Mrs Barry bids farewell to RI's Special Olympics team

JAKARTA (JP): Peggy Barry bid special farewell yesterday to the people she has lived with for three years, as she and her husband, the United States Ambassador for Indonesia Robert Barry, will be leaving Indonesia next month.

Mrs. Barry shared her great moment with the Indonesian delegation bound for the ninth Special Olympics in New England, Connecticut early next month.

The quadrennial sporting meet, especially for mentally challenged people, will gather some 7,200 athletes from 140 countries and a huge number of families, friends and volunteers.

"I always want to give them support as I was closely involved with emotionally disturbed people before I came here," Barry recollected.

She worked for City Light, a non-profit non-governmental organization, in Washington for five years before she and her husband were sent to Jakarta.

"In our mind, it is a matter of diplomacy and how international relations should be conducted," Mrs. Barry said in her brief speech during the afternoon tea gathering.

Ambassador Barry and his wife will be leaving Indonesia on July 10.

The Indonesian team for the Special Olympics is made up of 27 sportsmen and women who will compete in track and field events, badminton, table tennis and soccer. The July 1-9 Games will contest 12 Olympic sports and six demonstration events.

Indonesia, which took nine golds, three silvers and six bronzes four years ago, brings also a special team of coaches comprising former best female shuttlers, Minarni and Corry Sucahyo, former women's tennis champion Yolanda Sumarno and former top female runner Carolina Reuwpasa.

The Special Olympics was established in 1968 as a non-profit organization to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic events for adults and children with mental challenges. Indonesia joined the organization in 1989.

The Indonesian Special Olympics, chaired by Retno Astuti Aryanto, provides mentally challenged people with routine training and competition in 15 provinces. (amd)