This is John Kennedy with another Postcard from Abroad from the University of Kansas.
Mankeshi Chaudhary plays cricket in Nepal where the sport is wildly popular. If you aren’t familiar with it, players use a bat to hit the ball to a wicket (or goal). Mankeshi’s team is unusual; all the players are blind or have very limited vision. But this doesn’t keep the women off the field! They play with minor modifications—the ball, bat, and wicket are larger so that players with partial sight can see them. The ball contains metal pieces which rattle so blind players can hear it. And the players talk so teammates know their location. Some people think blindness precludes active sports; others worry that they’ll get injured. But Mankeshi and her team have proven them flat-out wrong. You could say it’s…wicket inspiring!
With thanks to JENNIFER DUHAMEL of the KU Center for Global and International Studies for this text, this is John Kennedy. Wish you were here.
