Abdirizak Warsame Ahmed is still looking for his two hands, he is 19-years old and a Secondary school student during the weekend he visits his relatives and interesting to help his colleague, he has more friends in the neighborhood and at school as well.
“I was born and raised in Dhusamareb the capital of Galmudug State in central Somalia, my family was a pastoralists, we had livestock, at that time I was a child, one day my aunty hitch me a tree in the countryside, she left me, I was alone until eight hours, I started weeping till my eyes turned into dark red, but no one could hear meâ€.
Some of the families saw him and took him home and he can’t eat and drink water, Abdirizak, was admitted at Abdi Bare hospital in Dhusamareb town for treatments, but unfortunately he was seriously injured, the doctors advised his family to cut off his two hands because of the nervosa of the two hands were no functional.
“During my childhood I was Semi-nomadic pastoralists keeping goats, sheep, camels and cattle, but one day i lost a goats and my aunty came to me and asked me why the goat got lost she was crossed with me, then she beat me and hitched me to a tree, my hands veins stopped circulating the blood, that was the mainly reason, I missed my helper hands, but now I am in need for prosthetic handâ€.
At the end of 2006 Abdirizak traveled to Mogadishu within that year he returned back to Dhusamareb and started to learn Islamic school and when he learned Qur’an, started primary school after he graduated in 2010 he returned back to Mogadishu and started Benadir Primary and secondary school, now he is form two, and in two years time he will graduate.
“[My father] was hoping to get me a good school in Mogadishu but, unfortunately, drought break out, and we were displaced, there were no schools,” Abdirizak remembers. Now I live with my uncle who pays for my school fees I am just happyâ€.
In the future Abdirizak wants to be a good Samaritan of the poor people like those with disability of him, during my interview he told me that he is using smartphone, and has sent me a text massage.
And promptly he sent me a text message, and says “Life is all about balance. I understand that well and the world aren’t built with a ramp.â€
Abdirizak sent a strong message to those with disabilities in Somalia not to be disappointment or be stressed in their lives.
Abdirizak’s classmate are proud of him and eat together from the same place and preparing the exam every week end they went to the garden and the gathering place in Mogadishu, he says i never flee alone I have ore friends when I met Abdirizak I saw him with two of his friends.
Of the Abdirizaki’s classmate told me that he is so interested in Mathematics and Biology.
“ I informing those who have no education to learn school, I am a role model, I have seen parents saying our children are disability they can’t learn anything, when I grow up I want to eradicate that idea, I will also start to camping in rural area in the country, I have lost my hand I will never except others to become like me, I will fight those are enemy for us†he says.
In 25 February 2015, Â Three Austrians have had their injured hands replaced with bionic ones that they can control using nerves and muscles transplanted into their arms from their legs.
The three men are the first to undergo what doctors refer to as “bionic reconstructionâ€, which involves a voluntary amputation, the transplantof nerves and muscles and learning to use faint signals from them to command the hand. 2015,
“This is the first time we have bionically reconstructed a hand,†said Dr Oskar Aszmann, of the Medical University of Vienna, who developed the approach with colleagues. “If I saw these kinds of patients five to seven years ago, I would have just shrugged my shoulders and said ‘there’s nothing I can do for you.’â€
“My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit as well as physically.â€
In Somalia, generally people with disabilities are stigmatized and segregated in the community and they are called a name referring to their Disability like Handicapped (Curyaan) or Blind man/woman (Indhool).
Mar 11, 2015 Gemma Davies, Amnesty International’s Somalia Researcher said “People with disabilities face greater abuse in Somalia, are often seen as a burden or as easier targets to attackers. Somalia must do more to protect their rights, rather than allow them to be subject to further abuses because of their disabilities,â€
Somalia is one of the worst in the world that people with special needs can live in.
Written by Hassan Istiila
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @Hassanistiila
Skpe: Hassan.istiila
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