My name is Georgina Agbovi. I am 19 and come from Agotime, in the Volta region of Ghana. I am a girl living with a disability, but I am working hard and learning to become a fashion designer.
One day I woke up and I could not walk. The doctors could not help me, and my parents did not care. I had to drop out of school because I was working to support myself and I could no longer work.
My father brought me to the village, Agbokope, to live with my grandmother, who was sick and could not take care of me either.
I met a man who offered to take care of me and my grandmother, but I later got pregnant. He left after I gave birth- I was 18 years old.
The Department of Social Welfare came to my aid and helped me to become an apprentice. I am now under training to become a fashion designer.
I am grateful to social welfare service for the help they have provided for me and I hope that they continue to extend this help to other young girls in similar situations.
Also, I hope that my experience will serve as a lesson to other girls. Your parents may not be responsible, but a boyfriend is not the answer.
And to those living with disability, I say that although we may be different, we should not think that our abilities are limited.
Let us dream and encourage ourselves to achieve our dreams, because as they say, ‘disability is not inability’.
Finally, society should understand that living with disability does not make you less of a person. They should extend a helping hand if the need be and should not see us as strangers.
I believe we are all the same and disability doesn’t change that.
