Three-day Summer Camp For Disabled People continue at Nathiagali

APP

NATHIAGALI: A three-day summer camp for persons with disabilities, organised by the Directorate General of Sports Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, kicked off on Monday at famous hill resort Nathiagali.

The camp was formally inaugurated by Deputy Director Sports Operations Jamshed Baloch. Organizing Secretary Assistant Director Ashfaq Ahmed, Assistant Director Hamid Ali as well as renowned athletes Zawar Zia Noor, ZainabIlyas, and Engineer Irfan, Ayaz Khan and Danish Ehsan were present on the occasion.

It is for the first time that such a step has been taken by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through a recently launched Adopted Sports Project. A total of 40 participants were purely selected for the camp, and their selection had been made after looking at their performances at the national and the international levels in different sports.

Besides hosting Summer Camp, a day-long awareness seminar session was also conducted with social experts who had been asked to share their experiences on how barriers could be removed at every step to ease lives of the disabled.

The prime objective of the camp and the seminar is to highlight the problems being faced by the persons with disabilities in their day to day lives. It is a first such initiative on the part of the Directorate General of Sports to hold both Summer Camp and Seminar, and heard the grievances being faced by the sportsmen and sportswomen who despite all odds are part of the healthy activities and even excelled at national and international levels.

The Summer Camp will continue in three different sessions which include Motivational Speech, Trekking, Camping, Awareness Campaign Walk, Sports Competition and Training. Wheelchair Race, Standing Race, Singing, Quiz, Naat Khawani Competition, Ludo, Carrom Board, Bounce and Dot Game are also part of the camp.

Through healthy sports activities the persons with disabilities can hone their skills and be encouraged to fully participate in different spheres of life.

Renowned cricketer Zawar Zia Noor while talking to the media said that the initiative had no parallel in the history of the country.

Camping had been organized for people with disabilities. He said that the people present in the camp were made aware of the steps that could be taken to make their lives better, he said.  Earlier, the Adopted Sports Seminar was held at COMSATS University, Abbottabad.

A large number of students from COMSATS University participated in the seminar. Internationally celebrated table tennis player Ehsan Danish and seminar conductor Wajid Ali shared information about the social barriers faced by such people and shared their experiences.

According to them, behavioural and environmental barriers are a major challenge for people with different disabilities for which government agencies and ordinary citizens will have to take practical steps.

These events are important to bring people closer and give them the right to live their lives in the best possible way. The purpose is to create awareness in the society that people with disabilities are also an important part of it and they also have the right to live their life to the fullest.