Friday, 08th January, 2016. In Nigeria, lives a Young lady that was born without a body. Due to a strange sickness that has stopped her bone and muscle mass growth. She is just a few centimeters tall. RahmaHaruna, is 19 years old and she suffers from this very sad condition which has left her without any extremities, except for her right arm which isn’t completely developed.
In the moment Rahna was born, the doctors concluded on this curious illness, and this was caused by a so-called “spiritual attack”; giving the only explanation of why her sickness had no remedies.
Her younger brother, of just 14 years of age, carries her around everyday in her green bucket for 25 kilometers to the center of Kano –the largest city in north of Nigeria- where she spends hours begging anybody that passes by for money. Many are surprised by her, others get scared; after seeing a young woman in these conditions with such a precarious life situation.
Haruna, has said her life was not easy; not being able to fend for herself, and as she grew up she understood how different she was and tried to accept her situation in a positive light and with good faith; to be able to have the strength to go on appreciating the good things that had been given to her.
Being in her condition, Rahma said “I have learned to grow up with out friends in my life, my family members are my only friends; it took me a while to understand that not everybody is the same. I don’t care, I consider myself lucky to be alive”
Without a doubt, Rahman’s life has been difficult; adding to this her worrying economic situation; while it is likely that bad eating habits where a factor for this young Nigerian girl’s strange and sad illness. In Nigeria almost one hundred million persons live in absolute poverty, surviving with less that a dollar – 0.75 Euros- a day.
The economy of this country has grown in the last few year, becoming the biggest oil producer in the continent; but its poverty continues to grow due to Politian’s unmeasured corruption, who have not focused on building development or generating employment options for their citizens; dedicating themselves, for years, purely to making money by exporting oil, of which they sell more than two million barrels a day, but the Nigerians don’t receive any help to better the quality of their lives.
ALFA