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| Image: Scholastic |
Fact Friday features Her Own Two Feet: a Rwandan girl's brave fight to walk by Meredith Davis and Rebecca Uwitonze. Maybe you're feeling a bit sorry for yourself now that we've spent three weeks in virtual school and remaining isolated from friends. At least we're all in this together; fighting for a common cause - to flatten the curve. Reading this book sure did put things into perspective for me.
Rebeka Uwitonze was born with club feet. Her feet were so twisted that doctors feared she would never walk and the people in her village told her parents to abandon her by the side of the road. As she grew, villagers avoided her, spat on her and called her cursed. Her parents did not abandon her and did everything they could to support Rebeka. She was loved. But she was also growing and was becoming too heavy for her mother to carry. Rebeka's condition was fixable at birth -in a developed country like the U.S. In Rwanda, her parents lived far from a hospital and were too poor to afford that kind of care.
When Rebeka was nine, she was sponsored by an American doctor to travel to the U.S. to be evaluated for surgery to repair her feet. She lived in Austen, Texas with the Davis family, who took care of her while she endured many painful surgeries. She missed her family. She spoke almost no English; but she was resilient. Her parents' motto, "Amahirwe aza rimwe," "chance comes once," became her mantra. Her photo-filled story touches the heartstrings. Her Own Two Feet was just the right story I needed at this time. I am in awe of Rebeka and you will be too. Read it.
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