Nebbi pupil writes with feet Print E-mail
Education
Written by Immaculate Wanyenze   
Monday, 26 July 2010 16:16

As Ugandans marked the World Population Day in Nebbi, Irene Awekonimungu, was searching for how best her disabled son could survive.

However, during the events, the boy, seven-year-old Innocent Opegimungu, who goes to St. Theresa Nursery School Parombo, is quickly brought before the hundreds of people with chairs to support him. One chair acts as a table to help him eat and write and the other is where he sits. He is now set to write with a pen held tightly between his feet and everyone is alerted on what he is writing. As soon as he writes one digit, sympathizers move towards him, collecting money and other items for his upkeep. Reason: they are amazed at how he is able to use his feet to feed and write. Paska Acaye, an LC-V councilor for persons with disability in Nebbi says this is the only way they get people to give funds for such people. She adds that they usually get money when there is a gathering since many people are willing to help.
Through Acaye, Opegimungu has missionaries caring for him although he stays with both his parents. The money collected from gatherings will help purchase more essentials for him.
Opegimungu is proof that a person without hands can perform normal bodily tasks like eating, writing and fighting.  He has no hands but has a finger on each of his biceps that he uses to fight his friends when they antagonise him. Likewise, he uses his feet to feed. He holds a spoon firmly in his foot to feed on beans and anyoya (maize), his favourite meal.
Opegimungu, born with the disability, is the only child to Francis Okumu, a peasant farmer in Parombo village and Irene Awekonimungu, a drug shop attendant.
Currently, Opegimungu is in top class and despite his disability, he is a bright child who does well in class.
He is a very good footballer too. “Whenever he is at school or back from school, all he wants is football,” his mother says.
He supported Germany in the recently concluded World Cup, although he could hardly name any player. He speaks Alur and a little English.
His mother wishes her son completes school although she can hardly tell what the boy would be in the future.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 July 2010 13:13
 
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