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Celebrating the International Day of
People with Disabilities

Project AMALDEME, Mali

To mark the UN's International Day for Persons with Disabilities on 3rd December, ICS volunteers and their project partner AMALDEME organized a Day of Celebration in Mali’s capital, Bamako.

The day showed the community that children with learning disabilities can excel just like their non-disabled peers in sports, dance and art.

Over 300 children and adults joined in to learn more about disability. Parents of disabled children had the opportunity to attend an open meeting where doctors and specialists could explain the medical reasons behind disabilities and address common misconceptions.

Education about disability is still an important factor, as many parents still believe a disabled child is a punishment from God.

Community fun

Volunteers Sophie, Daniel, Claire, Sumera, Lucy and Shawana spent 3 months planning and raising funds for the event.

They set up a pop-up photo studio to capture photos of parents with their children, and arranged a local band to play music and songs.

Afternoon activities comprised traditional dance routines touching on different aspects of Malian culture - marriage rituals, farming and tea drinking! Costumes were made especially for each dance.

African mother with her two small children The community in Bamako are offered tea

Team Leader, Sophie Hilton, explains:

"The children did amazingly - they really rose to the occasion!
The audience loved it. It was extremely rewarding for everyone that had been involved."

The energy of the dances was carried into sporting events where disabled and non-disabled children played together in a closely-fought football match, a basketball shoot-out that went down to the wire, and a series of running races.

Three young boys playing in a football match in Mali

The volunteers also set up stalls to enable disabled and non-disabled children to have fun together, including a tombola, henna tatoos, arts and crafts, and a display of the children's work in arts, crafts, and woodwork.

The stalls were really popular with the children, as volunteer Sumera, observed:

“The Children were so exited. Seeing them having such a good time was my guarantee that the day was a success!”

Saounéra Boubacar, Head of Training and Interns at AMALDEME, said they will now make the 3rd of December an annual celebration.

The Director of International Service Mali, Fred Cabore, remarked on the day saying:

“I was very impressed by the commitment of the volunteers in the preparations for this day. I was delighted to see the joy and excitement in the children; they were all happy to be considered and valued, and they actively participated in the activities.”

Although the volunteers’ work has done much to champion the rights of disabled people, a lot of progress still needs to happen.

However, as the volunteers’ awareness-raising posters advocated: