Most of the young Olympic hopefuls training at the camp run by the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation in Nairobi didn’t arrive there by any traditional paths. Normally, an athlete working toward the Olympics would have years of experience training and working with different coaches, physical trainers, and others. By that time, they’d know a lot about how to care for their bodies, including attending to their injuries.
But these refugee athletes were discovered in refugee camps. Many never had any coaches at all, never competed or participated formally in any kind of athletic system. So, they missed some of the lessons others competing on an international stage would have picked up. First aid and caring for injuries was one of those skills (also, see Day 233 and the new freezer)
So, on Day 236, we started by getting 3 first aid kits for the Refugee Olympic team. They didn’t have any first aid materials to begin with – so we purchased one kit for them to take along to their training sessions each day and two more to keep at the camp. But we wanted to make sure they understood what everything in the kit was for.
“I was very specific,” said Antony, our ARC team member working with the team. “They had things they didn’t know how to use. I said ‘these are for you to use’. I told them to always use the latex gloves – never bare hands – whenever helping a fellow athlete who might be bleeding.” We also showed the athletes how to use the heating pads and creams and how to wrap muscles.
And if they ever had a question, their coaches agreed to help.
“All of the things you’ve brought are really basic, but we needed them,” one of the coaches told us. “I’m sure this will improve the lives of the athletes and their performance in competitions.”
Another change made possible by Atomic Data.
