Who We Are:
History and Background
Special Olympics South Sudan (SOSS) was established in late 2018.
Special Olympics South Sudan is a national organization under Special Olympics International (SOI) which is based in the United States of America.
SOSS main office is based in Juba but will further extend to other parts of the country.
The program provides Olympics-type sports for Persons with Intellectual Disability (ID) to be empowered through Sports. They are also able to interact with communities, develop physical strength, happiness and the spirit of joy.
According to research by Special Olympics International, Persons with Intellectual Disability account for 2% of the total population (at least) in each country so we aim to ensure that we are able to reach each and every one of them through the program.
Currently, SOSS has about 20 athletes with various forms/types of Intellectual Disability (ID) who participate in different sports. There is no limit to the number of athletes to be recruited so we aim to continuing recruiting more Special Olympics athletes across the country.
Photo gallery
International Participation
Five months after Formation, with little training and financial challenges, SOSS made an effort for our athletes to participate in Special Olympics World Games. The first debut was at the Abu Dhabi World Games in March 2019 and the Second Participation was at the Cairo Pan African Games in January 2020.
Surprisingly; the athletes won medals at both events.
The program was only able to support four athletes to the World Games due to financial and logistical constraints.
In its policy, Special Olympics International encourages programs to raise funds for the operations of the program which include training, which is often costly because of the condition and care of the athletes.
Our Appeal
In line with the directives of the policy mentioned above, we are knocking doors of well-wishers to support our participants to facilitate their activities.
The 2023 Berlin World Games are set to happen this June. However, the most demanding aspect is the cost of travel to and from the games; outside of other expenses.
The Challenges of our National Economic Infrastructure has posed difficulty for us and there are no National Grants or Governmental Financial Support Schemes that can help us raise the needed funds especially at such a crucial juncture. We are solely relying on well-wishers.
Therefore, we appeal for your support to enable our delegation to participate the upcoming games in Germany.
We call on you to assist us with the provision of tickets for eight delegates travelling to the Berlin World games which will be held in June 2023. As per the program, the Head of the Delegation is expected to arrive on 9th June while all other delegates must arrive on the 12th June 2023.
It is critical that we move swiftly.
Our Achievements
South Sudan won two gold and three bronze medals at the just concluded global Special Olympics Games held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital, Abu Dhabi.
We praised the team that comprised of two girls and a boy with disability for defying the odds to bring home the first ever medals from a global athletics event. “When we played in Abu Dhabi, we won five medals (two golds and three bronze) with only three athletes.
Esther Wayet Isaac won gold medals while Sarah Juru and John Tombek won bronze medals respectively.
A total of 7,500 participants from 194 countries took part in the global Special Olympic Games held from March 14-21 2019.
South Sudan won gold medals in 200 meters and bronze in 100 meters, plus an honorary symbol at the games in Abu Dhabi.
“People are happy in Abu Dhabi because South Sudan is among the 40 new countries that joined Special Olympics Games and we are number one among these countries for having won five medals.
South Sudan became a member of global Special Olympics in August last year. “We are telling people there are so many people in South Sudan with the same (disabilities) situation and we need them to come out.
We want those with Down syndrome, epilepsy and mental retardation to come out and participate in Special Olympics.
“We want to take people with interaction disability out of their families; they have to come as part of the community.
They have to play and participate with the community. South Sudan has selected seven athletes to represent the east African country at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi, the country's Olympic governing body said on Tuesday. In late 2018 that the country participate in the Special Olympics Games in a bid to promote the rights of people with intellectual disabilities.
The Special Olympics World Summer Games are an international sporting competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities, organized by the IOC partner Special Olympics organization.
The world's youngest nation is one of the 11 sub-Saharan African countries to make debutant appearance in the 2019 World Games. According to the Special Olympics, the event will bring together more than 7,000 athletes from 170 countries and regions to compete in 24 sports such as athletics, badminton, basketball, swimming, table tennis, among others.
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