Gombe girl without arms appeals for artificial hands, others
……lauds ASUU GSU for tuition fees
By Ben Ngwakwe, Gombe
A 28-year-old Maryam Umaru, born without hands, has appealed to Nigerians to help her get artificial hands as the challenges she faces are enormous.
Periscope Nigeria reports that such aid is called prosthesis, in medicine, a prosthesis, or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth.
Speaking with our correspondent in Gombe, in an exclusive interview the young lady, who also begs as a means of supporting her family got admission into Gombe State University to study Economics.
The success story to actualise her long held dreams was possible when the Academic Staff Union of Universities interviewed her and they decided to sponsor her education into the Gombe State University, a dream of bright hope comes through when nobody in her family has attended to University education, she disclosed.
She further said that the Gombe State Government, Non-Governmental Organisations and philanthropic individuals have not helped her despite her repeated appeals to wealthy Nigerians.
Umaru disclosed that she came from a poor family with her father, Mallam Umaru been a peasant farmer with her sick mother who is suffering from high hypertension which has drained her father’s pocket through constant buying of drugs and medications.
“My father has two wives and 10 children and I am the second child in the family. Taking care of us is a big problem with my juniors attending Islamia school. I’m appealing for help to complete my education and to have my hands restored medically,” she said.
The young Umaru demonstrated how she practically uses her legs to do everything when the reporter visited her in her father’s house within the Gombe metropolis.
She demonstrated by doing her school assignments with her legs in the presence of the reporter, she also operates her cell phone with her legs, cooks with her legs and attends to domestic issues with her legs without any physical support and assistance from her family members.
It will be recalled that the jovial and admirable intelligent Umaru who ushered the reporter to her residence expressed appreciation to the Academic Staff Union of Universities for sponsoring her education through the payments of her tuition fees and books while her family provides her with feeding and transportation as she resides in her father’s compound where she goes to school regularly.
