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Jumaeva Zamira and her daughter Mudzzama from Tajikistan. Photographer: Martha Jo Braycich |
If there is anyone who does not believe in limits it is Jumaeva Zamira, the mother of 8-year-old Special Olympics athlete Mudzzama. Zamira lives with her daughter, husband and three other children in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. As a young girl, Zamira was a gymnast and believed that the sport would be good for her daughter, who has Down syndrome. But when she went to the local sports clubs none of the coaches wanted to take on Mudzzama as a student because they said they would have no patience or time to train a child with an intellectual disability. So Zamira trains her daughter at home.
“Mudzzama is very whimsical and gymnastics suits her. She likes music, she's flexible and she has the ability - and she can do better,” her mother said with quiet determination. Zamira teaches her daughter at home because there are no special schools for her. She is learning to keep house, to be a tidy dresser, and to have very nice table manners. Her older siblings, who are 28, 18 and 16, adore the sociable little girl as do the family's neighbors. Zamira, who attended the gymnastics seminar in Tashkent and watched her daughter compete for the first time, trained as an architect. Today, she gives her husband, a builder, ideas about how to build. It is obvious that Zamira's vision goes beyond bricks and mortar, seeing a life full of promise and potential for her daughter.
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