Tinyiko Gwambe, who has excelled at university despite suffering from a rare disability, is appealing for the help first promised to her as a child.
Gwambe, 24, from Tshilamba near Thohoyandou in Limpopo, was born with Tetra-Amelia syndrome. She has no hands and one leg. To write, she balances a pen with her upper arm against her lower cheek by tilting her head.
Despite these constraints, the wheelchair-bound student completed a four-year social- work degree cum laude at the University of Pretoria last year. Now she is pursuing a master’s degree.
“Living with a disability has never presented disability to me at all. I was born like this and have accepted myself and can do things able-bodied persons can do,” she said.
But she is hoping for mobility aids so she can improve her quality of life and better look for work.
Her father, Zacharia Gwambe, 67, said the premier’s office had helped the family with transport when she was a child to ensure she could obtain medical treatment at a hospital in Polokwane. He said there was, at the time, a promise to help her get an electric wheelchair and be fitted with artificial limbs.
“It pains me so much that they promised a good thing. Unfortunately her mother died [nine years ago] before she could even see her daughter realising her wish,” he said.
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BY: THOMO NKGADIMA
SOURCE: TMG DIGITAL