Special Olympics Afghanistan

In a stadium where the Taliban once performed mass public executions, hope was reborn. A small group of Afghanistan's first Special Olympics athletes were competing for the honor of representing their nation at the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin, Ireland. Only five would make the trip, but this small, brave band showed the world that hope lives in even the poorest, most war-torn of nations.

In Afghanistan, children with intellectual disabilities are often the most vulnerable members of society, and are frequently abandoned at ramshackle orphanages, left in empty rooms with little human contact. Many die young, unloved, unwanted, nameless and forgotten.

But thanks to a handful of caring professionals and sponsors, at least five heroic souls have escaped that fate through Special Olympics. These five included Najila, 11, found curled up in the corner of an orphanage. Physically as well as intellectually disabled, Najila was left to spend her days alone and neglected. And yet, at the Games in Dublin, Najila won gold and silver medals in the 25-meter and 50-meter runs, and became the first Afghani female athlete to compete in an international competition in seven years.

One of Najila's teammates, Sardar, was a 13-year-old boy whose family had been killed by a Russian bomb when he was three months old. Sardar was buried in the rubble, but was found by his grandfather, who spent two days digging with his bare hands to find the baby. At 10, Sardar stepped on a land mine, losing his right leg and damaging his left foot. In the 2003 Games, Sardar won two gold medals in the 200-meter run and the 4x100 meter relay.

The police had found Amin, the third team member, wandering in the countryside, and had brought him to an orphanage, where the 12-year-old became the butt of his comrades' jokes. Amin had the last laugh, winning two golds in the 50-meter run and 4x100 relay.

Intensely shy, with serious vision problems in both eyes, Immamuddin, age 11, would seem the least likely athlete of the group. But despite his quiet demeanor, Immamuddin embraced the Special Olympics sports program, winning a gold in the 4x100 relay and silver in the 200-meter run.

Coming from an educated, loving family, Khalid Tahiry was different from his teammates, but shared their sense of isolation and purposelessness. But his father knew that Khalid loved sports. When he learned of the effort to bring Special Olympics to Afghanistan, he gave permission for Khalid to become the first member of the country's first team. With a deeply competitive spirit, Khalid won a gold medal in the 4x100, and a new opportunity to participate in a larger world.

In 2005, Special Olympics Afghanistan held their first National Games, where more than 300 athletes, including 80 females, competed in athletics, bocce and football (soccer), showing the power and determination of a small group of people to build a better life for people with intellectual disabilities.