Despite violence, food shortages and the chaos of conflict, Special Olympics teams from the war-torn regions of Afghanistan and Iraq have arrived in Ireland to a rapturous welcome.
Afghanistan's five athletes, aged between 12 and 15 years of age, arrived in the Galway village of Ballygar last night, just days after they received confirmation they would be able to make the journey.
The village of 400 people has hung Afghan flags and painted flowerboxes in the country's colours to celebrate the arrival of the team.
"It's a wonderful occasion," said Ms Mary Kelly, chairwoman of the Ballygar host town committee.
"They've had a rough journey to get here and a lot of their flights were delayed. It's probably their first time outside of the country."
She said locals were delighted to be able to host the team after Senegal, which the village had been preparing to host, had to cancel its plans to take part in the Games.
"It gives a wonderful lift to the whole community and it brings out the best in people.
"A local man has come forward to offer a bus free of charge to bring the athletes down from Belfast and ordinary families are putting up the athletes," Ms Kelly said.
Another team which has had to overcome substantial obstacles is Iraq, which was welcomed to a special reception in Larne, Co Antrim, last night.
The 12-member team had been training regularly before the outbreak of war but were isolated and not contactable until just a few weeks ago.
However, the athletes, who will compete in the athletics and table tennis competitions, were located by Special Olympics organisers and arrived safely this week with the assistance of the chairman of the Games organising committee, Mr Denis O'Brien.
"The town is overjoyed that they've been able to make it," said the deputy lord mayor of Larne, Mr Roy Craig.
"One of the delegation said they had never seen so much green in their lives when they arrived.
"We'd like to think that they can share some of the facilities which we often take for granted.
"It's not just the statutory bodies that are getting involved. A lot of the voluntary bodies and the community will also be entertaining and facilitating them to train for the Games."
Thousands of athletes from other countries also arrived into Dublin and Belfast yesterday on what was one of the busiest days of the year for the two airports.
A 1,200-strong team from the US flew into Belfast and will stay there for the next three days before the competition starts in Dublin.
A special concert organised by Belfast City Council will be held this evening in the Waterfront Hall to celebrate the arrival of the team.
A spokesman for Aer Rianta said 3,500 athletes passed through Dublin airport yesterday and were met by a reception that included a piper and Irish dancing.
"It really was a wonderful occasion. They were piped through from the gates to the reception areas.
"When they passed through the retail area here, literally everyone stopped and applauded them," the spokesman said.
The host town programme, which involves 177 cities, towns and villages, officially begins today and will be accompanied by a host of special receptions to mark the arrival of the athletes.
The teams will go to Dublin on Friday before the opening ceremony on Saturday in Croke Park.
