the Austria Winter Games and gave an assurance that with the intense preparation being offered the selected children, Ghana will come home with medals just as they did when they participated in the Special Olympics World Games held in New York.
He told Daily Graphic that a budget had been submitted to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for financial support to ensure their participation in the tournament.
“ Last year we made a similar request to the Sports Ministry to support us financially to enable us participate in the 2016 Special Olympics World Games held in New York in the United States of America, but the ministry did not support us.
We are however hopeful that this time they will consider the plight of such children and respond positively to our request,” he noted.
He said SOG had also contacted Ecobank, Max International, Herbal Life, Coca Cola, National Lotteries and Microsoft for financial assistance and was hopeful that such corporate bodies would help them.
“ Children with intellectual disabilities also have potentials which could be harnessed and developed, but they are often neglected by society. We want to use sports to harness their potentials, hence the need for the Sports Ministry and corporate bodies to support us financially to enable us to realise our dreams” the SOG board member explained.
Floor Ball is played like hockey, but instead of hockey sticks and balls, plastic sticks and plastic balls are used, and to Nana Wereko-Ampim, all the needed equipment for the training of the children have been provided, making it possible for the technical team to focus on their training for Ghana to excel in the Austria Winter World Games which kicks off on March 14.