The project improves physical, emotional, and mental health as well as well-being for the young people disabled with spinal cord injuries (SCI) through sport- based training, life skills and health education with social reintegration programs. SCI is a devastating condition usually associated with physical accidents in young people. The majority of affected people develop motion disorders, activity limitations and participation restrictions relating to self-care, mobility, interpersonal relationships and community, social and civic life. These people can only move with wheelchairs after their accidents, they are also vulnerable to mental health problems and prolonged hospital stays, and often have many social challenges including discrimination and social exclusion. In Rwanda, the project will partner with rehabilitation centers to enable the participants overcome the above mentioned issues. We establish a team of sports counselors and volunteers to engage the disabled young people with SCI in sports of basketball, weight-lifting and billiards through training on games combining education about their conditions, group therapy and individual case treatment, and awareness raising on negative effects of stigma faced by young people with disabilities. The project do not only enables the young people with disability to reduce disorders of motion and improve fitness, but also helps them to deal with their experiences, increase their emotional resilience and confidence, and gain new skills and qualifications so they are better equipped to make positive choices and feel more optimistic about their future.
Sport for wheelchair users (SWU)
