Report from 7th World Conference on Sport, Education and Culture

A report from Hlengiwe Buthelezi, one of the two FGG representatives at the 7th World Conference on Sport, Education and Culture:

The conference was very interesting. I learnt a lot and it was important to be there to meet the different representatives attending.

My highlight of the conference came in during the session entitled "Young People Speak", where Jackie Silva, a UNESCO Champion for Sport, was one of the panelists. During the discussion, there was a question about inclusion of people with disability in the IOC programmes, be it the regular Olympics or the Youth Olympics, rather than focusing solely on the Paralympics. I took advantage of this opening on the theme of inclusion to ask about the LGBT community. It was quite interesting to hear the positive response from the panel and to see that the people attding acted "normal", with no negative attitude. We just had a normal discussion about the topic, and the answer was they do not look at anything else from the athlete but the talent. I was intrigued.

I did have a minor incident after the discussion during lunch, when two guys, one from Tanzania and one from Uganda, told me they were "willing to help me" as I am possessed by the whites' demons. They will take me church, etc. I just laughed and tried to reason with them, but obviously they were attached to their beliefs.

I later heard the speech from Getachew Engida, Deputy Director General of UNESCO. In his speech he spoke about UNESCO doing their best on:
1. Gender Equality in sport specially in Africa   
2. Education to youth & persons with disabilities for equal opportunities
3. Opening an inter-cultural dialogues in order to learn more about different cultures and promote tolerance among different cultural groups.

I had a chance to meet him outside and had a little chat with him and give him the Federation card. We spoke on LGBT issues and the points we discussed with the Federation to prepare the conference. He was keen special about the FGG's work with London 2012.

I also had an interesting chat with Jackie Silva on LGBT issues and the Gay Games. She is a fascinating person, especially with regard to sport and LGBT issues. She said she was doing her best with UNESCO to represent LGBT athletes.

Among the other delegates I was able to discuss the Gay Games were:
Nicola Shepherd,UN Programme on Youth
S. Anantha Krishnan, UN Habitat
Klaus Schormann, International Union for the Modern Pentathlon
Debbie Lye, UK Sport/ London 2012 International Inspiration Programme Director
Gerald Guskowski, Youth Development through Football, South Africa
Jochen Farber, Munich 2018 bid committee