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Anne Wafula Strike is a British wheelchair racer and disability advocate who became the first athlete from Sub-Saharan Africa to compete in wheelchair racing at the Paralympic Games.
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About Anne
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Born in Mihu, Kenya, to Nekesa Ruth and Athumani Wafula, Anne was a fit and healthy child before polio struck when she was two years old. She was given the middle name of Olympia at birth, a title of prophetic significance for the future and prescient of hurdles she would face in forthcoming years.
Superstitious villages believed the family were cursed following Anne’s partial recovery from illness, which forced her family into decisions and acts that would change her life forever.
After completing A-levels and graduating from Moi University with a Bachelor of Education degree, Anne taught at Machakos Technical College in Kenya before meeting the man she would marry – which lead her to Britain, motherhood, wheelchair racing, disability advocacy and charity work.
2004 marked the beginning of an Olympic career when Anne became the first wheelchair racer from Sub-Sahara Africa to compete at the Paralympics in Athens. In 2006 Anne became a British citizen and joined Team GB and in 2007 she was officially recognised by the Queen at a Buckingham Palace reception for her work as a disabled athlete and for involvement in charity work for people with disabilities.
See keynotes with Anne Wafula StrikeSpeaking Engagements Anne Wafula Strike, MBE, is an excellent motivational speaker who draws on her own life experiences and achievements to inspire her audiences. Anne is not afraid to use humour to get her message across!
From contracting polio as a very small child, you learn of the many struggles she had to overcome in Kenya to achieve her first goal of getting an education and going to university to become a first class teacher herself.
After the birth of her son, Tim, she took up sport and became a Paralympian within 3 years and had a distinguished career in wheelchair racing, which saw her travel the world to compete against her peers.
Anne has never forgotten all the people who helped her achieve her success and is determined to get as many people as she can to achieve their own potential and personal goals. Charity work is something she does tirelessly, and as well as giving her time to a wide variety of charitable organisations she set up the charity, The Olympia–Wafula Foundation, whose main aim is to empower the differently-abled (disabled) people in the developing world.
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