Wonder kid defies odds

Mhondoro, Mashonaland West Province.
Excited pupilss drown the school with the irritating sounds of pushed and shoved furniture, as they pour out of classrooms into the open ground.
The free-for-all 30 minute break starts.
Among the hopping, prattling, shouting, mock-fighting and football-playing children is one exception, a quadriplegic.
While the other activities are measured and seen on the strength and activity of the limb, one boy performs what the others do but with the aid of under-developed arms and legs which anyone would discount as effective human tools.
And he does not end there.
At home and he glues and darns his mother’s shoes using his mouth.
He opens the family radio with his mouth and fixes it with a soldering gun.
He loves football despite having to develop legs to kick it, using his main body and head.
His name is Tobias Nhau of Rwizi Village.
When Tobias was born without fully-grown limbs on February 1, 1996 in Rwizi Village in Mubaira, Mhondoro, not many people gave him a chance.
In fact, he painted the very picture of tragedy and haplessness, and anybody could be forgiven for discounting the sorry figure from the gruelling story that life is.
And questions swirled.
How would he eat, walk, touch; survive?
With mysticism and mystification: What wrong had his parents, or ancestors or himself done?
Yet somehow the boy has survived, and survived he has to become a marvel as he is endowed with many talents that spite his otherwise sorry-looking condition.
At 14, Tobias is living a normal life, in his own abnormality.
When The Herald caught up with him this week, Tobias expressed confidence that he would excel in all his endeavours if given a chance.
“At first I thought that my future was bleak with my condition and without parents to take care of me,” says the boy whose parents separated and disowned him when he was five, and has been under the care of relatives.
“I want to be a medical doctor when I finish my studies if given the chance to go to university.”
He explains that his ability to do various chores and activities is a result of his inner strength and resolve to show the world that disability is not inability.
He adds, with a bit of the defiance that makes winners: “with my limited physical attributes, I do not even consider myself disabled in the true sense of the word.
“In fact, what I do some ‘normal’ children out there can’t.”
Tobias says that his favourite dish is rice and chicken.
And it is in this regard that he also showed that he is a fighter and would want to live a “normal” life.
He says that when he drinks beverages he prefers lifting the cup with his mouth to using a straw.
He says: “I want to do what other people do and I do not want to humble myself by drinking with a straw.
“That is a sign of defeat.”
Tobias is not only a football player – which he performs by juggling the ball with his head and chest and by flipping the ball with his under-developed legs.
He is also a staunch Dynamos supporter and his favourite footballer is midfielder Murape Murape.
Matarutse Primary School headmaster Mr Stanley Mazivanhanga, said Tobias was admitted at the school in 2008 as a Grade One pupil after trying for three years.
“He was shunned in other surrounding schools,” he told The Herald in an interview.
“(Former head) Mrs Marere then enrolled him and facilitated a teacher for him. With his intelligence, he did his Grade 1 and 2 studies in one year.
“The following year he did Grade 2 and was skipped into Grade 3 where he studied for a term before skipping him a again into Grades 5 and 6 which he did in one year. He is in Grade 7 now.”
Mr Mazivanhanga said apart from Tobias’ intelligence, the boy had earned himself respect among fellow pupils and teachers which had resulted in him being installed a prefect.
He is also choir leader and cheerleader for the school.
Tobias is also gifted in the arts where he is a good poet and painter.
Recognising the potential in the boy which is likely to tip any national scales, Mr Mazivanhanga has since applied to Zimsec for him to be accommodated for the Grade 7 examinations this year.
His class-teacher Mr Nicholas Kakuda revealed his splendid performance and character in class.
“He is the fastest writer with the best “hand-writing”, one of the best Grade 7 pupils and painter and uses his mouth in all that he does,” Mr Kakuda said
His friend assists in propelling his wheelchair and at times other friends fight to help move him around.
We asked him to write a paragraph and he picked up his pen and flipped the pages with ease.
He even underlined using his mouth and it was very straight.
During sports, apart from singing for the school team, his teacher revealed that he gives him a soccer ball and he juggles it with his head and plays as a goalkeeper on mini soccer matches.
He hobbles on the ground and manages to move when playing soccer.
Says his teacher: “Other students have accepted him as one of their own after they were conscientised which is against the perception of people who thought he was going to attract the attention of other scholars.
“He is an extrovert and says what he thinks and he is full of confidence and his favourite subjects are English and Maths.”
Mr Kakuda said recognising the need for accommodating the intelligent young man, the school had built a special ablution facility for him as well as other conveniences.
“He used the bush toilet where his friends took him but now the school built a custom-made toilet and has pavements and ramps to all classes for him and other two children on wheelchairs,” said Mr Kakuda.
When the country hit harsh economic times and donors had to withdraw their assistance, the headmaster made him learn for free.
Tobias’ aunt and uncle, Febbie and Learnmore Ndavambi, who have taken care of him after his parents dumped him when he was just five-years-old, say the boy is a miracle incarnate, despite his perceived misfortunes early in his life.
“Tobias was born in Mhondoro and is a son to Angeline Nyamugure and Wilson Nhau.
“His parents separated after he was born. His father blamed his wife for giving birth to a disabled boy.
“They did not disclose to him that his mother is now based in South Africa and they do not know the whereabouts of his father and this was the first time he heard of it.
“Since they left him in their custody, they never assisted in anything and donors chip in here or visit to check if he is doing well,” said Febbie.
She revealed that before the boy went to school, his nieces assisted in teaching him basic education until he was enrolled at school. His brother and neighbours’ kids at first pushed him to school in a wheelbarrow until he got a wheelchair from a donor.