A 28-year-old Maryam Umaru born without hands from birth has appealed to Nigerians to help her get artificial hands as the challenges she faces without hands are enormous.
Speaking with our correspondent in Gombe, weekend, in an exclusive interview, the young woman who has been supporting her family from the trade got admission into Gombe State University to read Economics.
The success story to actualise her long-held dreams was possible when the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that came from Abuja, interviewed her and they decided to sponsor her education into the Gombe State University.
This made her dream of bright hope come through when nobody in her family has been a beneficiary of a University education.
She further said that the Gombe State Government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and philanthropic individuals have not helped her despite her repeated appeals to wealthy Nigerians and her admission was in 2023.
Miss Umaru added that she came from a poor family with her father, Mallam Umaru being a peasant farmer with her sick mother who is suffering from high hypertension that has drained her father’s resources because of constant buying of drugs.
“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 Islamic school. I am appealing for help to complete my education and to have my hands restored medically,” she said.
She 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 this by doing her school assignments with her legs in the presence of the reporter. She also operated her cell phone with her legs, cooked with her legs and attended 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 Maryam who ushered the reporter to her residence expressed appreciation to the ASUU 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.