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Rwanda's Paralympic legacy for East Africa
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Dominique Bizimana, Paralympic athlete and President of the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Rwanda, shares with sportanddev what this year's 14-member Rwandan team represents for East Africa.

You’ve worked very hard to expand access to disability sport through NPC Rwanda, and your “Rwanda towards London 2012” initiative led to the creation of the Rwandan sitting volleyball team, the first Sub-Saharan African team to represent the sport in the Paralympic Games (and the second African team to qualify for the 2012 Paralympics).

What does Paralympic participation mean for disability sport in Rwanda, and how are challenges to people living with disabilities changing?

Our participation has a lot of meaning, this shows that where the Olympic delegation fails, we Paralympians, we can do better in terms of representation in sports. This is a strong message to people with impairments, this emphasises the slogan that "disability is not inability". They have to be strong and have self confidence in whatever they do. 

This year sees the biggest ever Rwandan Paralympic team sent to the Games. How is Rwanda’s leading example promoting and challenging disability rights in the larger East Africa region?

NPC Rwanda cannot develop alone in sports by leaving behind other countries in East Africa, that's why since 2006 we started promoting sports in East Africa. In Burundi, Uganda and also in Republic Democratic of Congo, our success is also theirs - since 2008, East Africa is considered as an IPC (International Paralympic Committee) development region.

We achieved this due to the commitment of our Governing Board in believing in certain values such as team work, accountability towards our members and partners, determination and excellence in whatever we do and having a friendly environment due to the political will of the Rwandan Government.

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