Yemurai Ngoma<\/strong> from Zimbabwe uses Para badminton as an advocacy tool. Diagnosed with Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome, a rare condition that attacks the nerves at a tender age, the grant recipient is using this opportunity to raise awareness among fellow female Para badminton athletes on their sexual reproductive health rights as well as gender violence.<\/p>\n\u201cI was made aware of the BWF Para badminton Female Participation Grant by my coaches, who urged me to apply through my Member Association,\u201d Ngoma narrated her journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI transitioned from wheelchair basketball and Para volleyball to Para badminton after being approached by my coaches through a friend. I was curious to find out what Para badminton was all about, and after training with other players and exploring the numerous opportunities of growth availed by BWF, I fell in love with the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the opportunity to be an athlete and being able to represent my country and the disabled community means a lot because I\u2019m not only a girl but also a person with a disability. It\u2019s a chance to empower my fellow female athletes through sports, and I thank BWF and BCA.\u201d<\/p>\n
A social worker by profession, Ngoma also works as a disability inclusion officer for an organisation that helps women with disabilities in hard-to-reach places.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m working towards creating a platform, a safe space for female athletes to accept themselves as individuals living with disabilities. A space where they will be able to discuss freely things like sexual reproductive health, sexuality as well as gender violence, the challenges, the experiences and how to mitigate them. Talking about sexuality in the disabled community in Africa is considered taboo but we are human beings, we have feelings, right to a partner, right to a relationship yet we don\u2019t have the platform to discuss these things openly free of judgment and just share our experiences.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]This is what other grant recipients said:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve participated at my first international tournament for Bangladesh. I secured fourth place at Asian Youth Para Games 2021 in Bahrain. With better support and guidance, I can achieve gold for Bangladesh.\u201d \u2013 Shormi Mozumder, Bangladesh<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cAt first, I was quite nervous but as I took a step forward I couldn\u2019t believe I actually have this ability. I\u2019m proud and really confident that I got my self-esteem high. I would like to thank my coach Mr.Dorji for working tirelessly for the improvement of my skills and game play. Thanks to Bhutan Paralympic Committee, Bhutan Badminton Federation, Bhutan Olympic Committee, Badminton Asia, BWF for the Female Participation Grant, and my teachers and friends at Gesarling Higher Secondary School.\u201d \u2013 Sapuna Subba, Bhutan<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI was very happy represent Tajikistan in such a prestigious competition and win bronze medals. Until today, I have only participated in national competitions and have not been abroad. This event gave me new feelings. I saw how other children like me were not shy and enjoyed playing, felt free, and it was good. Many children with physical disabilities are ashamed and stay at home. I am very grateful to BWF and Badminton Federation Tajikistan for this support and opportunity.\u201d \u2013 Shabnam Mekamboeva, Tajikistan<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI feel lucky and unique to be considered for this grant. It\u2019s my first time in Uganda, and I want to maximise this opportunity by winning some medals.\u201d \u2013 Stellah Jongwe, Zimbabwe<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI thank BWF for giving us this chance to participate in this tournament. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, things have been tough on disabled players. Apart from the challenges we face in life, we have not been able to practice or attend tournaments. The BWF Female Participation Grant has been a blessing, and we thank the Almighty for this opportunity.\u201d \u2013 Adijazatu Abubakari, Ghana<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_slide” interval=”3″ images=”9427,9428,9429,9431,9432,9445″ img_size=”large”][vc_column_text]All photos credit to James Varghese[\/vc_column_text]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BWF Female Participation Grant offers female athletes a chance to apply for financial support to attend and be internationally classified at some BWF-sanctioned tournaments annually. We are featuring the grant used in Uganda and Bahrain in 2021. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2630,"featured_media":9413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whats-new"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2630"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9448,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9410\/revisions\/9448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}