Queen's Mobility Improvement goal

Hello everyone, my name is Queen Seketi. I am 46 years old. I am a woman with physical disabilities. I am from Zambia, in Southern Africa. I am a 3rd year Student enrolled on a PhD Public health programme at the University of Zambia.

I urgently need funding for buying a pair of prosthetic limbs from Germany. After almost a year -long search for outside help, an orthopaedic centre in Germany is willing to make a pair of prosthetic limbs for me.

Prosthetic limbs are commonly referred to in my country as artificial limbs. They are mobility aids made by specialists in Orthopaedic Technology. The orthopaedic centre in Germany will cover fifty percent of the cost of my prosthetic limbs. I need funding to cover the other fifty percent cost of these assistive devices. I also need funding for a roundtrip flight and local transport for myself and my carer and lodging for a six - week stay. The time of stay is longer because of the gait training.

Ideally prosthetics should be changed every two to three years.

There has been no material at my usual hospital to make a new pair for the past years. I have also been unable to get a new pair outside because of high costs.

As a result of delay to change the current set, there is a lot of muscle wasting on my limbs and the set is currently a bad fit. I urgently need to replace them because they are leading to other problems such as poor gait, falling and knee injuries, limping, curving spine because of poor alignment, right arm injuries because of putting too much pressure by leaning on the crutch as I navigate the environment. I risk losing the use of my right hand if I continue at this rate.

I have had this pair repaired and padded many times in the past. My great friends organised a wheelchair to use at home to reduce the pressure on my limbs. At school, a smooth path was constructed for me to walk on and an accessible washroom as part of accommodations for people with disabilities to stay in school.

Having this new set of prosthetic limbs will greatly improve my gait and enable me to move about easily and curry-on with my role of a PhD student, an Aunty and enable me to participate in my favourite hobby - stand to sing with my choir on weekends. I also need my hand back on the computer keyboard. I dream of becoming a leader in disability research in my country one day. As a black woman with disability and from a humble background, your funding support will greatly remove barriers of my access to mobility assistive devices. This in turn will create more opportunities for me to think clearly and critically without this constant pain.

I am hopeful that you will help me to achieve my dream by supporting my access to prosthetic limbs. Thank you for any help you can give.

NOTE: Queen is co-supervised and funded by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Danae Rodríguez is a friend of Queen and also a PhD student at LSHTM.