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SPRING
2013
27
The message that popped up at
her computer screen couldn’t
have been a joke.
Joy Jamal
Eddine ‘08
looked again.The
International Special Olym-
pics was asking her to be the
key note speaker represent-
ing them at the International
Federation of Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies’ Global
Youth Conference in Aus-
tria this year. Could she talk
about how youth can make a
difference in this world, citing
herself as the example?
The 21-year old AUB student
had to take a deep breath. A
keynote speaker? Austria?
True, for the past six years
she has been very active in
the Special Olympics and
has attended several youth
conferences abroad. But to
actually take the stand and
be a keynote speaker was an
overwhelming thought.
Still, it was an honor she
couldn’t refuse. She threw
herself into the task. After much writing,
editing and practicing to anyone who
would listen, Jamal Eddine found herself
on a plane to Austria last December
and, despite losing her luggage en route,
managed to make it in front of her
audience spic and span (“always carry an
extra pair of clothing in your handbag”
she said laughing).
Never one for stage fright, she jumped
right into her speech.
“When I was 15 years old, I went home
one day after school and anxiously waited
till my parents got back from work to tell
them the great news …..” she began.
Very few people can pinpoint the exact
moment that defined the path of their
future, but Jamal Eddine can. It happened
right here at IC.
The year was 2007 and she was taking part
in the Community Service Program which
is a pre-requisite for graduation. Students
had invited athletes with disabilities to IC
for a game of basketball. Jamal Eddine was
taken aback when the athletes turned out to
be great players and wonderful companions.
It was then that she instinctively knew
she had found her calling.
“It was the one cause that I really cared
about,” she recalled. “People with dis-
abilities are a marginalized group who are
frequently made fun of and hidden from
public view. From that point on, I became
obsessed with the Special Olympics;
its mission, its goal, its story and, most
importantly, me being a part of it.”
That same year, Jamal Eddine was chosen
to be a youth leader representing Leba-
non and the Middle East – North Africa
Region at the 2007 Special Olympics
World Summer Games in Shanghai.
Whilst back on IC campus she began her
own campaign to ban the word “retard”
from teenage vocabulary.
After graduating from IC,
she began her studies at the
American University of Bei-
rut. A year later, she founded
the Special Olympics College
Club on campus which fo-
cuses on spreading awareness
about the importance of ac-
cepting people with disabili-
ties in society.The club, which
started with 30 supporters,
today boasts more than 100
members.
Her efforts had not gone un-
noticed. In 2008, she was in-
vited as a global youth advisor
for the Special Olympics at
the Summit on Education in
Washington, DC. In 2009, she
was the Global Youth Leader
at the Special Olympics
International World Winter
Games in Idaho and later that
year she took part in the 6th
Annual Youth Assembly at the
United Nations in New York.
But the biggest moment
came as a keynote speaker
in Austria which brought together over
155 youth representatives from around
the world. As she looked around at her
audience, she knew that her cause had
captivated them.
“Many of you might be thinking,” she con-
tinued “Why does she care all that much?
Does she have a sibling with different
abilities that triggered her passion? Well,
my answer to that is: no. I never knew any-
one with special needs or different intellec-
tual disabilities till I met my friends at the
Special Olympics. You do not need to have
a direct connection to a cause for you to
be a part of it. You just need to reach out
there and find the one, two or even more
things that trigger your care and passion
and then work towards them.”
With the echoes of the applause still with
her, Jamal Eddine returned back to Beirut.
She is currently back at AUB finishing up
her BA in Elementary Education with a
focus on special needs.
The Speech