Shikongo and Nambala take medals homeParalympian medallists off to the north today The Namibia Paralympic Committee will accompany Ananias Shikongo and Johannes Nambala to the Uukwaludhi palace to present their medals to the king on Saturday. Namibia''s only 2016 Paralympic Games medallists are to visit the north to show their medals to their parents and fans in Omusati and Oshana.Namibia Paralympic Committee (NPC) secretary-general Mike Hamukwaya says the athletes have to show their people what they have achieved and that is the idea behind the visit.
Ananias Shikongo and his guide, Even Tjiviju, and Johannes Nambala will fly to Ondangwa tomorrow and on Saturday visit schools in the town before proceeding to Ongwediva to present the medals to their former school, the Eluwa Special School.
Hamukwaya said: “The athletes hail from the northern regions so they gave us the idea that it is better that they also go back to their home ground were they can show the people what they have achieved because it is a big achievement and feel that their people also need to see what they have achieved.”
He said the Paralympic Committee decided to help the athletes.
“We will support them in the idea and definitely we will take them that side so that we can do the little activities that we can do, especially visiting schools and the Uukwaludhi palace,” he said.
He added that their visit to Eluwa Special School will also serve as a motivation for learners at that school to take part in sports.
“The athletes felt that they can also motivate the learners at Eluwa because that is where they came from so the medals might be a motivation for them,” he said.
On Saturday, the athletes together with the NPC delegate will visit the Uukwaludhi palace, where the governor of Omusati will also meet the team.
NPC will also take the athletes to Oshana and Omusati.
“Because of funding we will not visit Ohangwena so we can only go to these two areas but if we had funds we wish we could visit all the areas in the country because it is an expensive exercise of flying them over and hiring a car, hotels so it is quite expensive for us,” said Hamukwaya.
KAINO NGHITONGO