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| Mampoi Leepa, athletics coach for Special Olympics Lesotho, is pictured with one of her athletes, Kelebone Ntsihlele, 28, from Maseru, who has been a SO athlete since 1998, when the program began. He is a volunteer pastor in his community. [Photo by Kathy Smallwood] |
Mampoi Leepa is an athletics coach in Lesotho. Because of daughter Matarabo, a child born with intellectual disabilities, Leepa jumped at the chance to get involved with Special Olympics when the Program began in 1998. In fact, she was one of the first people recruited by the organizing committee to train as a coach.
Leepa, a primary teacher by profession, and who also studied nursing in London, came back to Lesotho and integrated students with intellectual into her classroom.
She and Matarabo along with other Special Olympics athletes train every Thursday at a stadium. “My daughter is different now, happier and more proficient and she reminds me when it’s time to practice. She can hardly wait,” said Leepa.
As a coach for Team Lesotho at the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games, she is exhilarated. "They are so welcoming and patient with us. They carry us like eggs.”
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