George Wyndham survived poverty, polio and conflict and overcame
prejudice. Now he is
aiming for gold at the paralympics, 2016, in Brazil. But first he has
to overcome the setbacks caused by Ebola and get to the qualifiers in and before Ebola, he was ranked number 3 in Africa
and 18 in the world. He was invited, but could not go, to the World
Championships in China, which would have qualified him for the
paralympics. Consequently his world
ranking has now dropped but that hasn't held him back.
As a child nobody
thought he would survive. He did not have crutches or a wheelchair and
had to crawl or be carried on someone's
back. His mother struggled to feed him by making donuts. During the
conflict, she
remembers running from the rebels with George on her back- "they were
telling me to put him down so they could
kill him. They would say what good is he to you?” George overcame all
this and
when he revisits his old friends and teachers after many years, they
remind him of how troublesome he was. But that was the attitude that got
George through.He was determined not to become a street beggar and his
mother could not afford to send him to college- so he started playing
table tennis with a ball made from plastic bags and a bat made from
cardboard.
Watch George's story and help him achieve his dreams to make it to the qualifying games to be able to go to Brazil in 2016. As young people, George's story is an inspiration - it reminds us to be resilient despite life's set backs. It reminds us to be patient and more importantly, to work hard at following our dreams.
Remember, YOUR VOICE MATTERS!
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