Dancing on Wheels

Last night I was watching Dancing on Wheels a spin off of Strictly come dancing where a wheel-chair bound dancer is paired with someone able bodied. Some of the scenes reminded me of something I had been thinking about earlier this week when I went to visit Anne Wafula-Strike. Anne is a Kenyan born Para-olympic athelete and what always inspires me about her is her resilience and determination. Together we will complete a marathon for AbleChildAfrica at the Silverstone Half Marathon on 14th March.

More on that at BMY Charity

We all face great challenges in our lives. Many of us (myself included) had things we longed to do as children or young adults but thought we were not good at or were prevented from doing for one reason or another. One of mine was singing and another was exercise. How I loathed PE lessons, the changing rooms, the compulsory blue gym knickers and everything they stood for. Then as I grew older, I discovered physical exercise was enjoyable, helped keep me focused and deal with stress. Finally a few years ago it dawned on me that, even I, could have a go at the London Marathon. I trained and I made it – rather slowly, but I made it.

And that was a good lesson in life for me. That I could make it even at things I had never thought I was capable of.

Disabled young people everywhere, and particularly many of those I know in Africa, and from Africa, are assumed to be incapable of leading normal lives and achieving their goals. They are regular pushed towards one or two vocations that are thought suitable and denied an opportunity to do what they really love.

Those like Anne and many of the amazing young people we work with who dare to do something different have amazing courage. Against all the voices and messages they receive about what they cannot and should not be able to achieve they go for it anyway. They make it through the mental blocks and the negative voices to a place where they can do things both for themselves, and for others, which make a real difference to them and to this world.

In November some of them will join some of you to climb Kilimanjaro and demonstrate that determination to do something amazing for themselves and others. Let us know if you’d like to join them.