Help get Salma a wheelchair
Donation protected
I've known Sauda for a year and a half now. Since I first heard her story, I knew that she was one of the strongest women I'd ever met and it became my goal to help her get a wheelchair for her 9-year old daughter, Salma.
Salma was born physically and mentally disabled in ways that have remained undiagnosed her entire life due to lack of funds and inaccessibility to proper medical care in her coastal Tanzanian village. Her condition results in complete lack of muscle control and motor skills to the degree where she is unable to move, walk, talk, or eat on her own without her mother's full-time help. Unfortunately, the Tanzanian government does not have any programs that assist children or parents of children with disabilities.
Salma's father abandoned the household a year after she was born, leaving Sauda heartbroken, penniless, and alone to care for Salma these last 9 years. Since Salma requires Sauda's round-the-clock at-home care, she was left with no time to work, trapping her in a cycle of poverty and isolation. Regardless of her hardships, everytime I've sat in conversation with Sauda, her calm, optimistic disposition is palpable, and she remains hopeful about the futures of herself and her daughter.
Every day, while Sauda does chores, or when she leaves the house to walk to the village, she carries Salma on her side with the help of a tightly wrapped cloth slung like a sash to keep her snug. That was how I first met her, I remember spotting her tiny frame walking through the village with a child who looked too grown to need carrying, and that was when I learned about her situation and that she had no other choice.
THIS, friends, is why I've decided to create this campaign. Getting a wheelchair for Salma will be life changing, for both Salma and her mother, and a step in a very positive, new life direction.
The money raised in this campaign will be used to take Salma to a specialist in Dar es Salaam who can give her a proper diagnosis on her condition. The same hospital sells wheelchairs for children with disabilities, and since the roads in her village are extremely uneven and rough, we will be getting her the most durable wheelchair available (with a neck supporter) to ensure her comfort. The remaining portion of the money will go towards renovations on their home to make it wheelchair accessible (ie, constructing ramps, guard rails, redesigning the bathroom and kitchen) and towards other medical costs.
If there is anyone I know who deserves the support, love, and assistance from the beautiful kindness of strangers, it is these two <3
Thank you, lovely people!
Progress--->
11/11: Renovations! The ramp is complete!
Salma was born physically and mentally disabled in ways that have remained undiagnosed her entire life due to lack of funds and inaccessibility to proper medical care in her coastal Tanzanian village. Her condition results in complete lack of muscle control and motor skills to the degree where she is unable to move, walk, talk, or eat on her own without her mother's full-time help. Unfortunately, the Tanzanian government does not have any programs that assist children or parents of children with disabilities.
Salma's father abandoned the household a year after she was born, leaving Sauda heartbroken, penniless, and alone to care for Salma these last 9 years. Since Salma requires Sauda's round-the-clock at-home care, she was left with no time to work, trapping her in a cycle of poverty and isolation. Regardless of her hardships, everytime I've sat in conversation with Sauda, her calm, optimistic disposition is palpable, and she remains hopeful about the futures of herself and her daughter.
Every day, while Sauda does chores, or when she leaves the house to walk to the village, she carries Salma on her side with the help of a tightly wrapped cloth slung like a sash to keep her snug. That was how I first met her, I remember spotting her tiny frame walking through the village with a child who looked too grown to need carrying, and that was when I learned about her situation and that she had no other choice.
THIS, friends, is why I've decided to create this campaign. Getting a wheelchair for Salma will be life changing, for both Salma and her mother, and a step in a very positive, new life direction.
The money raised in this campaign will be used to take Salma to a specialist in Dar es Salaam who can give her a proper diagnosis on her condition. The same hospital sells wheelchairs for children with disabilities, and since the roads in her village are extremely uneven and rough, we will be getting her the most durable wheelchair available (with a neck supporter) to ensure her comfort. The remaining portion of the money will go towards renovations on their home to make it wheelchair accessible (ie, constructing ramps, guard rails, redesigning the bathroom and kitchen) and towards other medical costs.
If there is anyone I know who deserves the support, love, and assistance from the beautiful kindness of strangers, it is these two <3
Thank you, lovely people!
Progress--->
11/11: Renovations! The ramp is complete!
Organizer
Megan Abbott
Organizer
Ashville, VA