9.4 Ireland and Azerbaijan

Winter 2001 (9.4)
Page 11

Reader's Forum
Ireland and Azerbaijan

Salam Aleykum [Greetings],

In 560 days [from December 3, 2001], the people in my town of Shannon, Ireland, (population ~8,000) will be experiencing exactly what the people of Derby, Connecticut did back in 1995. From June 16-20, we will be hosting the 60-member delegation from Azerbaijan prior to the 2003 World Games in Dublin for Special Olympics. We're really excited about it.

I just received the Education Brief of the Hosting Committee, and next year we'll be starting to put information packs into the local schools. Shannon has six primary schools (4-12 year olds) and two secondary schools (12-18), but we will also be offering the material to the schools in neighboring villages, so that number could double.

Obviously, I've been surfing the Web for references to Azerbaijan and surprise! surprise! your web site [AZER.com] has the most interesting material. I would be very grateful for permission to use some of your material for this project. I hope to prepare material both in printed form and CD-ROM, as it's the easiest thing in the world these days to include hyperlinks in electronic documents.

Skimming through the material about Azerbaijan, there seems to be plenty of striking parallels between your country and Ireland. That's what makes exploring fun. Tashakkur ediram [Thank you].

Niall Ross
Shannon, Ireland

Editor: For more information and photos of young Azerbaijani athletes at the Special Olympic Games in Derby, Connecticut, in 1995, go to (http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/33_folder/33_articles/33_specialolympics.html). Check out the Special Olympics (2003specialolympics.com/).

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From Azerbaijan International (9.4) Winter 2001.
© Azerbaijan International 2002. All rights reserved.