In 2005 Special Olympics Newfoundland and Labrador suffered a big loss when three of its strongest members left for Africa. Paul and Paula Bradbury were coordinators for the Exploits region and their daughter Sheila was a dedicated swimming athlete. There time in Africa has been spent as missionaries and working in the school system in Senegal. After three years in Africa the Bradbury’s have once again been impacted by Special Olympics.Here in Paul’s words is their discovery of Special Olympics in Africa:
After being in Senegal for almost 3 years we by chance found out there was Special Olympics. Paula met a lady who asked her if she was familiar with SO. As it turned out she had a 17 year old daughter with downs and wondered if Paula would be interested in bringing Sheila to SO in Dakar. So they took here up on the offer.
They meet every Sunday morning at the National stadium that holds the World Cup qualifying matches and the national track and field team compete. It seats about 30,000 people. All that to say in June they put together a little meet and asked us to attend. They thought about it one week and made it happen the next. The event went off great. They made a 50 meter lane and had a long jump pit. Sheila competed in both. Safe to say a great time was had by all. The volunteers here really showed a great love for the athletes.
Seeing a family be touched by Special Olympics in programs thousands of kilometers apart shows the global reach of Special Olympics. Special Olympics serves over 2.5 million athletes and 180 countries world wide.
