Overcoming obstacles; Fatjona fights disability head-on in hopes of achieving her dream

I have never forgotten that day. I remember every single detail. It is the day that changed my life. I was at home, playing with a balloon. Suddenly the balloon flew from my hands. I didn’t want to let it go away so I ran to catch it. But, I couldn’t. The balloon flew to the sky and I fell down the stairs. [After I realized what happened], I tried to get up, but I couldn’t. I tried to cry out to my mom for help, but I couldn’t.

 From that day on, my life has never been the same again. I was only 8 when the accident happened.  Now, I am 13. In the past four years, I have seen more hospitals and doctors than I have seen in the movies. After the accident, I had no choice but to drop out of school; I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t even move from my bed. I had been the top student in my class but I was forced to abandon the books, the ones I love so much and instead focus my energies on relearning how to speak and how to walk. I had to learn everything a second time from the beginning, like the little babies do.

 Nothing was easy, everything looked impossible until I started to speak [just some words] and move some of the body limbs, like my hands. In the meantime, I lost one school year. But, I didn’t want to surrender. So, I stared my second battle. After I learned to speak for the second time, I had to learn to get around the school, where I used to run, in the wheelchair.

 My mom, Donika, helps me get ready for school and my father brings us there by car. My mother helps me by pushing my chair, sometimes she struggles to find a way without obstacles for the chair. Once we are at the school yard, together with my friends, she lifts up my chair to get past the stairs that lead to my classroom. I have to ask my friends to help every time I want to leave the class, during lunch break or during the physical education hour. I try to not to leave the class until the lessons end and my mom comes to pick me up because I can’t go home without her help. There isn’t an accessible way for my chair at the school. Actually, there isn’t accessible ways for my chair anywhere.

 My fight to be the old Fatjona takes place especially in my class. Because I was out of school for so long, I was significantly behind my classmates. And, sometimes, my mouth and my hands don’t respond to my mind. They are very slow and she is very fast. I can’t keep notes when my teacher explains the lesson and I can’t finish the class work at the same time as my classmates. When I am asked by the teacher to answer her questions, some of the other pupils get inpatient because I need more time to answer. But, my teacher is always very patient. She knows I have the answers but I just need time. That is all I need, more time…

My family is the most precious thing that I have. They are the joy of my life. My parents and my brother are my biggest supporters. My brother, Sajmir, is my idol and my role model. He is the person I love most in the world because he is the best brother in the world. Immediately after he finishes school, he comes home [instead of going to play with his friends] to help my father in the small shop we have at home, so my mom can help me to do some physiotherapy exercises. He also helps me to do my homework and we spend a lot of time playing together. He is the only one I can play with.

 I dream of being a dancer when I grow up and I pray to God every day to help me realize my dream. It may seem strange that a girl like me, in a wheelchair, has a dream like this, but I do. One of the doctors I met in Italy in one of the health check-ups I had there told me that if I want to be happy and bring back the old Fatjona I needed to do two things: laugh and physiotherapy.

 More than anything else, I want to be the same girl I used to be. And, I am very close to reaching this goal.  I have started to walk without the wheelchair. Now, I can make some steps by using a rolling walker. I will not surrender.

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Fatjona is a sponsored child in the Sponsorship programme. After she had the accident she dropped out from school because she couldn’t speak or walk. World Vision provided a visit with a physiotherapist for her. After her health conditions started to get better, she wanted to go back to school. Together with her teacher, World Vision helped develop an Individual Education Plan, which makes it possible for Fatjona to access quality education. Thanks to this, her teacher finds it easier to include her in the normal learning processes. Being registered in the Sponsorship programme has given Fatjona the opportunity to have increased access on health services, education and be part of many activities, such as a summer camp for children with disabilities initiated by youth in her city this summer.