Diego Ibarra Sanchez

Photographer; Educator; Video journalist
   
Football without barriers in North Nigeria
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Nationality: Spanish
Biography: www.diegoibarra.com Diego Ibarra Sánchez, 1982, Spain,  is a renowned documentary photographer, filmmaker, and educator who is based in Lebanon. His work primarily focuses on in-depth, long-form visual storytelling, and he is known... MORE
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Football without barriers in North Nigeria
Copyright Diego Ibarra 2024
Updated Apr 2020
Topics Photography
Nigeria has recently reached the milestone of being polio-free for a year, however, the disease has left thousands of survivors handicapped. Although there is not a definite number on polio survivors in Nigeria, the Nigerian Association of Polio Survivors has almost a million members.

In a culture with little community support for polio survivors, para-soccer has brought joy and purpose into the lives of Nigerian polio survivors.

Created in 1988, by Nigerian polio survivor Misbahu Lawan Didi, the sport has few financial sponsors, but has spread to other countries on the continent.
Para-soccer has become a source of strength and freedom for polio survivors.  Somewhere between the ball, the skateboard and the hard ground, they have carved a space of their own.

The game is physically and mentally exhausting, and the asphalt on which they play scratches at the skin, sometimes stripping it off altogether. To play, para soccer players sits on a small wooden scooter —a twelve-inch wooden square with four swiveling wheels — which is how many polio survivors in Nigeria get around. Scooter users propel themselves forward by pushing their hands on the ground.

Para-soccer is also being used as a tool to spread awareness about polio and the importance of vaccinations. Every year on World Polio Day there is a national para-soccer championship. Through para-soccer, survivors who would otherwise be begging on the streets are able to make some money to help support their families.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/health/a-milestone-in-africa-one-year-without-a-case-of-polio.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/my-nigeria/2015/08/playing-pain-nigeria-football-polio-150825112325046.html




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