Helping children with disabilities reach their full potential

Vimbai Jiri *16, from Chimanimani Zimbabwe was born with a deformed left hand. She recently received a trans radial hand from Save the Children and Leonard Cheshire Disability Trust. This is part of the disability support activities which seek to create equal learning opportunities for children with disabilities through provision of assistive devices under the Global Partnership for Education funded education programme.

Vimbai is happy she now has a prosthetic hand which will enable her to participate in some school activities. She even demonstrated that she can now carry objects with her new hand. She uttered: “Having one hand limited me to do other task and each time I asked for help, I felt like I was a burden to my friends. I am happy I now have a hand. As you can see, I can even carry a bag using my new hand. I also will be able to participate in school activities such a Physical Education which is one of my favourites. I now feel confident.”

Country Director for Save the Children Zimbabwe, Heather Kerr handed over the trans radial hand to Vimbai at a ceremony which was recently held in Harare. Speaking to Vimbai, Heather said: “I hope your new hand gives you the confidence you need. It’s fantastic that you are ambitious and you want to be a leader. We need more ambitious young girls like you!”