Hope as disabled girl gets wheelchair

What you need to know:

  • Because of her disability, she had lost hope of going to school, and lived with the stigma of being disabled. Close relatives and members of the community in general showed little sympathy.

Arusha. Azaria Rajabu, now aged 9, could neither stand nor sit properly from her early childhood.

Because of her disability, she had lost hope of going to school, and lived with the stigma of being disabled. Close relatives and members of the community in general showed little sympathy.

Now the young girl has been enrolled at Ngarenaro Primary School in Arusha, thanks to support from charitable organisations, one of them, the Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania, which has acquired for her a wheelchair to enable her move around.

Her mother, Ms Neema Rajabu, says she had lost hope of taking her daughter to school because of the disability and the cost of wheelchairs and other requirements to support her.

“She is growing up and gaining weight fast. It had become difficult for us to carry her around,” she told The Citizen, adding that from now on she would be taking her on the wheelchair to and from school.

She said Azaria started school on Monday last week.

She added that the church has provided for the young learner with the school uniforms, books and other essentials.

A pastor with the Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania Emmanuel Absalom has appealed to other members of the society to assist physically disabled children like Azaria with every necessary support.

He said the wheelchair was purchased at a cost of Sh1.6 million.