Uniting towards a disability inclusive society

©CBM

3 Colleagues from the CBM Southern Africa Regional Office took part in the ITU World triathlon which took place in Cape Town on the 25th April. Here they were, Catherine with a disability, Melani and Judith, racing as a team showing something that walks inclusion.

ITU Discovery World Triathlon

On the 25th April, Catherine, Judith and Melani took on the ITU Discovery World Triathlon. At first they didn’t think “inclusion”, they thought “team building” and “Fun”. Yet being the person that Catherine is she decided it needed to mean something and when she looked at the team it made sense. “UNITING TOWARDS A DISABILITY INCLUSIVE SOCIETY” Here they were, Catherine with a disability, Judith and Melani racing as a team showing something that walks inclusion.

  • Catherine to swim 1,5 kilometres
  • Judith to cycle 40 kilometres
  • Melani to run 10 kilometres

Overcome obstacles

Being Cape Town and being the Atlantic Ocean the water temperature on the day was 9 degrees celsius and the swim was cancelled due to it being too cold, so Catherine's part of the race was no more. So they kept their heads flying high and went for coffee instead. Oh yes they still had to race two more parts of the Triathlon.

Judith cycled 40 kilometres, and then handed the baton over to Melani who ran 10 kilometres, and as a team they all ran into the stadium together and finished as an all-inclusive winning team, not winning the team race but winning by participating and bringing in inclusion where they knew how.

Changing mind-sets

Catherine, Judith and Melani all finished inclusively together for the CBM Family Team, they even got the medal to prove it!

The questions that was on their minds was.  Did we do something remarkable in this race? Did we change mind-sets of people by being an inclusive team? Did people even see us?  Did this impact society in any way by making it more inclusive?