Home
Afghanistan: 'Can Joy be denied?'
29-12-2011 Photo gallery
At the ICRC's Orthopaedic Centre in Kabul, playing wheelchair basketball is a welcome diversion for both patients and staff. Inspired by a training course they received last May the players have practiced together every week since then.
-
Last May, wheelchair basketball player and coach, Jess Markt conducted a week-long training session for patients at the ICRC's Orthopaedic Centre in Kabul. The patients had been playing basketball together for some time, but it was more like 'buzkashi' – the ferocious no-holds-barred local equivalent of polo – than basketball, according to Alberto Cairo, head of the ICRC's Orthopaedic programme. On the first day of training, Jess explained the basic rules of the game, watched by Alberto (standing right with glasses) and other members of the Ortho Centre staff.
-
After explaining the theory, Jess led the players in a warm up session around the basketball court. They were using low-cost, specially adapted wheelchairs built by Motivation, a British NGO, which allowed their riders to manoeuvre and turn with ease. One player spoke for all of them when he expressed his delight, saying the chairs were "light, fast and very comfortable."
-
Afghanistan, Kabul. ICRC Orthopaedic Centre. The basketball court was located in the middle of the Ortho Centre, surrounded by buildings and cars. None of this dampened the enthusiasm of the players.
-
Sayed Habib Naimi came from the ICRC's Orthopaedic Centre in Herat to take part in the training last May. During the week he discussed the finer points of the rules several times with trainer, Jess Markt. "Before coming here, our knowledge was zero," he admits. "Now everything is clear, and I will share what I have learned with the other basketball players when I go home."
-
Playing wheelchair basketball provides both exercise and therapy for the disabled. It brings players together in a shared endeavour and creates a sense of achievement and pride. Since their training last May, the Ortho Centre patients in Kabul have practiced together every week.
-
It was Najmuddin, director of the ICRC's Orthopaedic Centre in Kabul, and himself a double amputee, who first suggested playing wheelchair basketball. It is now one of many activities going on there, and at other ICRC Ortho Centres in Afghanistan, that help people with disabilities to live a full and active life. Other projects include vocational training, micro-credit loans and home education for children. Almost all the technicians and physiotherapists working at the ICRC Ortho Centres are themselves former patients. They have all received internationally-recognized professional training.
-
It is not only the players who enjoy the wheelchair basketball sessions. The weekly event often attracts other patients, who watch from the sidelines. Alberto, head of the Ortho programme, never misses a practice. "I am there every week," he says, "waving my arms like a true Italian, cheering each side on."
-
For Alberto, the basketball sessions are more than just a game. "To those who say that in a place like Afghanistan basketball for disabled people is not a priority I answer: watch a basketball match. You will see real athletes whose faces have a determined and joyful look. Can joy be denied?"
Back to top
