In America I am very involved with volunteering with handicapped populations. I have worked with them as an assistant teacher, as a volunteer (all ages), and with Special Olympics Florida. When I came to Peace Corps I really hoped to find my niche in a great association or school geared towards Moroccans with disabilities. This hasn’t happened for me in The Christmas Village just yet (inshallah mnbed) but some of us YD volunteers were lucky enough to be invited to help at the Special Olympics Morocco even that happened this weekend in the northern city of Tangers. 
My site is in the south, so I committed to around 19 hours of travel to attend. I almost backed out because I was feeling sick. Hamdullilah I did not! There were about 24 YD volunteers there from all over Morocco. We first learned about Special Olympics Morocco, and about how to potentially have some events in our own sites. Unfortunately right now Special Olympics only reaches the bigger cities. But, hey!, that’s how things get started right?
The athletes arrived with their families and/or coaches and were SO EXCITED!! We had athletes that played sports like tennis, track, gymnastics, power lifting, botchi ball, ping pong, etc.
The kids had matching warm ups and were provided all of this for free! Apparently the princess of Morocco is a big champion for this cause and we have her to thank!
This was a great experience and I enjoyed myself so much! I managed to snag an extra shirt for one of my brothers to represent. The world games for the special olympics is in June and athletes from all over the world will attend. We have 19 attending from Florida alone! They rely on donations for these kinds of travel so if anyone feels like supporting this cause www.specialolympics.com is the place to visit and donate!
I also fell in love with Tangier on this trip! It is beautiful! You can see spain from the beach and there is a ferry going over on a regular schedule. This was so worth the trip up there!
I had such a blast with all the athletes and other PCVS! Thanks for being amazing guys!
I can’t wait to do it all again next year!!!
Rachel, It was so great to meet you in Kelaa and then again in Ouarzazate. Hope you are feeling much better and I am so glad you enjoyed the Special Olympics in Tangier. We flew over the straits of Gibralter on our way to Spain, and it was so beautiful seeing the connection between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. I Google Earthed our crossing and Tangier was to the West so we didn’t see it. Maybe for our next visit. Tracy (Molly’s Mom)
Hey Tracy! It was nice meeting you as well. Thanks for adopting us! Special Olympics was great, these types of events are real morale boosters for me. Reminds me of the reasons I joined Peace Corps in the first place
That was special! How cool.
Thanks Gabby.
Miss you!
Very cool Rachel! I took my students to special olympics this year, fun program
The participant doing the split deserves a gold medal! Yea for the princess of Morocco for supporting this cause in a big way.