By Urvashi Nair | Director Marketing
MARIYAM'S PERSONAL STORY
A small gesture changes a life....
Mariyam is 13 years old today. When she was five, she had met with a terrible accident and lost her right leg. She was left with one leg for the rest of her life. In Mahua Bas village of Rajasthan, where she lives, the school was at a distance. When Mariyam turned seven, she told her parents that she also wanted to go to school like some of the girls in her village. But her parents were helpless as they couldn't carry her to school daily. Also, they feared she may get hurt in the school. Mariyam was very dejected due to her situation.
The opening of a Girls Learning Centre by IIMPACT near Mariyam's house in Mahua Bas village in Rajasthan changed her life forever. It was so near that even her younger brother could leave her at the Centre. Every morning, Mariyam reached the Centre even before it opened. And she was the last to leave. A few years at the Learning Centre completely transformed her into a chirpy, vivacious girl who knew hundreds of poems by heart and read stories from her book.
But there was one thing in her life that always made her sad. She missed games and extra-curricular activities. She also wanted to run and play, like the other kids. During a team visit by IIMPACT members, Mariyam shared her desire. Her wish came true so quickly that even Mariyam could not believe it. Within a few days, a benevolent individual had arranged for an artificial limb replacement for her at a major hospital in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Mariyam was given a date for the operation and finally that day came in 2009, when Mariyam walked again with the help of an artificial leg.
By 2011, she not only walked, but started running faster than many other children in her 8th class at the upper primary school where she was enrolled by IIMPACT in 2010.
Mariyam recently came all the way from her village to participate in IIMPACT's 10 years celebrations at Gurgaon where she was awarded for her courage and achievements
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