Khomas hosts Deaf Winter Sports games

The Hearing Impaired School plans to host the Deaf Winter Sports inter-house competition for schools in Windhoek this weekend.

The customary event starts at the Khomasdal Stadium Sport Stadium from 08h00 on Saturday and concludes the following day.

Speaking to Desert Radio yesterday, the competition’s coordinators, Olga Jose Heita and Peter Uushona, said along with hosts Khomas, they expect participants from Ohangwena, Oshana, Kavango and Zambezi regions to be present.

“We also have some of the special schools participating in this event. It’s going to be a very big event. We will have soccer, netball and athletics,” said Uushona, a sports enthusiast and teacher who is deaf.

“Our goal is to unite the deaf in Namibia, so that they can be incorporated in sport because in most cases, we are a bit isolated. This is a culture we have developed since 2013 till now, and schools from different regions get to host the event, and this year Khomas is hosting it.

Apart from the schools circuit, supported by the Namibia Schools Sport Union, the deaf community do not have national competitions to cater for those who excel, Heita said.

“We have competed with other deaf in other countries. Like for instance, we went to Botswana, where we competed against South Africa, Mozambique, and Botswana,” she said.

“So, we are involved internationally and that could encourage the sports authorities to look at us and also include us in sport activities nationally,” Heita said.

“We do have support, but it’s not to the scale we wanted but we appreciate. We hope for the future, we can have more support. We need to raise awareness whereby people can get to know about our sport. There’s still a lot to be done when it comes to sport, so that the deaf people can showcase their talent.”