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Marion Obiri, 20, requires no prompting to smile for the camera. The feat she accomplished three weeks ago is still fresh in her mind. She won Kenya one gold and two silver medals in this year’s Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi.
Marion competed in bocce, a ball sport closely related to bowling, but which is mostly played outdoors. Her victory is significant, given that she beat contestants from about 50 countries to clinch the medals.
“It felt good. I was very excited when I won,” she says.
Mr Vincent Mungai, her coach and sports trainer at the Kenya Community Centre for Learning, where she goes to school, says her victory is the result of two months of consistent training.
“We would train three days a week for one to two hours. It took lots of commitment, but she was determined to do it,” he says.
Sports, Mr Mungai says, is therapeutic for people with intellectual disabilities.
“They generally have lots of energy to burn, and regularly taking part in a sport is the best way to do it,” he adds.
Marion, he explains, is very good at volleyball, but she could not compete in it because it requires consistent team effort, hence socialising, which her condition limits.
Bocce, a centuries-old game, was, therefore, the best bet since all she needed was a partner to form a team, which the team from the Special Olympics calls a unified pair.
Marion’s partner at the event was Ms Effie Otieno. As a unified pair, Ms Otieno’s added responsibility was to provide direction or make snap decisions during the game.
“Marion and I were paired for eight weeks before the games. Besides training together, we also hung out together and socialised, allowing us to bond,” she says.
Ms Otieno is also a director of “siblings inclusion” at Special Olympics Kenya. “My job involves sensitising the siblings of those with special needs to the importance of actively participating in their lives,” she explains.
Marion’s mother, Ms Linda Obiri, learnt that something was amiss with her firstborn child when she joined nursery school at the age of five.
“She couldn’t speak coherently. I assumed the delayed speech was normal, so I was not overly bothered. I was sure that once she joined school, she would learn to speak in no time,” says Ms Obiri.
It was not to be. A year down the line, Marion had not made any progress, and it was evident that she could not cope with her peers. That is when her mother decided to seek help. “Among the specialists we consulted was a psychologist, who assessed Marion’s verbal skills and picture recognition skills, among other tests,” she explains.
Marion was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia, disorders that involve learning difficulties, as well as autism, a broad range of conditions characterised by social and speech challenges, and repetitive behaviour.
That was 14 years ago. Now, thanks to suitable interventions, Marion can express herself, is independent, and can commute on her own from the family’s home in Kitengela, Kajiado County, to her school in Roysambu, Nairobi County.
