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I am a walking miracle -Mwanaidi
2007-06-24 09:32:22
By Lydia Shekighenda
Walking for Mwanaidi Bakari, is a sure miracle, she says with confidence. After she lost one of her legs in an accident she never thought, one day she would be able to walk again without crutches.
``I never knew there will come a day when I would walk without crutches,`` says the beaming 16 year old girl as she takes a few steps forward on her newly-fitted artificial leg.
Born in Kituri village in Mwanga district, she says she lost her leg in an accident in 1999 and after a few years lost her parents.
She lives with her ailing grandmother, who is blind and could not offer her support apart from words of encouragement.
The young lady, now immaculate with her two legs, says she is so happy to walk again without crutches.
``My story is very sad… I was born with both my legs intact but a car accident robbed me of one. Thank God my life was spared on the fateful day,``she says, tears welling up in her eyes.
``I remember it as if it was yesterday. It was in 1999, I was crossing the road at our village when a speeding vehicle hit me,`` she says.
The driver took her to Mwanga dispensary where she was treated and later referred to KCMC in Moshi.
``That is where my leg was amputated,`` she said.
Over the years, she sought help and eventually it was the Executive Chairman for the Youth Disabled Development Forum, Evance Mwakyusa who came to her aid.
He facilitated her contact with the Comprehensive Community-Based Rehabilitation, CCBRT hospital in Tanzania where she was provided with an artificial limb.
``I am now undergoing exercise at CCBRT so that I can walk properly.
``I feel very happy because I never knew there will come a day when I would walk without crutches,`` says the highly elated Bakari.
She finished Standard Seven last year at Kituri Primary School and was selected to join secondary education.
``Too bad I could not make it. I did not have the money for school fees and there was no one to help me,`` she says.
All the same, she says somehow she believes she will one day go to secondary school and even university.
She calls on other young people, especially those suffering disability not to hesitate to seek help whenever in need.
``I would like to call upon parents with disabled children to stop hiding them from the public because by so doing, they are denying them the chance to get assistance,`` she says.
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