Human Rights

Sport transforms lives for Rwanda's amputees, offering hope and unity

Football players from Rwanda’s national amputee team train on a pitch in Kigali, using forearm crutches as they prepare for international competition. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

Rwanda hopes to take part next year in the second women’s amputee football World Cup, an invitational event expected to be held in Poland or Brazil. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

Rwanda was represented by only a single player at the first edition of the competition in 2024. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

The sport, governed by the World Amputee Football Federation, is played in more than 50 countries. Rwanda now has five women’s professional teams and 10 for men. Like Solange, she described a sense of community found on the field. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

Haitian women’s amputee football team manager Fred Sorrels, who visited Rwanda to help develop the local programme, said he was rooting for the East African country to host a World Cup. But the country's sport ministry said it has yet to make a formal bid. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

Sorrels said he has seen the benefits of the sport. “It’s a win psychologically and mentally for these ladies to have an opportunity to experience wholeness and wellness again,” he said. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

Gilbert Muvunyi Manier, the Rwandan sport ministry's director general of sports development, called the sport a “powerful tool” for healing, reconciliation and social cohesion. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

Players acknowledged limitations in strategy. “It’s hard to save the ball when it goes to the side with the receding hand,” goalkeeper Nikuze Angelique said. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

As players took selfies after a game, Angelique said she is hopeful they will reach the World Cup. “It will be a dream come true,” she said. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

The seven-a-side version of football sees outfield players roaming the pitch on crutches, with goalkeepers using just one arm. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]