The hardest part of the Paralympic games is raising funds to get our South African stars there
WESTDENE – Paralympic athlete asks South Africans to give her a chance to represent them well.
How many para-athletes can you name off the top of your head?
How many of them are South African and, more importantly, how many of them are women? For most, the number is extremely low if not zero and that is exactly why Palesa Manaleng needs support to get to the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. The University of Johannesburg (UJ) student and national hand-cycling champion said her campaign, #Palesa2Toyko2020, was not only about wanting to compete at the highest level but it was about giving differently-abled people something to believe in.
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” she said. “When I look at national teams in disability sports, I don’t see me and that worries me. That means I have to be the first one to create that representation for the next child or Palesa that is born sick and ends up in a wheelchair who sees that there is someone like her.”
Manaleng added that to change this, we need to create and support platforms that prove that differently-abled people are capable of more. She said they too need to be seen and heard on television and radio, seen in offices and boardrooms and on the sports fields.
To accomplish this, Manaleng has embarked on a journey to get her to the 2020 Paralympic Games. She and her team, the Students of Public Relations Association of UJ, have had their hands full trying to raise funds for her and create awareness around para-sports and education. The #Palesa2Toyko2020 campaign is hoping to collect about R150 000. Manaleng said, “The money will be used for things like spare equipment, paying for a trainer to travel with me as I can’t go alone, airfare, to pay for all costs needed for the upcoming qualifiers and all the day-to-day expenses.”
She is calling on the readers of Northcliff Melville Times to support the campaign. When asked what her message to those considering helping her to get to Tokyo was, she said, “Give us a chance, that’s it. Give us a chance to represent you and represent you well. The only way you can do that is by supporting us.”
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