Morocco creating significant rehab opportunities for its disabled citizens, according to NGO

From The Town Crier in Loa Altos, Calif.:

Morocco is taking the lead among Islamic countries in creating significant rehabilitation opportunities for the disabled. Due to and difficulty in providing good health services for remote regions, a significant percentage suffer from either mental or physical disabilities. Many families with handicapped children are not even aware what possibilities for rehabilitation even exist. In some extreme cases, fathers of disabled children have even abandoned their families out of shame and despair.

Fortunately, that climate is changing with the help of people like Ubaldo working with a local Non-Government organization in Morocco that is specifically addressing the needs of the handicapped. The Venezuelan native, who speaks Spanish, French and Arabic, but not English, visited the Town Crier office last week along with his translator, Jon Lewis. Immigrating to Morocco 19 years ago with a desire to start sports programs for young people, he was immediately impacted by the number of handicapped in the country and shifted his focus toward helping this marginalized segment of society.

p>Energetic and impassioned, Ubaldo told stories of finding disabled people abandoned on the streets and starting them on a new life. He discovered one man with no legs, who, under Ubaldo’s guidance and encouragement, evolved into a star player on Morocco’s wheelchair basketball team. That man is now married and the couple is expecting their first child. Another mentally disabled man Ubaldo came across revealed a special talent for sprinting that made him a track star in the Africa Special Olympics. The confidence gained from athletic achievement, in both cases, led to vastly improved quality of life for the men - so much so that their accomplishments totally transformed their families’ attitudes toward the handicapped--replacing shame with pride.

Ubaldo’s own ambitious plan is to help develop 40 new handicapped rehabilitation centers (for children) throughout Morocco in the next ten years. He is now excited to see the royal family and King Mohammed VI himself as a key promoter of new national initiatives to offer help for the disabled.

“It takes a special person to see the real person underneath the filth and the disability,” Lewis said. “The world could use a few more Ubaldos to bring real hope to the handicapped both here in the U.S. as well as in places like Morocco.”