Tanzania Zanzibar International Volunteer Association

                                                       A Letter from Abduli

....I can turn my head now and move my arms. My lower body is still paralyzed and I can’t really use my fingers but I can pick
up things with the palms of my hand. My mother has to wash me and turn me and help me with my toilet needs. I can’t do
much of anything without her.  I’d rather eat on my own and I try, but it is hard for me to get the food in my mouth so
sometimes my younger brothers also help to feed me. Since my mother has to take care of me all day, she can’t work and my
family is really suffering. Some days there is not enough food for all of us to eat.

I’ve been lying here for the last year and a half, wanting to believe I would get better. When I could first move my neck and
then later my arms, I was convinced everything would be back to normal soon.  I would be able to get up and walk out of this
room.  I didn’t want to hear about using a wheelchair and I wouldn’t let my family to take me outside where people would see
me.  

Now I realize that I probably have to live with my body they way it is, though I still have hope that some day I’ll be lucky and my
body will get better or they’ll invent something to fix problems like mine. I try to stay cheerful but the truth is I’m lonely, bored
and sad lying in this room and scared that I’ll have to spend the rest of my life here.   I want to make a life for myself and not
be so much work for my mother.  I’ve changed my mind about the wheel chair. I would like to have one now so I could get
around. I’d like an exercise bar over my bed so I can try to get my strength back, a TV that works so I wouldn’t be so bored
and a laptop computer so I could learn how to use one.  I also want the chance to go to a rehabilitation center where I could
learn to take care of myself and be more independent.  Someday, I’d even like to go back to school so I could have a job and
a future. I don’t know too much about them yet but I think I could work with computers.  I also like the idea of studying different
languages.  Right now, my mother has to be with me nearly 24 hours a day so some help to hire an assistant until I can do
more things on my own and enough money so my family and I can eat every day would make a big difference to us.

I’ve thought a lot and learned a lot about myself and other people this last year and a half. It is hard for me to ask for help but
the only way I’ll ever have the chance to have a new life is if I ask for your help. I know people sometimes stay away because
what happened to me makes them sad or because my problems seem too big.  I want you to know that I don’t expect you to
solve all my problems for me but I would be really happy for whatever help you can give me.   
*  From time to time, TZIVA uses this page to sponsor a family or individual in need. If you are able to help with a large or small
donation, we promise you the money will be used exactly as you intended. TZIVA will give your donation directly to the family or
individual and make sure it is spent as you wish.  We'll send you photos and a letter telling you the results.Other than the  fee
of 2% to 5% we are required to pay for processing tax deductible contributions, all of the money goes to the family in need.
TZIVA deducts no overhead or other expenses from your donation. Please go to our donation page  or, for more information,
send us an email at admin@tziva.org.
TZIVA
To help Abduli, go to our
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Please specify "TZIVA/Abduli"
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Sixteen-year-old, Abduli Nabi,  has been in this bed for almost two years--ever
since he broke his neck in a swimming accident. The doctors thought he would
never survive, but he did. To learn more about this extraordinary young man,
please read the excerpt from his letter.