Essam El Hadidi, Egypt’s champion in athletics for the disabled for many years, offered for sale his 46 medals during his sports career, in order to support his family and three daughters.
The 44-year-old hero, who lives in the village of Kafr Dima, affiliated to the Kafr El-Zayat Center in the Gharbia Governorate, confirmed that he does not have a stable source of livelihood, in addition to his living in housing in the middle of agricultural lands that lacks all vital facilities.
The hero, who won 46 medals ranging from gold, silver and bronze, and numerous certificates and awards to the Paralympic Committee, said that he is obliged to sell the medals to anyone who pays a good sum so that he can secure food for his family and preserve the roof of his home so that his family does not drown in the water in the winter.
Egypt’s athletics champion explains: “I only own half a carat on which I built a house of reeds and bricks years ago, and I applied for reconciliation in the Kafr Al-Zayat city council, and I cannot pay what I owe.”
He continued, “I only get 800 pounds a month from one of the private clubs in Tanta, to which I travel from my village in Kafr El-Zayat, and I work as a construction worker raising cement despite my handicap.”
Al-Hadidi appealed to the Ministry of Sports and businessmen to help him equip his home in order to protect his family from homelessness and the possibility of finding a job opportunity for him to support his family.
He also asked the governor of Gharbia to exempt him from the value of reconciliation in consideration of his harsh conditions, especially as he refused in his sports career to play on behalf of an Asian country in sports tournaments out of love for his homeland, Egypt.
Source: “Al-Dustour Newspaper”
