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Nathalia Ramos (right) with Special Olympics Panama athlete Albadira Hernandez during a sports demonstration in Torrijos Carter. [Photo courtesy of Special Olympics Panama]
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A student braves crowds and long distance to volunteer for Special Olympics Panama
by Zoe Pastorfield-Li
The trip from the hilly outskirts of Torrijos Carter to the former U.S. military base in Clayton serves as a tour of both Panama City’s poorest districts and its most affluent pockets. For Nathalia Ramos, 14, the voyage involves taking crowded public transportation to the bus stop where a second Special Olympics Panama bus collects her for the final leg. Roundtrip, Nathalia spends more than two hours en route each Saturday morning; it is the necessary trip from her home to the Special Olympics swim practices where she has been volunteering for more than a year.
Nathalia and her sister, Gabriela, 12, began volunteering for Special Olympics Panama in 2002, shortly after their cousin, Adwin Rodriguez, began competing as an athlete in the athletics program. Bridging off into aquatics, Nathalia is now training to earn her coaching certification as well as volunteering for various other Special Olympics Panama events, such as a Youth and Schools sports demonstration held in her hometown in December 2003. During the event, Nathalia could be spotted aiding with the presentation of announcements and cleaning up the venue, all while simultaneously salsa-ing and chatting with the athletes who have clearly forged tight bonds with her over the past 12 months.
The world of Special Olympics is indeed growing quickly. Much public attention is paid to the more easily measured aspects of the Movement’s growth, such as athlete numbers and the development of new national Programs. Far more difficult to evaluate, but equally as important, is the depth of the Movement’s impact within individual communities. The Special Olympics Program in Panama, a country symbolically recognized for its geographical location as the bridge between the Americas, has grown in a way that has successfully connected distant sectors of community and social classes, making it an icon of successful, inclusive development.
Personal accounts such as Nathalia’s not only provide clear evidence of Special Olympics’ bona fide grass-roots infiltration around the world, but also represent similar degrees of dedicated participation of a large portion of the athletes, coaches and volunteers in the Special Olympics Panama Program.
Zoe Pastorfield-Li is an intern for Special Olympics Latin America.
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