Schooling with Fellow Students Transforms Badar's Life

Badar and his brother Mohamed at their school. CARE/Walter Mawere.

Fourteen-year-old Badar is in grade two at Haragwafi primary school which is located in Odweyne village. He was born with his right side of the body paralyzed and his legs too weak to walk. Badar is the oldest son in a family of six, (three boys and three girls).

His father provides for the family by carrying out different construction jobs in the community. When he was in grade one, as he could not walk, Badar was homeschooled and his parents had to hire a teacher which was very costly for them, in some cases, they could not afford to hire a teacher leading to Badar missing out on lessons.

Badar was identified by a CARE-supported Community Education Committee (CEC) in the community to receive a wheelchair. Through support from the Girls' Education Challenge project, CARE provided a wheelchair for him and this helped him move around a lot easier and he now attends regular school with other children of his age.

“I was not happy being homeschooled, it felt like a prison!” said Badar. He added “I was always sad seeing my young brothers going to school, I was not able to learn every day as my parents could not afford to hire the teacher every day. The wheelchair has transformed my life, I am very happy going to school and being in the same class with others, I can now even play games with my friends and I really like my school.”

 

Badar in class with fellow students. CARE/Walter Mawere

“Every day I wake up at 6 am excited to go to school, I eat my breakfast, usually pancakes {I love them} and then my younger brother pushes me to school,” Said Badar.

Mohamed- Badar’s young brother could not hide his joy of having to go to school together with his brother. “We are very happy to be going to school with our brother, it was sad having to leave him at home every day” he said.

 

The headteacher of the school appreciated the support that was given to Badar as this has greatly improved his life. “He used to crawl in the dirt and was always isolated at home, he had no interaction with children of his age and he was always dirty from the crawling but thanks to the wheelchair, he now engages with other children and he is a bright student in his class before he received the wheelchair, his parents were almost giving up on providing education for him,” said Abdirahim who is the headteacher. 

“I love soccer and now I can even go to the soccer fields with my brother to watch our favorite teams play, after school, I also go to the Islamic school something which I was not able to do before,” Said a beaming Badar. “When I grow up I want to become a doctor so that I can treat children like me who are living with disabilities, I want to provide better opportunities for them and my community. I also want to make sure my family gets anything they want” added Badar.