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National Partnership Works to Empower Families of Children with Intellectual Disabilities
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Special Olympics family members take part in the first-ever Family Seminar held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The seminar was held at the national Olympic stadium in Phnom Penh. |
In accordance with the international partnership signed in late 2007, Special Olympics Cambodia and UNICEF have successfully begun to empower the families of children with disabilities through community outreach and information sharing. In the Cambodian capital city of Phnom Penh, 25 family members of children with intellectual disabilities joined together to take part in the first-ever Special Olympics Family Seminar in this Southeast Asian country. The funding for this orientation meeting was provided by a generous grant from the UNICEF country office.
The goal of this training seminar was to disseminate as much information on Special Olympics as possible to the family members of children with intellectual disabilities, given that the Special Olympics movement has only been active in Cambodia since August 2005.
Officials from Special Olympics Cambodia led family members in warm-up exercises and worked on preparing them to serve as coaches and volunteers for local programming in Phnom Penh. In addition, family members were introduced them to home training programs for both football and bocce at this initial meeting.
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Special Olympics Cambodia representatives led family members in warm-up exercises before introducing them to football and bocce home training programs. |
Special Olympics Cambodia and UNICEF are working to expand the reach of the Family Support Network, and will be implementing another family training seminar in the province of Siem Reap in June 2008.
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