By Fatih Kyman | Communication Expert
Manar (11) was diagnosed with Sipini Bifida at birth. Thus, she has restricted mobility. Until she came into contact with Support to Life, her father Jud (34) had to carry her to school on his back. When Manar and her family’s path has crossed with support to life, things took a turn for the better.
Jud (34) says; “We consulted with another organization to assist us with Manar’s situation. They referred us to Support to Life. Support to Life began following up with Manar’s case and by getting in touch with the right organizations, in the end, they were able to provide us with an electric wheelchair. Before, I had to carry Manar on my back, so that she could go to school. I would come back from work, take her to school and then go back to work. Now she can go to school by herself.
That wasn’t the end of it though. Jud had to build a ramp for Manar. He explains, “As I’ve been working on the construction sector, I know how to build these things. I built the ramp myself. And thankfully, the school administration and the local municipality took action to pave the road to Manar’s school. She can now navigate the road safely.”
Lastly, Manar had to learn how do drive her electric chair of course. That’s when her grandpa’s teaching skills came in. Manar’s grandpa explains, “It’s just like driving you know, I told her how she should look over her shoulder before making a turn, for safety.”
Manar is already 11, but she lost a couple of years when they moved to Turkey so she is studying 4th grade with her younger sister. This does not bother her though; she has a positive outlook. She is a fan of art classes and wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up.
STL works in a solution oriented manner. We may not have a ‘special needs fund’ allocated for each of our field locations, and we may not always be able to find a private donor. But we explore all the possibilities. In the case of Manar, we simply facilitated her access to information, carried her case on to relevant organizations, spoke with local authorities and the school management to explore all the possible solutions.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
