With HE Shamma Al Mazrouei – H.E. Shamma Bint Sohail Al Mazrouei, UAE’s Minister of State for Youth Affairs, personally approaches Jaechell, the youngest competitor in the games, to congratulate her for her performance.
ABU DHABI: The Philippines’ and the Special Olympics 2018’s youngest participant, 10-year old Jaechell Castillo has very humble beginnings from her home town in La Union. Her coach, Eu Ann Ordono shared Jaechell’s story to The Filipino Times as Jaechell can only speak in her native tongue.
Ordono, who herself has been training athletes for regular and special Olympics for the past 8 years, said that Jaechell’s strength is her family. “She takes care of her little brother at home when the parents are out at work – her mother sells vegetables in the market and her father is a carpenter. So when her parents go out to work, she’s left with her little brother but has to be absent in school to do so.” said Ordono.
Aside from the poor condition of Jaechell’s home, she also has to be placed in Special Education as she was one of the slow learners in school, suffering from a low IQ. And to get to their school, Jaechell has to walk for 2 hours together with a group of students. “That time, I was starting an annex of our Sped center and she (Jaechell) was one of those listed to attend. But even after that we still tried to have her included for the regular class but at a lower level.” shares Ordono.
Having won 3 gold medals, Jaechell has a few simple wishes for her family – to have their very own water pump for their house, few home improvements, and a means of transportation going up and down from their house so they can sell more vegetables in the market.
what sports in particular?