Icehockey - our children go public,

February 2011

As every year in winter the Ice hockey championships of Ladakh was the attraction of the season. The teams trained a lot; they even used the frozen Indus as a training ground. But the final championship took place directly in front of our therapy centre RAC, at the old ice skating ring. So we had the opportunity to go outside with our children and watch the activities. Of course we were an attraction in itself, since people in Ladakh are not used to seeing handicapped children in public.

The last day of the championship the place filled up very early with lots of people. Our group wanted to view the last games also, but it was so full, none of the children were able to see anything since they were sitting in wheelchairs. So far there is no such thing as a "parking for disabled" or a place for a wheelchair anywhere. To help the situation Mr. David, the president of REWA asked the musicians if the children could come up to the stage to be able to see. No problem, the lovingly moved chairs around and created room for the wheelchairs. So we all sat right in the middle of the musician, the drums, and the amplifier and watched the games. Our children Sonam, Norbu, Stanzin Namdol, and Stanzin had a lot of fun! Namdol clapped loudly, ran between the musicians, clapping and shouting and everybody was so fond of him.

The games right in front of the RAC

All the children

Namdol had a lot of fun

It was very good to confront the people of Ladakh with the presence of our "special children" and to show them, what a wonderful bunch of people they are. And that they are well able to participate during public events. We all had a lot of fun with this "publicity".

Report from Jule