The unflinching spirit
Sierra Leone’s national amputees football team is in play. A group of single-legged young men, all victims of the west African nation’s brutal civil war in which thousands lost limbs and other body parts not only to landmines or bullets, but also to hacking by rebel groups, has come together to seek encouragement and hope…
“I plan to continue playing and pray that one day I will play in the Paralympic Games,” says team captain Maxwell Fornah, who was shot in the leg in 1998 as he fled home from school after his village in the northeast of the capital, came under attack during Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war.The sport has not only provided entertainment, but helped to spread a poignant message of hope. “We are happy that we can get together and encourage each other,” says Mohamed Lappia, who stepped on a mine that shattered his leg. Saidu Mansaray, 22, is the team’s goalkeeper. He has both his legs but only one active hand. He catches the ball with one hand as the four fingers, save the thumb, of the other hand were chopped off with an axe.
Sierra Leone is war ravaged. Athletes and sportspersons prefer to run away from the official sports villages in international meets in hope of better life. Those who have disabilities, often do so because of war. But they continue to battle on - in sport and in life.
Tags: Disability, Sierra Leone.
