Isatou is a 15-year-old student of Methodist Special School Kanifing, Gambia. She has been a part of Special Olympics for 2 years now. Isatou has participated in an awareness campaign as a Unified Athlete. Additionally, Isatou participated in the Regional Youth Summit 2022 held in South Africa. Isatou’s experience at the summit increased her desire to participate in promoting inclusion in her community. Isatou was also recently appointed as the Special Olympics Africa representative on the Special Olympics Global Youth Leadership Council. She believes that the support of people without intellectual disabilities is crucially important for the development of persons with intellectual disabilities.

Catherine is a 22-year-old currently working as a teacher in The Gambia. She has been volunteering for Special Olympics for 2 years now. Catherine also participated in the Regional Youth Summit 2022 in South Africa, where she made new friends and further developed her leadership skills. She believes that inclusion is important to make both persons with and without intellectual disabilities better human beings.
Isatou and Catherine noticed a lack of government organizations partnering with Special Olympics The Gambia.. They hope to develop a more collaborative relationship with Gambia’s government organizations through the successful implementation of this project.
Isatou and Catherine will organize an Art Exhibition with art created by artists both with and without intellectual disabilities. These artists will come from a pool of Special Olympics The Gambia Athletes. The Youth Leaders will invite personnel from the Ministries of Education, Health, Youth & Sports and Communication to attend their exhibition. They will also recruit mentors where needed to support athletes.
Through their project, Isatou and Catherine aim to create an opportunity for relationship building that would result in more participation of these government stakeholders in future Special Olympics projects.