The United Nations has bailed out Sierra Leone’s national amputees’ football team with a cash boost that paves way for their participation in the World Cup tournament kicking off at the weekend in Turkey.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) office in the West African country, the world’s second most impoverished, said it has committed to pay for the costs of the team’s trip to Antalya, where the competition begins in five days.
It said the $21 000 it is giving ”is part of an undertaking to commit awareness raising on peace building through amputee soccer”.
Team secretary Kemoh Sheriff said the donation shows that ”we are not forgotten but are part and parcel of the developmental structure of Sierra Leone”.
The team of single-legged players comprises victims of a brutal, decade-long civil war in which 120 000 people were killed and thousands others lost limbs to hacking by rebels.
Created after the war in 2001, they have taken part in international matches in Russia, the United Kingdom and in Brazil, where they came third in 2005 behind the latter two.
The tournament in Turkey runs from November 11 to 21, where 13 nations — Brazil, the UK, France, Ghana, Iran, Liberia, Moldovia, Nigeria, Russia, Sierra Leone, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan — will take part, according to the World Amputee Football website.
The UNDP said an estimated 600-million persons have disabilities worldwide and they globally constitute more than 20% of those living in poverty. — Sapa-AFP